Stuart Finney's Chess World

Bronze in Montreal

2010-08-22T20:10:00.004-04:00

We have just returned from the North American Youth Championship, held this year in Montreal, and after winning Gold in the Under-14 section in Mexico last year, I was now playing Under-16. The last time I went to Montreal was nearly 10 years ago, but I do not remember anything from that visit. This trip, most of my time was spent in the hotel, playing hall, or in Chinatown, so I didn’t see too much of the city again. At least I made up for it by finishing in clear third place for the Bronze, and was the highest placed American in my section!
We arrived at about 5PM on August 15th, the evening before the event started and teammate Anna Matlin’s birthday. That night a few of us met in the lobby and ate cake to celebrate…though of course, being chess players, we had to play some blitz as well. Two Russian Canadians joined us, and it turned out that Roman Sapozhnikov and Alexander Martchenko were the highest rated in the U16 and U18 sections, respectively. While Andrew Ng and I were finishing our blitz game, Roman and Alexander were talking in Russian about how rude Andrew and I were for not pulling up a chair for Anna, and that they should do so themselves. Anna decided to save them the trouble and got one for herself, and shortly afterwards they realized that she had understood everything they said!
In the U16, there were 6 Americans, out of a total of 23 players. It turned out that the U16 section was the deepest in strength in the entire event, with almost all the highest rated Canadians in the age group participating. As they were ranked based on Canadian ratings, which mostly seemed to be around 200 points higher than FIDE, they dominated the initial rankings.
In the first round I won, fairly uneventfully, but my opponent definitely played much stronger than his +1300 rating. In the second, I was playing Arthur Calugar, second seed (rated 2399) and on top board, since Roman had lost a long battle with Michael Chiang in his first game. Out of the opening I got a very good position, as Arthur played right into a line I knew very well, but later I played rather badly and ending up losing. The third round was similar to the first with a relatively easy win, but the fourth round brought more bad news, as I messed up in the Sozin and lost to Nikita Kraiouchkine (rated 2324). We had played once before in Vermont, about 5 years ago, and he beat me there, too! However, I came back and won the next 3 rounds, including a final round win over the fifth seed, Michael Kleinman (2299), to finish 5/7 and a respectable 3rd place, while Arthur and Nikita, the number two and three ranked Canadians, took Gold and Silver respectively .
Americans won 75% of the Gold’s and many other trophies with our large contingent of around 50 players, and had 4 perfect scores, including Anna who can consider it an extra birthday present. After the tournament there was a well attended blitz event, which Victor Shen won, with 7/8 after beating Andrew Ng in the final 2 games. Roman Sapozhnikov and Arthur Shen finished tied second. However, I didn’t stay to play, as my family was heading up to Quebec for a day of sightseeing, which we enjoyed. The Fikiets told us that next time we should go in the winter to see the Ice Festival there, which is supposed to be a magnificent sight; hopefully we get to enjoy it sometime!

Final Reflections on Brazil with Chess Campeona

2010-08-22T20:05:00.004-04:00

1. What did you learn from the experience you lived in the Pan American
Youth

I learned a lot about chess in general from the coaches and going
over my games and the mistakes I made.

2. How many points did you win and what FIDE titles did you earn in this

event?

5.5 points out of 9, but no title.

3. For those that have never participated in a Pan American Youth, Describe
to us what you felt emotionally, mentally, and physically during the event?

Physically, I got sick halfway through the tournament, which
probably did not help too much with my play. Emotionally and mentally, I
just tried to keep myself focused and not linger too much on the ways I
could have done better in the games I messed up in and instead save it for
after the tournament was done.

4. When you returned to your country, were you given a party? Did someone
from your federation or association call you? Anyone?

No party. However, a few friends did contact me asking
how I did.

5. What national and international tournaments are next for you?

Well tomorrow, I'm heading off to the North American Youth Chess
Championships in Montreal. Usually I don't have two tournaments so close
together, but let's hope it just means that I'm sharp and ready to keep
playing.

6. What did you realize in this Pan American Youth that you need to work on
most?

Probably my focus and concentration. Sometimes I get good positions
and then just mess them up with one move. Also, sometimes I misevaluate
positions, which I calculate well, but then misjudge the final position I
reach.

7. For 3 weeks, www.chesscampeona.com, has been following you prior,
during and after your Pan American Youth participation, what did you like
about this project?

It brought three different people from countries together who all
shared a common bond in chess.

8. What would you like to tell our readers?

I'm glad that I was given the opportunity to participate in this
project and for everyone who followed our progress and cheered us on.

The Cat

2010-08-13T08:29:00.003-04:00

The journey home from Bento Goncalves was as straightforward as could be expected, and yet as tiring and painful as could be expected. We made it to the familiarity of our house at 5-something on Monday evening, maybe 27 hours after setting off from the hotel, which was quicker than the outward journey, but by 8pm I was on a pre-committed 2-hour conference call with China. Tuesday and today have been hectic work days wrapping up month end and other projects, and only now can I draw breath, see what is going on around me, and re-engage with the rest of the family. I am glad to be back, and I am glad it is summer time. The Placencia family told me they were staying in southern Brazil another three days to visit the Bento Goncalves and Porto Allegre region, so they are probably just travelling home now as I write this.
I look at Stuart, and it is as though he has not been anywhere. He is back in the armchair that I had never seen him use before this summer, but which has become his daytime home during this school holidays. We traveled back from the hotel to Porto Allegre and on to Sao Paulo with Aviv Friedman, our Chief of Delegation, and it was nice to have a little more time to get to know him better. In Porto Allegre airport, Aviv shared with me his perspective on Stuart, which was something like this – “he is like a cat; it does not matter what events or circumstances may knock him over, he always lands on his feet and continues on his way”. Nothing really troubles him, he keeps an even temperament, and even if he is upset by a defeat or by sickness, both of which he had to deal with in Brazil, he re-composes himself quickly and gets on to the next task at hand. Being back home is an easy acclimatization for him.
Stuart normally plays one weekend chess tournament over the board each month. Right now, he has just played for six consecutive days, and before going to Brazil, he decided to sign up for the North American Youth Championships in Montreal as well. This runs Monday to Thursday next week, so I have recommended that he go easy on the chess these intervening days, mainly looking at the lessons he can learn from his own games last week. From what I have seen, he has been reading science fiction and playing internet scrabble, and at the current time, I think that is fine.
We have but a few days here, but we are re-energizing……
Steven, August 11th

Wrapping up Bento Goncalves

2010-08-08T22:02:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was a day for a little bit of chess, but a lot more camaraderie. First the chess played out its due course, though as the coaches had forewarned, most of the results had been cast the previous day. Tommy sailed on to his Gold medal, to give us all something to cheer loudly at the Closing Ceremony, Evan won her game to be our top scorer with 8 points out of 9, yet incredibly had to settle for Silver, and Jonathan put behind him the tears of falling short a day earlier to get Bronze and give us a complete set. Every member of Team USA finished with a positive score. We had three 4th place finishers, Vignesh in Open U-10, Ellen in Girls U-14, and Adarsh in the Open U-16. In what was a reasonably good day for the team, the biggest heartbreak was probably Yang, who lost for the second game in a row to fall out of the medals in Girls U-18. Everyone else finished pretty much as expected, with Stuart having one of his quickest wins of the week, to finish in ninth place with 5.5 points and a tournament performance rating just over FIDE 2100. In summary, his results reflected his rating, if not the opportunities he created for himself.
Once the games were done, Team USA ventured off to a churrascaria for lunch. It was the kind of team bonding experience that you like to think in theory would be good earlier in the week, but sometimes you need shared experience of adversity to rally people together. And so it was, that when the cry went up: “Does anyone really want to eat rice and beans again?!” the whole team fell immediately into line behind Aviv, and a quickly-organized procession of five taxis took us to the nominated restaurant.
Chris’ mom organized the boys and girls onto separate tables, with the long table reserved exclusively for adults. It was quickly apparent that Aviv is a churrascaria expert and connoisseur, and capable of consuming huge amounts of meat at a frightening pace! Besides the usual array of cuts of beef, chicken, lamb, etc, we had a little more unusual fair, including rabbit and sliced chicken hearts, which Justus’ mom ordered her son not to try! I ate enough food for several days, and still felt woefully inadequate sitting next to Aviv. It was fun to unwind together.
It never fails to amaze me that these kids, whom I always expect to have had enough of xadrez (Portuguese for chess – I have learned something!) after a tournament like this, will happily finish the tournament then spend the rest of the day playing chess for fun. And so it was when we got back to the hotel – the boys and girls happily set up their boards while parents hung out, or in my case, scrambled to get some work finished. A happy buzz of relief and relaxation pervaded the lobby areas, interspersed with occasional shrieks of laughter, as other nations did similar things. A love of the game unites these children across cultures and across language barriers. As I write this now, waiting for the bus back to the airport, Stuart and Tommy are cheerfully playing again with four other boys whose nationality I don’t know, and whose nationality does not matter. I guess it is chess’ small contribution to world peace.
A question in my mind was, “where will they hold the Closing Ceremony?” No room was remotely big enough. However, not everyone is used to the amount of personal space that we have in the US, and it did not seem to be an issue that a few hundred people could fit into a room where maybe sixty had played earlier in the week. Too claustrophobic for me, I squeezed through the doorway briefly to shout for Tommy at the appointed time (I heard his name, but could not see him, of course), took a picture of the crowds, and escaped again.
After the thankfully brief melee called the Closing Ceremony, Vignesh’s father and I tried to organize a tour of the local area for this morning. I take my hat off to him for his persistence, as we tied up the one English-speaking hotel staff member for an inordinate amount of time, while she tried to find someone who could help us. The problem was that today is Father’s Day in Brazil (are you reading this Stuart?), and apparently no-one wants to work on such a day, even Jefferson, the one English-speaking driver seemingly in a thousand mile radius, who came highly recommended after taking Justus’ mom for a tour earlier in the week. The lady from the hotel went above and beyond any reasonable lengths to help us – we certainly cannot say people here have not been friendly – and eventually found someone she knew personally to take us out today.
By now the Bottomless Stomachs, a.k.a. the children, were ready to eat again, and Adarsh’s mom lead a smaller group of eight of us out to a local pizzeria. We walked past the first four to try the fifth one, and put our names down for the 15 minute wait, but this place was deemed unacceptable because it seemed to be a kind of Italian version of dim sum, rather than giving you the opportunity to order exactly what you wanted off a menu. Let me say that behind the bright smile and the slight frame, Adarsh’s mom is a lady who knows her mind, and has her standards and principles, rather like my boss at home. By the time we had worked our way back and each of the other pizza places had also been deemed unsuitable for one reason or another, I feared mutiny amongst the party, but eventually we finished the evening in the small café at the hotel, with burgers and fries for the kids, and the smallest bite of a sandwich for the grown-ups.
The parents called it a night and went off to sleep, while some of the kids continued to play blitz. It had been a long, long day, and the tournament was already a distant memory.
Steven, August 8th

And now, the end is near

2010-08-07T15:19:00.001-04:00

I for one am glad that today will be the last day. It has been a long, long week, and when you don’t feel well, the familiarity of home is all the more appealing. The final round started just a few moments ago, with Team USA having a number of strong medal chances. Special mention goes to Tommy He alone at the top of the U-10 Open on 7 points, and Evan Xiang also with 7 points tied at the top of the Girls U-12 and essentially assured of Silver, but behind the leader on tie breaks. Yang starts today in third place in U-18 Girls and could still win any of the medals. Ellen is in fourth place in U-14 Girls and will need to beat the leader to probably take Silver, but she comes into the round with a US team-leading five straight wins behind her. Jonathan is third in U-10 Open and will almost certainly medal, but Vignesh starts sixth and will likely fall just short. Justus starts in sixth in the U-12 Open, but by my estimate is likely to win and still finish fourth. Sarah and John have to play each other in U-14 Open, but neither of them, nor Hannah in U-10 Girls, despite fighting performances, will finish in the medal positions.
So that leaves the three Musketeers in the U-16 Open. The Gold has already been wrapped up, with FM Oscar Enrique Zavarce from Venezuela sitting on 7.5 points, a full 1.5 points clear of his nearest rival. His rating is below that of any of the three US entrants, and shows how open a field this has been. The opportunity was there for all of them, but congratulations are due to Oscar for playing a fantastic tournament. Adarsh is on 5.5 and could still get a minor medal, but there are three boys ahead of him on 6.0, so it is not really in his hands. Chris and Stuart are playing for their pride, the team, and to protect rating points, as both are on 4.5.
Forty-eight hours ago, I would never have thought it would end this way. Stuart only has one point out of the last four (how is it he still manages to be on Board 6!), Adarsh 1.5, and Chris 2.0. In Round Eight last night, Chris won but Adarsh was beaten, and then Stuart reappeared for the Armen post-mortem. I’ll cut him some slack because he has definitely been under the weather these past couple of days, but Armen’s conclusion of the review needs no further explanation: a deep sigh, a shake of the head “You had so many chances to win; you had just as many chances to draw. You lost this game??” There was no great emotion at this stage, more like a feeling of resignation in the air that the final chance of even a minor medal had now gone. The ironic thing is that before we came over here, the general advice was that the Latin Americans were not known for their precision in the end game. As it happens, from what I can glean as a non-playing parent, Stuart has outplayed 7 of his 8 opponents (only losing Round 6 out of the opening), but has lost two and drawn one from winning positions in the end game. Some food for thought when we get back home.
We had a fairly quick and quiet dinner, then slumped into our respective beds last night, and it was as though our winter sicknesses merged – coughing and sneezing, blowing and wheezing from both sides. Eventually and thankfully, Stuart went to sleep, until some guy outside with more horsepower under his car hood than between his ears started revving up his engine, so then the coughing started up again. The night before there had been a cavalcade of vehicles blowing their horns late in the night – I thought it was a wedding celebration, but I was told yesterday it was something much more important than that: a soccer victory (this is Brazil, remember!) At least last night’s interruption did not last so long.
Steven, August 7th

In Sickness and in Health

2010-08-06T16:29:00.004-04:00

How quickly things can change. Yesterday morning Stuart was close to the mountain top, and almost in sight of the Promised Land, but two losses in one day made him the weak link in Team USA, and he finished almost back in mid-table at 3.5 out of 6. In the evening game he found himself in unfamiliar territory in the Opening, made an incorrect decision over the Board, and essentially was lost very early on, without a chance to compare ‘pure’ chess ability. From time to time that happens to most kids – it takes time to build an extensive understanding of Opening theory – and we need to put it in perspective.
Stuart was fairly unperturbed about the game. He knew he had blown any last chance of winning his Section, and he knew his result was a let-down for the team, but he also knew it was not because he had failed to execute properly something for which he was prepared. He made his best judgment call at the time, it was incorrect, and he has learned from it.
He was actually getting more concerned for his health. He had started to develop a sore throat during the afternoon between rounds, and this was getting worse. Not quite, it seems, the same thing that is afflicting me, so I don’t think I need to beat myself up over this, but definitely a concern. During the night this translated into a huge coughing fit at 2am, followed by vomiting all over the bed. We got him cleaned up, changed the sleeping arrangements, and went back to bed with increasing concern on my part for Day 5.
Stuart is normally a fairly bright ‘morning person’, but not today. He seemed very groggy, and it was all I could do to persuade him to at least eat a little breakfast to provide some energy for the games ahead. In normal circumstances I would feel for his opponent if he was coming in after two straight defeats, but this time I was concerned for Stuart. All I could do was to encourage him to do the best he could, for himself and for the team.
For the second time in a row he had a very quick game, reappearing in the room within two hours with a wan smile on his face. Still not healthy, still not bouncing with energy, but happy that he had played a nice game and won in relatively short order. That gets him back to a respectable 4.5 points, and gives him some time to rest for this evening.
Steven, August 6th

Any Loss is a Tough Loss

2010-08-06T16:23:00.004-04:00

While Stuart is still holding up well, his father is beginning to unravel a little. The sudden change from mid-summer to mid-winter is starting to play on my chest, and as each night goes by I get less and less sleep on the hard beds. The first night I could have slept anywhere, under any conditions, but now the nights are long and I am not waking refreshed.
The tournament itself is not that long, indeed fitting nine rounds into six days is quite a tough schedule, but from the perspective of the parents the unrelenting sameness of everything day by day really drags. Time is measured by how far we have got through the meal coupon book, which must be something like the ration books of wartime Europe. Breakfast is the same every day; lunch and dinner are both rice and beans and salad, with a couple of meat or fish dishes, usually only one of which Stuart can eat. It is like going to a school canteen three times a day.
For the first time this morning, I felt somewhat nervous. By winning last night, Stuart had put himself in the situation where the outcome of his tournament was still squarely in his hands. He started this morning on Board 2 with 3.5 points, while the two perfect 4’s faced off next to him. If he won this game and then won in the evening, he would have a good chance of sitting alone atop the leader board. But if he got 0 out of 2 today, he would likely need to be faultless through the final three rounds to have a chance of a minor medal. He was playing up around 100 points against the Columbian who downed Chris last night.
The initial results were generally ok. Though Hannah lost, the three U-10 boys, Tommy, Jonathan and Vignesh, who are the livewires of the team, all won and sit nicely at the top of their section. But from then on, things took a turn for the worse. In quick succession our three previously perfect players, Justus, then Evan, then Adarsh, came back to report their defeats. Adarsh was at least able to report that Chris was clearly winning, and Stuart might win too. Sometimes false hope is the hardest thing, as both of them ultimately lost, as, finally, did Sarah. Ellen, Yang Dai, and John won their games, John in U-14 now sitting with Tommy and Jonathan as our current top performers on 4.5 out of 5, but nevertheless, it was a very poor 6 out of 13 for the team.
As Chris’ mom said before Chris and Stuart reappeared, it is easy for the winners to come back and show off their games, but for those who have just lost, it takes real inner bravery to come immediately back to the coaches and have their every mistake shown in harsh relief in front of the whole team. Indeed, the coaches do not mince words – example Armen to Adarsh a few moments earlier: “so you would rather have a slightly worse position than an even one!” Chris had a win until very close to the end, and was visibly very upset at having thrown the game away. It was less easy to read Stuart, who frankly was behind most of the way. I mentioned yesterday that he was upset with me for commenting on his throwing away the win in his drawn game, so I decided it was better to keep quiet this time. It is easier to be circumspect when he did not have any winning chances.
So now we pick up the pieces. All three of the U-16 boys are playing slightly down this evening, so though they need to respect their opponents, they need not fear them. In fact, as we knew from the outset, there is no player in the section who should be feared by any of them, and even at this stage about half the field could still medal. We unwound over lunch then came back to the room, where Stuart settled into his latest science fiction novel for a while. When he was younger he may have needed a dose of parental affection at times like this, but I need to know and respect that now he is old enough to figure what preparation works for him, so I went for a walk.
On my return he was noticeably cheerier, and had spent a little time looking at his next opponent’s games as white earlier in the tournament. It also helped that I brought him back a small soy chocolate bar, having found a lady in the supermarket who spoke English, and could steer me away from the products which would hurt him.
So, now the games are underway ……….
Steven, August 5th

Interview with Chess Campeona

2010-08-05T18:33:00.001-04:00

1. Stuart, How do you feel about your performance in the XXI Pan American Youth Tournament?

So far I think I've been playing OK, last night I messed up an easily won endgame though.

2. We know that every single opponent you have had has been strong, however, Which opponent impressed you the most in this almost first half of the event?

Probably my latest opponent, Giuseppe Leiva, although he did let me come back from a worse position to almost win.

3. When you enter the tournament hall, what goes through your mind? How do you motivate yourself?

I don't feel any tension or nervousness before the rounds, I just want to play my best and try to win.

4. After a round, what do you usual do?

Go to the area where the coaches are analyzing the games and go over it, then we usually eat.

5. This is your first Pan American, is it everything you thought it would be?

I didn't really come thinking about what to expect. The only thing I was surprised about was the small playing areas.

6. What would you change in this Pan American concerning organization and logistics?

The organizers broke up the players into little rooms because they didn't have a big hall to play in, maybe a different venue with a large playing space would be better.

7. Do you have what it takes to medal in this event?

Yes, no one in my section is far higher rated than me, it's quite closely packed. Also, many of the top players have lost or drawn games already and only 3 people are perfect so far, so if I play my best, I think I have a good chance.

8. Which delegation has impressed you so far?

I haven't really had a chance to judge and see the delegations and limited interaction.

9. How is the morale in the U.S. Team?

Overall pretty high as we have had relatively strong results so far. I think we all get along well together.

10. Who is coaching you on the U.S. Team and what does the coaching consist of??

After rounds, we go over the games, either with Aviv or Armen. Earlier today I had a preparation session with Armen, but it won't happen again due to the schedule of the rounds.

11. Which player on the U.S. Team has been the life of the party?

There hasn't been any one individual who's been more outgoing than the rest.

12. What are your impressions of what you have seen so far of Brazil as a country?

Haven't ventured out really. The people seem very nice however.

13. Currently we are getting 1,500 hits per day at www.chesscampeona.com, what would you like to tell our readers, especially those back home in the United States?

This event is definitely tough and a long way from home. Enjoyable, but certainly not a holiday :)

--

Friends across nations

2010-08-04T16:53:00.005-04:00

My informal count of the Team USA results so far is Round 1 - 11.5 points, Round 2 – 9.5 points, Round 3 – 8 points, so we are dropping off a little as the competition gets tougher, but still doing creditably well. The inscrutable Justus, as our only #1 seed, is leading by example with 3 points, with Evan and Adarsh both also maintaining a perfect score. Adarsh had a particularly long match last night, somewhere in excess of four hours, coming through with Black after for some reason preparing during the afternoon to play his opponent with White!
Stuart dropped his first half point of the tournament, having to settle for a draw after giving away a won Queen vs. Rook end game by chasing a couple of blockaded pawns on the wing and leaving two others to march towards the queening goal-line in the center. He seemed pretty upset with himself yesterday evening but again, there is still a long way to go, and I just hope that half point does not make a big difference at the end of the week. He was upset with me too, for stating the obvious that he should have won, but we’re friends again now. I finally tried a glass of the local red while waiting for him to finish. I guess like anywhere else, you get what you pay for, and the cheapest cab sav on the shelf was not something I’ll be going back to. If he finishes with a medal, I think I’ll treat myself to something nicer on Saturday night!
Today there is the respite of only one (evening) game, after playing two yesterday, and facing two in each of the two critical days ahead. Friday especially, being rounds 7 and 8, should determine many of the final outcomes. Stuart had a half hour lesson with Armen this morning to help prepare for today’s round. Because of the schedule, this is the only lesson of the week, though we do have the valuable game review sessions after every round.
At lunch time I made a point of seeking out the Venezuelan participants in the Chess Campeona Pan American Youth Project. It was not too difficult when I put my mind to it, given they are all wearing bright blue and yellow jackets with Venezuela on the back! Though Elisa does not speak English, her young teammate at the table was game to give it a go, and her mother, Xiomara, was very friendly and has very good English indeed. Now we just need to find Team Puerto Rico – Danitza and Miguel, where are you??
Steven, August 4th

Blood on the Floor

2010-08-03T18:06:00.007-04:00

Just a short update for the moment, as Round 2 is still in progress. Round 1 was very good for Team USA. Last evening, Aviv and Armen had set up in a corner of the ground floor café in the absence of any other space in which to conduct post-match reviews, and steadily our players returned with good news: win, after win, after win. In the Boys U-16, Adarsh was first to finish. His was not a difficult game, I believe, and his report on Stuart: a pawn up in a complex situation. Well that is typical – ‘complex’ and ‘double-edged’ I hear a lot in descriptions of Stuart’s games. Next out was Chris, again it was comfortable, and the Stuart update was that now he had simplified and should win. Ultimately he did so, and the team finished with 11 wins, one draw and 1 full point bye. If we can keep that up, we will do very well!
I don’t have the full picture on Round 2, but although most of the team came through, unfortunately it seems we suffered at least a couple of defeats this time. Still, there is a long way to go for everybody in this tournament. In the U-16 in which I have a special interest, Adarsh and Stuart both won, but Chris had to give a draw from a strong position due to time pressure. There was evidently high-rated blood on the floor in this round, as the pairings for Round 3 show Adarsh moving up from Board 4 to Board 1, Stuart moving up from Board 8 to Board 3, and Chris moving up from Board 12 to Board 7! In the Under 10 Open, we will have the first all-US match up, between Jonathan Chiang and Vignesh Panchanathan.
To avoid going crazy, I went out for an hour and a half’s round trip walk downtown this afternoon. It was nice to see ‘normal’ life in the city, and some of the sights. I had not been outside the hotel since we arrived, but I think I’ll take this therapy on a regular basis from now on. I got back to the room about 25 minutes before the third round, to find Stuart buried in his computer. It was lucky I did not leave him to his own devices, as he was going by the east coast US time on his computer, and thought he still had well over an hour until the round started. Given the rule is that you default if you are 30 minutes late, he would have been in trouble!
Steven, August 3nd

Bento Goncalves Chess Zoo

2010-08-03T07:31:00.004-04:00

The remainder of the journey was TOUGH! Not because it was especially difficult, but just because it followed what had gone before, and 30 hours door to door is a long time. We were all asked to line up at the gate in Montevideo well before the plane even arrived, and we took off seemingly well behind schedule. Stuart passed on the cheese and ham sandwich, of course, then suddenly we were coming in to land at Porto Allegre after little more than an hour in the air, and within 10 minutes of the scheduled time. We got our suitcase (though it seems not everyone in the US delegation presently knows where their luggage might be), found the representatives of the ground transportation company amongst the crowds of people in the airport meeting area, and slumped into the front seats on the bus. We waited there an hour for other arrivals (though again, we understand now that others had much longer waits), then made the one and a half hour bus ride up into the gentle hills of the Brasilian wine country (no I have not forgotten about the wine, though I have not tasted any yet).
It was around 9.15pm when we arrived at the hotel. Oh my goodness – kids everywhere! Lots of bodies, lots of running around, lots of noise. I had forgotten what it was like to come to big scholastic events. My beloved wife had good sense when she bailed out of the trip and told me I should go! We had to find the chess HQ to register before we could even check in. Darcy Lima no doubt saw the same tired and unforgiving look in my eyes that he would have seen in countless others before me, and made the process very quick and painless. Finally we found our room, dumped the bags, and raced to catch the end of the dinner sitting. Nevertheless, it was somehow already 11.30 by the time we made it to bed, and we still had not seen anyone from the US delegation.
Ten hours later and feeling a lot more respectable, we went down for breakfast. We sat with a lady from the Argentinean team. She does not speak English, and we do not speak Spanish, yet we were able in the wonderful way that two foreign cultures with appropriate goodwill can do, to understand enough to know that her son is in the U-12 section and was so tired after the journey that she could not wake him for breakfast, and hence she was collecting a few things to take back for him. It seems this is a tricky place to get to even for the South Americans.
We spied “Head of Delegation” Aviv on another table across the room with fellow coach Armen and the rest of the American U-16s, and finally got to say hello after finishing breakfast. At 11am, we had an initial USA team meeting, with almost everyone present, including the Chiangs, who actually only arrived in Bento Goncalves during the course of the meeting, and thus took the prize for looking the most disoriented! We learned that as the hotel does not have any big event rooms, each age group will play in a different room, and there will be no space for spectators – after the first few minutes of each round, only the official coaches will be allowed downstairs in the basement-level playing areas.
The lunch buffet seemed innocuous enough, and a pleasant time spent with Aviv and Armen, but afterwards Stuart came down (and I feel justified in using block letters a second time in this article) with a MAJOR allergic reaction to something he had eaten, becoming swollen, red, and covered all over with large welts. And so, although he took an anti-histamine, had a long shower to ease the discomfort, and is certainly now getting over the reaction, the boy I just said good luck to in the U-16 sardine can of a room as he started his first round is not yet back to his sharpest.
Steven, August 2nd

The Travellers

2010-08-01T13:53:00.005-04:00

Saturday and Sunday are Travel Days! And perhaps re-bonding days. Teenagers may be teenagers, meaning always right and prepared to argue their point endlessly. However, when put into the appropriate situation, they can still be the kids to whom we devoted the best years of our life. So it was that after a smooth drive up to Boston, we got on our first plane, and Stuart found immediate comfort in leaning against me with his head on my shoulder. I in turn rested my head on his, and we were locked together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. He may be as tall as me now, but he still loves me.
The first leg from Boston to Miami went very smoothly, as we took off promptly, and landed early. However, in Miami the wheels fell off – almost literally! We pulled out from the gate just a few minutes behind schedule. Then stopped. Then after a while we were told that a couple of mechanical issues were being checked out. Then a little later, that we needed to pull back to the gate to check on one of the tires. The next word was that they needed to change two of the tires, this may take an hour, but everyone should stay on the plane because we would be more comfortable there (not the case in row 39, I assure you!) And finally, we were all asked to deplane (which meant waking Stuart) so they could indeed change these tires, and it would take maybe an hour and a half. And so, it is 1 am on Sunday August 1st as I sit in the boarding area in Miami terminal typing this, when I thought I would not be killing time until we get to Montevideo.
“Uruguay seems flat and dry” – those are my first impressions as we came in to land here. And friendly, too, from the various airport staff we have met. I have been to over 30 countries in the past 15 years or so, but I’m not going to count this one, as we do not get beyond the airport. Perhaps we could have flown here 24 hours earlier then explored the city for a day, but I am sure that would have added to the cost.
The flight here was a bit of a trial. We finally took off at 2am Miami time, already 3am in Bento Goncalves. Stuart has a number of food allergies we have to look out for when we travel, so Irene had ordered special meals. We got quite a reasonable vegetarian curry, which I enjoyed as much as I could expect for the time of day, but unfortunately it was covered in cheese, so Stuart could not eat it. Offered the regular meal as an alternative, he decided he was too tired, and went back to sleep.
A few restless hours later, breakfast was a croissant, which Stuart could not eat either, and by this stage I was a little fed up with the air stewardess who kept advising that we should have ordered the gluten free meal, as this would not have helped. Eventually I prevailed on one of the other cabin attendants, who did at least bring him a good serving of fruit from the front of the plane. We have since had lunch here in the bright, modern and relatively quiet terminal building, and are now sitting at our computers in the general seating area near our gate. Four hours to Brasil !!!
Steven, August 1st

Feed the Stomach, Feed the Mind

2010-07-31T13:50:00.005-04:00

It has been our last full day at home before the trip, and also Stuart’s half birthday. Half birthdays are events we have acknowledged in our family since the kids were very young, because otherwise it seems like a very long time between celebrations when you are only four or five years old. I wish I could say the same from my present perspective!
We had a fairly quiet day. The weather has been beautiful in Rhode Island the past few days, with the steamy heat of recent times having temporarily passed by, so it has been wonderful to eat meals on the deck, look out over the garden, and forget that for eight months of the year it is too cold to do this! Food is very important to us, and the rest of us are lucky that Irene is a great cook, so half birthdays mean something special. This evening we had grilled Korean kalbi, baby eggplant and squash with rice and salad, then Emma, our resident dessert specialist, rustled up a chocolate brownie (slightly overcooked this time, Em) with ice cream. Emma was going to take her turn at writing a short article today, but she came up short of ideas, so we’ll take the brownie in lieu.
Today has involved a bit of running around to tie up loose ends for work, as always before traveling. Nevertheless, any day when Dad beats Stuart at ping pong is a good day – in fact any day when Dad beats Stuart at anything is a good day! – and so it was today. Now I just need the Red Sox to win tonight.
Stuart has been preparing a bit for the tournament the last few days, though now he is at a level some significant way beyond my chess abilities, I don’t ask for details any more. He has not played over the board since the World Open, but he plays on the internet and has had a couple of lessons, and overall I have confidence that he will not sell himself short.
If we start now, I wonder if we can learn some basic Portuguese in the next 24 hours….. Perhaps not!
Steven, July 30th

Bounce-down to Brazil

2010-07-31T09:35:00.004-04:00

Wow, the pressure is on! I just read the email from Abed saying “It’s Done!” the initial interview with Stuart has been posted, lots of people have been informed, and now we need to keep the news flowing. I remembered the answer to my question as to how much of Stuart’s time this project may take up during the tournament itself ….”Well, actually it might take up more of your time..!”
We don’t fly until Saturday. I understand some kids are already in Bento Goncalves (highlight of the week – I discovered it is the wine capital of Brazil, so there is something for the parents after all), and most others will be arriving on Saturday. Our journey will take more than 24 hours, from home to Boston, to Miami, to Montevideo (yes, we fly to Uruguay, then go north again), to Porto Alegre, and then hopefully there will be a bus waiting to take us the final 120 kms / 75 miles to the tournament hotel.
I travel a lot for work, and Stuart has done his fair share of plane-hopping as well, ever since his first trans-continental flight at age 8 months, so we are not concerned by the journey. Irene secretly took photos of him today, evidently preparing intensely for the week ahead, by learning from his sister Emma how to do cartwheels on the trampoline! I got him to begin packing yesterday, because he invariably forgets something the first time around, while I’ll no doubt throw my things together at the last minute.
Arriving Sunday evening, I expect we will miss the Opening Ceremony. I still have memories of last year at the North American Youth in Mazatlan – a gently chaotic room set up for the chess players but crowded with families and organizers, a general atmosphere somewhere between happy-go-lucky and “come on, let’s get on with it!”, and a lot of Spanish speaking which we did not understand. The highlight was the costumed line-up of trumpet(?) players who belted out the Mexican national anthem. I guess you call it a cultural experience.
Steven, July 29th

Pan American 2010 Project by Chess Campeona

2010-07-30T06:46:00.005-04:00

The following is an interview by Abed Munoz, NAYCC 2009 HOD. Chess Campeona invited me to be the American representative for this project, together with WCM Danitza Vazquez from Puerto Rico and WCM Elisa Plasencia of Venezuela. Chess Campeona will be following my life for the next couple of weeks.

PAN AMERICAN PROJECT - CM STUART FINNEY - UNITED STATES

1. How old are you and in what city do you live in?
I am now 15, and live in Barrington, RI, USA

2. What grade did you attend this year and in what school?
Just finished 9th grade at Barrington High School

3. What is your national chess rating and FIDE rating?
USCF-2175 per the official July 2010 supplement; FIDE-2090 as of July 2010

4. When did you learn how to play chess and at what age?
My Dad first taught me the basics around 2000, at age 5

5. Who currently coaches you?
FM David Griego of RI locally, and GM Predrag Trajkovic of Serbia [via internet]. I also visit GM Larry Christiansen from time to time

6. Do you have a chess blog or website? If so, provide us the address.
I started one last fall, at http://stuartfinneychessworld.blogspot.com/

7. How many hours per week do you study chess and in what chess club do you mostly participate?
Probably around 10-15 h/w; Blackstone Chess Club is my local club

8. What national and international tournaments have you won or came close to winning?
I won the 2009 North American Youth Chess Championship U-14 Gold Medal, earning the Candidate Master title. In my first international tournament I placed 3rd U-14 as a 9 year old in Mainz in 2004. Last year I was 3rd U14 in the Rethymno 2009 International Open Chess Tournament in Crete.

Nationally, I won trophies in 6 consecutive National Scholastic Tournaments in 2003 to 2005, before focusing more on open tournaments. I won the right to represent my State in the Denker this year, but had to forgo the opportunity because it clashes with the PanAmericans.

9. In your chess career, which chess player present or past has influenced your style of play?
Kasparov

10. What do your parents do for a living?
Dad-Chief Financial Officer for a global division of a Swedish public company; Mom-Pharmacist by profession, currently main job is to look after the family.

11. Do you have brothers and/or sisters?
2 younger sisters-Laura (age 13), Emma (age 11)

12. How is your schedule like in a regular day during the school year?
I am up by 6:30 and go to school at 7:30 (next year I am taking Chemistry, Physics, Advanced Placement Calculus, American Literature, United States History, Gym, and Mandarin Chinese). When I get home around 2:30, I do homework, play the piano, play scrabble, do random trivia, chat with friends, play ping-pong, read, study chess, and do my household chores. A couple of days of the week I go to kung-fu classes.

13. What other sports or hobbies besides chess do you participate in?
Kung-fu, Ping-pong, Piano; now retired from soccer (!)

14. What careers appeal to you for college?
Something to do with math and/or science

15. What are your chess goals?
Become a Grandmaster, and in the nearer term, to win the RI State Championship, win the Denker, and win the Pan-Ams!

16. How did you qualify to play in the Pan American?
Won Gold Medal at 2009 North American Youth Chess Championships

17. Which organizations are financially sponsoring your trip to the Pan American?
None. But I won $400 earlier this year playing in the RI Chaminade Club piano competition, and this money is going towards the Pan-Ams.

18. How many players from your country will be participating in the Pan American Youth and who do you know?
So far I have only really focused on my own section, where there are 3 other US players; one of them I used to go to school with and knew quite well when we were much younger, one I have spoken to few times, and one I don’t know at all.

19. If there is anything you could change about chess, what would it be?
How the USCF rates FIDE tournaments

20. www.chesscampeona.com, will be documenting your life before, during and after the Pan American Youth, why did you decide to participate in this project with two other Latin American players?
My parents told me it would be good for me!

http://chesscampeona.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=195

Chaminade Club

2010-05-03T17:15:00.004-04:00

Laura and I participated in the Chaminade Club Scholarship Music Festival a few weeks ago at the Music Mansion in Providence. Music performances are the only times that I don a shirt, pants and bow-tie.

Laura played :
Sonata in A flat major, L. 186-Allegro, Scarlatti
Sonata No. 18 in B flat major, K.570 – Allegro, Mozart
Papillion No. 2 Nos. 2,3,4,7,9, and 12, Schumann
Suite Bergamasque – Prelude, Debussy

And my repertoire was :
Sonata K. 159 in C major – Allegro, Scarlatti
Sonata Op.10, No. 2 in F major-Allegro, Beethoven
Rhapsodie in G minor Op.79, No.2, Brahms
Toccata in E flat minor, Khachaturian

We came in the top tier of the competition and we received $400 as our prize money each. Being competitive, I asked Dr. Kang how many points we both scored. Laura beat me by 2 points! That’s ok – I always said she is better in music than me.
I am very happy that I did well; I am going to use my scholarship money towards my Pan American tournament in Brazil.

Thank you very much Dr. Kang for helping us achieve this scholarship.
And thank you, Ms Rosalind Chua and the other Chaminade Club members for organizing this festival. Lastly, thank you to the Madeline Talamo Memorial Fund for my award and to the Carol Nourse Memorial Fund for Laura’s.

On a different performance note, we attended the last Jeffrey Siegel Piano Conversations concert at RIC. Due to lack of funding, the series will no longer be held in Providence. We hope that his concerts will be revived again.

Philly Open

2010-04-13T15:08:00.002-04:00

The weekend before Easter I played and comfortably won the RI State Scholastic tournament, 5 years after my first win in the event, and for the first time have the honor of being the state representative for this summer’s annual tournament of state scholastic champions, named for the late Arnold Denker. I am still hoping that the date for the Pan Americans in Brazil will be changed so I can play in both these events.
Less than 4 days later we had to dodge the flood waters to go down to the Easter weekend Philadelphia Open, one of the strongest tournaments I will play in all year. Although I started with some good results and games, I didn’t perform as well as I wanted to, eventually scoring 3.5/9. In the first round, I played WIM Alisa Melekhina, a well-known and strong player who I’ve played a couple times in the past. During the game, I mixed up two systems, but after some inaccuracies made by her, I got a slightly favorable position. The game kept going back and forth, eventually winding up in a slightly worse bishop ending for me, but I managed to hold a draw, playing until about 1 AM in the morning. Seems I’m getting good at these first round long games!
Melekhina,Alisa (2271) - Finney,Stuart (2024) [B22]
Philadelphia Open (1), 31.03.2010
[Stuart Finney]
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bc4 d6 6.d4 cxd4 7.cxd4 Bd7 8.0–0 Nc6 [8...Bc6] 9.Bxd5 [9.Re1 Nb6] 9...exd5 10.Re1 [10.Nc3 Be6 11.Re1 Be7 12.exd6 Qxd6 13.Nb5 Qd7 14.Bf4 Rc8 Probably about equal. Black has the two bishops in return for White's initiative.] 10...Be6 11.exd6 [11.Ng5 dxe5 (11...Be7 12.Nxe6 fxe6 13.Qg4) 12.dxe5 Bc5 (12...Be7 13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.Qg4) 13.Nc3 This is probably White's best course of action. She retains a slightly better position, but Black seems to be doing OK.(13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.Qg4 Qe7 15.Bg5 Qf7) ; 11.Nc3 would transpose to the above note] 11...Bxd6 12.Ng5 [12.Nc3 0–0 Black seems to be doing fine here.] 12...0–0 13.Nxe6 [13.Qh5 Bf5 This seems to hold Black's position intact. After Bg6, Black's king seems quite safe.(13...h6 14.Nxe6 fxe6 15.Bxh6 (15.Rxe6 Nxd4 16.Rg6 Nf5 I think Black can stop White's attack. (16...Rf5 17.Qxh6) 17.Bxh6 Bc5 18.Qg4 Qe7 (18...Bxf2+ 19.Kh1 Nxh6 20.Rxg7+ Kh8 21.Qg6) 19.Nc3 Nxh6 20.Rxh6 Rxf2) 15...gxh6 16.Qg6+ White will have 3 pawns and a very strong attack for the piece 16...Kh8 17.Qxh6+ Kg8 18.Rxe6 Be7 19.Qg6+ Kh8 20.Qh5+ Kg7 21.Rg6+ Kf7 22.Rh6+ Kg7 23.Qg6#) ; 13.Qd3 g6 I think Black can hold this as well; White will probably take on e6, but after that her attack is pretty much neutralized.] 13...fxe6 14.Qg4 [14.Rxe6 Bxh2+ 15.Kxh2 Qh4+ 16.Kg1 Qxf2+ is at least a draw for Black, maybe he has even more.] 14...Qf6 15.Be3 [15.Qxe6+ Qxe6 16.Rxe6 Bxh2+ (16...Rae8 17.Rxe8 Rxe8 Gives Black a lot of play and a guarantee of getting the pawn back. 18.Be3 Bf4 or(18...Nxd4 anyway because White can't take) ) 17.Kxh2 Nxd4 is very good for Black] 15...Nb4 [15...e5 16.dxe5 (16.Nc3 This is what I was annoyed by during the game, because I overlooked 17...Qe5 16...exd4 17.Nxd5 Qe5) 16...Nxe5 This is a better option for White, but I still like Black's position here] 16.Qe2 e5 17.Qd2 Rae8 [17...e4 This gives Black a better position; 17...Qf5 18.dxe5] 18.Nc3 Qf5 [18...e4 The last chance to play this move, a better option 19.a3 Nd3 20.Nxd5 Qf5] 19.dxe5 Qxe5 [19...Bxe5 20.Bc5] 20.g3 Qf5 21.Nb5 Be7 22.Red1 [22.Nd4 White's position is better here, her knight is on a good square and Black has an isolated queen pawn; 22.Bxa7 This may be good too; White grabs a pawn and I don't think Black can do anything about it 22...Nc2 23.Rxe7 Rxe7 24.Rc1] 22...a6 23.Nd4 Qg6 [23...Qg4 The queen on g6 falls to the knight fork on f4] 24.a3 Nc6 25.Ne2 Rd8 26.Nf4 Qf7 27.Bb6 [27.Nxd5 I think this is better 27...Bd6 (27...Ne5 28.Nxe7+ Qxe7 29.Qc2 (29.Qe2 Nf3+ 30.Kg2 Qe4) 29...Nf3+ 30.Kg2) 28.f4 Stopping Ne5; White has a good position(28.Qe2 Bxg3 29.hxg3 Rxd5) ] 27...Rd7 28.Qe2 [28.Nxd5 Bd8 29.Bc5 Re8 Black gets compensation for the pawn] 28...Bf6 29.Rab1 Re8 30.Qf1 d4 The tables seemed to have turned. Black's isolated pawn is a strength now. [30...Ne5 However, this may be even better.] 31.Nd3 Qd5 32.Bc5 Ne5 33.Nxe5 Bxe5 34.Bb4 a5 35.Bd2 d3 36.Be3 a4 [36...Rc8 37.Rd2 Rc2] 37.Rd2 Bc7 [37...Qb3 38.Rc1 (38.Qd1 Qxd1+ 39.Rbxd1 Red8) 38...Bf6 (38...Bxb2 39.Rb1) 39.Qd1 Red8 40.Qxb3+ axb3 Double-edged position. White is more cramped, but if she can win the d3 pawn, she's better.] 38.Rc1 [38.Rbd1 is better, there is not way for Black to defend the d3 pawn 38...Red8 39.Rxd3 Qxd3 40.Rxd3 Rxd3 Complicated endgame, but I think White should be better] 38...b6 [38...Ba5 39.Rc5 I was scared of this during the game, because I didn't see my next move 39...Qxc5 40.Bxc5 Bxd2 and Black is better] 39.Qd1 [39.Rc3 Again, this looks better; White gets rid of the d3 pawn] 39...Qe4 40.Rc3 Red8 41.Bg5 [41.Rxc7 Rxc7 42.Bxb6 Rcd7 43.Bxd8 Rxd8 White is still cramped and Black should be able to hold this position even though he's a pawn down.] 41...Be5 42.Rcxd3 Rxd3 43.Bxd8 Rxd2 44.Qxd2 Qd4 45.Qe1 [45.Qg5 Qxb2 46.Bxb6 This may be a better option for White(46.Qf5 Qc1+ 47.Kg2 Qc6+ 48.f3 Bd4 Black is doing fine here.) ] 45...Qxb2 46.Bc7 [46.Bxb6 Playing this straight away is better. 46...Qa1 This is probably best. (46...Qxa3 47.Qxe5 Qc1+ 48.Kg2 Qc6+ 49.f3 Qc2+ (49...Qxb6 50.Qe8#) 50.Kh3) 47.Qxa1 Bxa1 48.Kf1 Kf7 49.Ke2 Ke6 This is a tempo better version of the game ending, though it is probably still drawn.] 46...Qa1 47.Qxa1 Bxa1 48.Bxb6 Kf7 49.Kf1 Ke6 50.Bc5 Kd5 51.Bf8 Kc4 52.Ke2 h5 [52...Kb3 53.Kd3 Bb2 54.f4 Bxa3 55.Bxa3 Kxa3 56.Kc3 Ka2 57.g4 (57.Kc2 Ka3 58.g4 Kb4 59.f5 Kc4 60.g5 Kd5) 57...a3 (57...Kb1 58.Kb4) 58.Kc2 Ka1 59.f5 h5 (59...a2 60.g5 h5 61.f6 h4 62.f7 h3 63.f8Q g6 64.Qf6#; 59...g5 60.f6 h5 61.f7 h4 62.f8Q h3 63.Qf1+ Ka2 64.Qb1#) 60.f6 hxg4 (60...gxf6 61.gxh5 f5 62.h6 f4 63.h7 f3 64.h8Q+ Ka2 65.Qb8 f2 66.Qb1#) 61.fxg7 g3 62.g8Q gxh2 63.Qg7+ Ka2 64.Qf7+ Ka1 65.Qf1+ Ka2 66.Qb1#] 53.f4 g6 54.Ke3 Kd5 55.f5 gxf5 56.Kf4 Ke6 57.Kg5 Bd4 58.Kxh5 Bg1 59.h3 Bf2 60.g4 fxg4 61.hxg4 Be3 White has the wrong color bishop for the a-pawn so Black can just sacrifice his bishop for the g-pawn and bring his king to a8 for an easy draw. 62.Bh6 Bc5 63.Bc1 Be7 64.Kg6 Ke5 65.Kf7 Bxa3 66.Bxa3 Kf4 67.g5 Kxg5 ½–½

In the second round, I was the player who got a good position out of the opening after I side-stepped my opponent, FM Ali Morshedi’s, plan to play the Marshall Gambit. However, I pushed too hard and found myself in slightly the worse position, but after 6 hrs of play, managed to hold this game too. After a quick lunch/dinner, I had to play my next game against the very well known IM, Emory Tate. I misplayed the Black side of the Grand Prix Attack, and thought that my position was worse while playing. However, upon analysis, I’ve realized that it probably was at least equal for me as his massive center could be undermined. The game was brought to a short end however by a blunder I made blocking the 7th rank and allowing Tate to sacrifice a piece to mate me.
The next morning brought a better result for me. I played FM Zakhar Fayvinov and after playing through about 20 moves, we found ourselves in a complicated rook and queen endgame, in which I had compensation for the pawn. Fayvinov gave the pawn back a couple moves later to create an attack on my king, but I managed to escape by bringing my king to a4 and after trading off queens, I reached a won rook ending. However, that night brought me face to face with FM Michael Langer, someone who had seemed to be winning against Kamsky in the 2nd round. After misplaying a sharp line in the Najdorf-Scheveningen, I had to play 12…Ke7, a very bad omen indeed. I duly got killed in 26 moves, probably my worst game of the entire tournament.
In round 6, I played Jeff Kelleher, rated FIDE 2090. We played the first 15 or so moves all Sveshnikov theory, before I played an interesting idea I’d seen before in some of these lines with h4 and g4. Although it seemed very aggressive, my main idea was to block his f5 push, which I would have had to deal with if I’d castled. I found an interesting rook lift idea, but I played it too soon, and allowed his knight to get to f4. After complicated play, I sacrificed the exchange in order to try to advance my queenside pawns, but my king was too vulnerable and I lost.
Finney,Stuart (2024) - Kelleher,Jeff (2090) [B33]
Philadelphia Open (6), 03.04.2010
[Stuart Finney]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 0–0 12.Nc2 Bg5 13.a4 bxa4 14.Rxa4 a5 15.Bc4 Rb8 16.b3 [16.Ra2] 16...Kh8 17.h4 [17.Nce3] 17...Bf4 18.g3 Bh6 19.g4 Bf4 20.Nce3 Bxe3 21.Nxe3 Be6 22.Nd5 Ne7 [22...Bxd5 23.Qxd5²] 23.Rh3 I think this idea is good, but I played it too soon. Letting the black knight get to f4 unchallenged is not a good idea. [23.Nxe7 Qxe7 24.Bd5 I looked at this line during the game, but was worried about (24.Rxa5 Bxc4 25.bxc4 Rfc8 I think Black is fine here; he almost certainly gets the pawn back and his pieces are active) 24...Qc7 However, now my previous idea 25.Rh3 seems to be good] 23...Bxd5 24.Bxd5 Ng6 25.h5 [25.g5 Nf4 26.Rg3 f5 Playing 25.g5 allows Black to play f5 and with White's king in the center, it is probably quite good for Black.] 25...Nf4 26.Rg3 Rb5 27.Bc4 [27.c4 Maybe this is better to make sure Black can't play d5 27...Rc5 28.Kf1 g6 (28...Qh4 29.Kg1) 29.hxg6 fxg6 Black still seems to be doing well here; his knight is much stronger than the White bishop.] 27...Rc5 28.Ra2 [28.h6 seems to be an idea worth looking at 28...gxh6 29.Qf3 and try to create some kingside attack, though I'm not sure it works] 28...Qa8 29.f3 Rd8 30.Rg1 [30.Kf2 d5 31.Rd2 a4 32.exd5 Nxd5 This is what I was most afraid of (32...a3 33.Qa1 Nxd5 34.Bxd5 Rcxd5 35.Rxd5 Rxd5 36.Rg1 (36.Kg1 a2) 36...Rd2+ 37.Kg3 e4) 33.Bxd5 Rcxd5 34.Rxd5 Rxd5 35.Qa1 Rd2+ 36.Kg1 (36.Ke3 Qd5) 36...Qa7+ 37.Kh1 Qf2 38.Qg1 axb3 All of these variations look good for Black] 30...d5 31.Rd2 [31.exd5 Maybe better just to take straight away and not let the a-pawn move forward. 31...Nxd5 32.Bxd5 Rcxd5 33.Qe2 Rd3 I would prefer Black's position, but maybe White is OK] 31...a4 32.exd5 a3 I hadn't considered this move, only looking at Nxd5 [32...Nxd5 33.Bxd5 Rcxd5 34.Rxd5 Rxd5 35.Qa1 Rd3 36.Qxa4 This is a much better version for White with the rook on g1 instead of the king on f2. I think White is doing fine here.] 33.Kf2 I thought sacrificing the exchange was my best chance. [33.Ra2 Nxd5 34.Bxd5 Rcxd5 35.Qe2 This is an even better version for Black than the variation above.; 33.Qa1 Nxd5 34.Bxd5 Rcxd5 35.Rxd5 Qxd5 36.Kf2 (36.Qxa3 Qd1+ 37.Kf2 Rd2+ 38.Ke3 Qe2#) 36...Qxb3 Black's position is dominating; 33.Qc2 Nxd5 34.Bxd5 Rcxd5 35.Rxd5 Qxd5 36.Kf2 White may be able to hold this, though Black's position is certainly superior] 33...Nh3+ 34.Kg3 Nxg1 35.Qxg1 Rc7 [35...a2 36.Rxa2 Qxa2 37.Qxc5 is good for White I think.] 36.Qa1 Ra7 37.b4 Qc8 38.Bb3 Qc7 39.Kh3 [39.Ra2 e4+ 40.f4 g5 41.c4+ Kg8 42.Qf6 gxf4+ 43.Qxf4 This is a better option for White I think.] 39...e4 40.fxe4 Qf4 41.Rd4 [41.Rd3 Qxe4 42.Rg3 a tempo up from the game; 41.Qe1 Qf3+ 42.Qg3 Qxe4 43.h6 is probably the best option in order to create counterplay; however, the position is better for Black] 41...Ra6 I didn't realize how strong Black's attack was going to be. 42.Rd3 [42.Ba2 Qe3+ 43.Kg2 (43.Kh4 g5+ 44.hxg6 Rxg6 No way to stop mate.) 43...Rf6 Black's attack crashes through 44.Qg1 Qe2+; 42.Qa2 Qf3+ 43.Kh2 Qxc3; 42.Bc4 Rf6 43.Qe1 Qf3+ 44.Kh2 (44.Kh4 g5+ (44...Rf4 45.Qg3 Qh1+ 46.Qh3 (46.Kg5 Rf6) 46...Qe1+ 47.Qg3 Rf2 Also winning) 45.hxg6 (45.Kxg5 Rg8+) 45...Rxg6 46.e5 Rh6+ 47.Kg5 Rg8+ 48.Kxh6 Qh3+ 49.Qh4 Qxh4#) 44...Qxg4 Black is clearly better; 42.c4 Qf3+ 43.Kh4 Qxb3] 42...Qxe4 43.Rg3 Rf6 I think by now, White's position is already hopeless 44.c4 Rf3 45.Qd1 [45.h6 Probably White's best chance to try and create counterplay 45...Rg8 However, this easily defends everything and White is clearly worse 46.Qxa3 Qf4 47.Rxf3 Qxf3+ 48.Kh2 Re8] 45...Rxg3+ 46.Kxg3 Qe5+ 47.Kf3 [47.Kf2 Qb2+ 48.Kf3 a2; 47.Kh4 Qh2+ 48.Kg5 f6+ 49.Kf5 Qe5#; 47.Kh3 Qc3+] 47...Qc3+ 48.Kf4 Re8 My king is getting mated as well as Black just having a very good position. 0–1

That night I played against Vadim Kudryavtsev, rated FIDE 2215. In the old main line of the Caro-Kann, I changed my move order around from the way I had played against David Plotkin at Liberty Bell and so was able to play another interesting idea involving advancing my queen-side pawns, which I hadn’t been able to do in the earlier game. Although I thought I should have got a better position, my opponent was able to hold and I only won after he blundered on the 36th move.
The final morning, I played Jarod Pamatmat, a pairing I had ironically predicted about 2 days beforehand. I knew what he played from the World Youth, and did some preparation before the game. He deviated on move 11 from most of my preparation, but I still knew some of the ideas in the line. However, on move 18, the queens were traded off and although the ending was slightly better for Jarod, I was able to hold relatively easy and we agreed a draw on move 28. We analyzed the game and played some blitz for a while before Jarod had to leave to fly back to Texas. For the last round, several of my friends had taken byes, something it seems I should be doing with my record of last round results. This time, I managed to get a very strong position after the opening, but miscalculated a line when I played a move too fast and after struggling for 5 hrs in a worse endgame, I finished off losing my last round once again.
I therefore finished by gaining a very hard earned 6 USCF rating points, and hopefully about 15-20 FIDE, but I feel I could’ve/should’ve done much better. Even counting the games where I got somewhat lucky after bad moves by my opponent, I think I should have scored at least 1 pt more if I hadn’t messed up some good/equal positions. I’m probably going to be playing in the Hartford Open in 2 weeks and hopefully I do better there!

Eastern Class Championships

2010-03-22T15:25:00.000-04:00

Over the 5th-7th of March, I took part in the Eastern Class Championships, held in Sturbridge, MA, a 5 round 40/2 SD/1 tournament. This year’s turnout was very strong, with a field of 6 GMs, 3 IMs, and several other strong players, the section was the strongest Eastern Class I’ve been to yet. At the start of the tournament, I was ranked near the bottom, but with a respectable performance of 2.5/5, I managed to achieve a final result near the middle of the table, gain 16 rating points, and win $50 in a tie for the 2nd U2300 prize. With such a top heavy tournament, 2 GMs were already playing by the 2nd round and while the GMs were battling it out, IM Hungaski managed to start out with 3 wins against his opponents, including GM Friedel. After scoring 2 draws against other GMs, Hungaski finished tied for first with GMs Benjamin and Ivanov on 4/5 and almost breaking the 2500 rating mark. Although I didn’t play any GMs throughout the tournament, unlike my friend Danny Rozovsky who played Kudrin in the 1st round, I played several strong players and had good games with them.
In the 1st round, I played FM Farai Mandizha, rated 2320, for 6 hours, finishing at 1 AM! It was a very tough game, which resulted in a loss for me, with the tables swinging back and forth throughout the entire game. After giving my opponent the initiative after the opening, Farai misplayed it and gave me a promising position, which a move or two later I managed to screw up after missing an important defensive resource. After obtaining a winning position, Farai gradually made small inaccuracies and allowed me to get back into a game in which both sides now had chances. As time moved on and our clocks started to run low, I tried to press a bit too much, resulting in my pieces getting all tangled up and eventually Farai broke through to win the game. In the 2nd round, I played a fellow Rhode Islander, Miro Reverby, who I’ve played many times before. In a complicated Sicilian, I got a very strong position out of the opening, but let him get too much counterplay. In a double-edged position, he was low on time in the first time control and he made a few mistakes in a row for me to wrest back my advantage and press back to score a win. The third round was even more exciting…but in a Dragon, what can you expect? I was playing WIM Iryna Zenyuk, and after sacrificing an exchange and 2 pawns for an attack (which wasn’t actually sound) the game eventually ended in a perpetual when I couldn’t find anything better.
Stuart Finney-Iryna Zenyuk

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0–0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.h4 h5 11.0–0–0 Rc8 12.Bb3 Ne5 13.Bg5 Rc5 14.Kb1 Re8 b5 is the main line 15.g4 [15.Bh6 Nc4 16.Bxc4 Rxc4 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Nd5 (18.g4) 18...e5 19.Nxf6 Qxf6 20.Nb3 Rec8 21.Qxd6 Be6 22.c3] 15...hxg4 16.h5 Nxh5 17.Rxh5 gxh5 18.Qh2 Nxf3 [18...Ng6 may be an improvement 19.Qxh5 Qa5 20.f4 Rxg5 21.fxg5 e6 22.Nf5 exf5 23.Qxg6 Be6 24.Qh5 fxe4 25.Rf1 Qe5 26.Rxf7 Bxb3 27.axb3 g3 28.Ka2 Rf8 29.Rxf8+ Kxf8 30.Qg4 e3 31.g6 e2 32.Qf3+ Ke8 33.Qf7+ Kd8 34.Qg8+ Kd7 35.Qf7+ Qe7 36.Qf5+ Kd8 37.Qa5+ b6 38.Qd5 e1Q 39.Qa8+ Kd7 40.Qb7+ Ke8 0–1 Radjabov,T (2751)-Carlsen,M (2765)/Baku 2008/CBM 124] 19.Nxf3 gxf3 20.Qxh5 e6 21.Nd5 Qa5 [21...f6 22.Bh6 (22.Bxf6 Rxd5; 22.Be3 Rxd5 23.exd5 e5 24.Rh1 Qc8 25.Qh7+ Kf7 26.Qh5+ Ke7 27.Qg6 Rg8 28.Rh7 Qf8 29.Bh6 f2 30.Bc4 Qf7 31.Qg3 Bf5 32.Rxg7 Rxg7 33.Bxg7 Qg6 34.Qxf2 Be4 35.Qxa7 Qxg7 36.Qxb7+ Kf8 37.Qc8+ Kf7 38.Qe6+ Kg6 39.Qg4+ Kf7 40.Qe6+ Kg6 41.Qxd6 Qa7 42.b3 Qf2 43.Kb2 Qxc2+ 44.Ka3 Qd2 45.Qc5 Bd3 46.d6 Bxc4 47.bxc4 e4 48.Qd5 e3 49.d7 Qxd5 50.cxd5 e2 51.d8Q e1Q 52.Qg8+ Kf5 53.Qc8+ Kg5 54.Qc5 Qe5 55.Qc6 Qe4 56.Qe6 Qc4 57.Qe3+ Kf5 58.Qe6+ Kg5 59.Qg8+ Kf5 60.Qe6+ Kg5 1/2–1/2 Mainka,R (2450)-Komljenovic,D (2440)/ Bad Mergentheim 1988/EXT 2001) 22...Re7 23.Nxe7+ Qxe7 24.Qg6] 22.Bh6 Rxd5 23.exd5 Bxh6 24.Qxh6 [24.Rg1+ For White to get anything better out of the game than a draw, 24. Rg1+ is the best chance. 24...Kf8 25.Qxh6+ Ke7 26.Qh4+ f6 (26...Kf8 27.Qh6+) 27.dxe6 Bc6 (27...Bxe6 28.Rg7+ Kd8 29.Qxf6+) 28.Rg7+ Kd8 29.Qxf6+ Kc8 30.a3 This position is preferable for White in my eyes, but there is still a lot to play for.] 24...f2 25.c3 Qa6 [25...exd5 26.Bc2 f5 (26...Re4 27.Qg5+ Kf8 28.Bxe4) 27.Qg6+ Kf8 28.Qxd6+ Re7 (28...Kg8 29.Qg3+ (29.Qxd7 Re1) 29...Kf7 30.Qxf2) 29.Qf6+ (29.Rh1 Qa6 30.Rh8+ Kf7 31.Qxd5+ Be6) 29...Ke8 30.Qh8+ Kf7 31.Qh7+ Kf8 32.Qh8+] 26.Bc2 [26.Qf6 Qe2 (26...exd5 27.Bxd5 Be6 28.Rh1 Qd3+ 29.Ka1 f1Q+ 30.Rxf1 Qxd5) 27.a3 exd5 (27...Qe1 28.Qg5+ Kf8 29.Qh6+ Ke7 30.Qh4+) 28.Ka2 Re6 29.Qd8+ Be8 30.Qg5+ Rg6 31.Qxd5 Rg1] 26...f5 27.Qg6+ I don't think there is anything better for White here. ½–½

In the fourth round, I played Avraam Pismennyy, rated 2265, someone who I had beaten a few years ago at the Boston University 1 day tournament. This time, however, he got the upper hand, after I misplayed a position in which I had an isolated queen pawn. The fifth round brought better tidings for me, I played and beat David Carter, rated 2249, from Vermont. The game was in the Petroff, in which I managed to give my opponent a bad light-square bishop and although he made a blunder on the 39th move when he had about 2 minutes left, he was still worse even if he had played on and I should’ve managed to win in any case.

In the last round, IM Marc Esserman rejoined the tournament after pulling out in the 4th round because of missing a winning move against Deepak Aaron the round before, and played a very nice game against Kapil Chandran in the Morra Gambit. The game, and Esserman’s analysis, can be found at http://main.uschess.org/content/view/10209/570/.

Overall, it was a great tournament for me. A decent result and catching up with various friends made it an enjoyable experience and I hope to have as good a time in future years!

Photos from Chess Simul at North Kingstown Library

2010-03-21T09:25:00.001-04:00

February Fun

2010-03-10T14:48:00.001-05:00

I only played one rated tournament in February, but it was a big one! The United States Amateur Team East (USATE) is one of the biggest tournaments of the year, and the only team tournament I have ever played in. This year, my team was a scholastic team. As mentioned in my previous blog entry, it comprised myself, Kapil Chandran, Jake Miller, and Michael Bodek. We started off quite well, and coming into the 5th round and final day, we had 3.5/4. However, the morning round brought bad results and our team lost 0.5-3.5 after initially building winning positions on 2 boards and Michael already having drawn, both winning positions (Jake’s and mine) were sadly lost and although Kapil pushed for a win, he couldn’t come up with anything. The last round the team won, but after playing for 6 hrs in the 5th round and being upset that I had lost the winning position, I blundered and lost.
Finishing with 4.5/6 was certainly not a bad result, but unfortunately, it didn’t win any prizes for our team. Michael scored the most points with 5.5/6, Jake had 4/6, then Kapil with 3.5/6, and after starting out with 2.5/3, I finished with a poor 2.5/6. Nevertheless, playing top board was a good experience for me, I played some good players, most notably Dean Ippolito in the 4th rd. I had a drawn position, but unfortunately I played incorrectly and the slightly better position for him became winning. USATE is the most fun event of my tournament year – it seems to make the games more important when your teammates are counting on you, and socializing with the many thousands of people there also makes the event very enjoyable. I caught up with various friends and roomed with Denys Shmelov who took great care of me throughout, and the event was overall very much fun even if my performance was not too great. After USATE, we had February vacation and the family came to pick me up in Parsippany to drive down to Hilton Head, South Carolina. It would have been nice to have been there a week later so I could have watched the Kaidanov-Polgar match as well!
On February 26th I went to a library in Davisville, RI, to give a short talk and play a simul with an enthusiastic group of homeschooled kids. It was a lot of fun and I wish I had the chance to play simuls more often! My last chess event in February was a Masters Event at the Blackstone Chess Club. It was a G/15 tournament, in which I tied for second with Andrew Wang. I wish it had been rated as I drew both Denys Shmelov and Sinclair Banks, both of whom are rated substantially higher than me, and won my other 2 games, against Dave Parker and Frank Wang. The past weekend I just took part in the Eastern Class Championships in Sturbridge, MA, and will be writing something up on that tournament soon!

January Happenings

2010-02-12T19:11:00.001-05:00

I am not neglecting the blog, but if truth be told, I have not had much good news to share so far this year. While some of the other boys I met in Atlanta have been on fire since the US Chess School, I have played 2 tournaments, the Liberty Bell Open in Philadelphia and the 105th RI PawnEater, without much reward.
Liberty Bell took place over Martin Luther King’s weekend, but unlike prior years it wasn’t such an enjoyable experience for me. The first day I was definitely rusty, having not played a tournament game since Turkey, and only managed 1.5/3 against nominally weaker opposition, including a loss to one of my World Youth team mates. The next few days I thought that I played OK for the most part, but without ever getting above mid-table, and consequently I played down every one of the seven rounds. The last round was particularly tough, having waved off some good friends who took final round byes, I found myself paired against another friend. Here I was clearly winning, but missed a tactic and allowed my opponent to win a rook. Instead of salvaging something from the event, I found myself losing 24 hard earned ratings points, and really chewed myself up about that one.
The 105th RI PawnEater took place on January 30, my birthday! This is a local monthly G-60 event, which usually generates quite a strong turnout in the Open section, but on this occasion I found I was clearly the highest rated there, with only one other expert in the field. I needed to go 4-0 to get very much from this, but though I finished tied for first place with Chris Gu, another strong RI kid, I lost my third round to Jacob Fauman in a time scramble near the end.
My upcoming tournament before February Vacation, taking place as usual over President’s Day Weekend, is the massive and fun United States Amateur Team East event in Parsippany, NJ. I’m going to be top board and the 2nd oldest member of my team, with Kapil Chandran on second, Jake Miller on third, and Michael Bodek on fourth. Though anyone would need a share of luck in such a big event, I think we have a very good chance at winning a prize!

SEEING IN THE NEW YEAR AT THE US CHESS SCHOOL

2010-01-03T21:48:00.002-05:00

Our family had already planned a short winter break in Orlando, when we received an email from Greg Shahade offering me the opportunity to join the latest round of the US Chess School, which was being held in Atlanta at the same time. Considering we were going to drive down to Florida, it was relatively convenient for me to attend, as the detour via Atlanta would only prolong the 21 hr journey by about an extra 3 hours!! So while the rest of the family did the theme parks, I have just returned from a week by myself devoting my days to chess.
The Chess School started at 9 AM each morning and on the first day, December 27th, we arrived at 8 AM after leaving home at 1 PM the previous day! Luckily, I had gotten ample sleep in the car and was ready for the day ahead. My parents and sisters stayed a couple of hours, just to make sure everything would go smoothly without them around, and the other parents kindly agreed to keep an eye on me and make sure I would get meals each day! I knew several of the kids already and got to know the others quite well during my stay. We had a lot of fun together, both when we interacted during breaks and after about 6 PM each day when our instruction was finished.
Gregory Kaidanov was the coach for the week, and I learned a lot while I was there. We looked at prophylaxis, tension, creative combinations, openings, and good ways to study among other things. We also looked at several grandmaster games and tried to guess and understand their moves, including a Tomashevsky game involving a very interesting queen maneuver that none of us expected. Gregory also gave me some valuable advice on how to improve my chess through more efficient ways to study. Greg Shahade had looked at several of our games before the School began, and brought up several positions which were critical and deserved attention during our instruction times. We had a number of breaks throughout the day and while Greg or Gregory set up for the next part of the lesson, the kids played blitz and bughouse. After instruction ended, we all played chess again until dinner, making our days full of chess.
Not all the nights were filled with chess though! One night, we went bowling and got two lanes for the kids to bowl on. We had a lot of fun and Arthur Shen made up several interesting names for himself during our time there. We also had a blitz tournament on the second to last day. I started off well, with three points out of the first three games. However, after achieving a better position then losing against Kevin Bu, I lost another four games, and although I beat Kevin Cao in the last round, still finished in a disappointing 6th place. Congratulations to local boy Daniel Gurevich for getting first place!
The last day of the School was December 31, New Year’s Eve. Both Robert Perez and Gregory left a bit early, then after going over another game with Greg, and the conclusion to our instruction, several other kids left shortly afterwards, leaving only Sean Vibbert, Kayden Troff, Michael Bodek, and myself to spend New Year’s Eve in the hotel, together with their parents, Greg and Aviv. We mainly spent our time playing some more chess and cheered when midnight came around and 2010 was upon us. Michael then left because he was making an early start the next morning, leaving Sean, Kayden, and I to play some more chess, as well as a game of tag with an obstacle course made out of chairs! We concluded the night around 2 AM and went up to our rooms to sleep.
On New Year’s morning both Michael and Sean left, then Kayden and I played chess until he and his mom left for their flight in mid-afternoon. I was the last chess player standing, but 2 hours later I was reunited with my family, after their own fun week, and we drove back up north and home.
I would like to close by thanking the sponsors, Dr. Jim Roberts, Mark Schein, and Aviv Friedman for enabling me to have this experience, Gregory Kaidanov for his tuition and advice, and of course Greg Shahade for organizing the US Chess School and inviting me.
After a two month break from tournament play, I plan to be at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia in two weeks’ time, and I hope my attendance at this School will help me make a good start to 2010.
Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays to All

2009-12-24T21:35:00.001-05:00

I had a very nice surprise at the school this week, when the Principal called me in to give me a copy of the DVD “Knights of the South Bronx”, which had been sent to the school for me by a Mr Joynes of Bristol. Mr Joynes, should you read this, thank you very much, and I look forward to watching it.
We also had a call recently from Greg Shahade of the US Chess School, giving me the opportunity to join the next session of the School, running between December 27th and 31st in Atlanta. I know a number of the boys who are attending, and it should be a great experience, with, I believe, Greg Kaidanov and Aviv Friedman providing the tuition. I have not played over the board since Turkey, so this will be a great opportunity to sharpen up before the Liberty Bell in Philly over Martin Luther King weekend. I’ll report back after the School.
For now, I just want to wish those who celebrate it a very Merry Christmas, and everyone a Happy New Year.

Peru Welcomes World Youth Heroes by Claudia Munoz

2009-12-06T08:20:00.004-05:00

THE GOVERNMENT OF PERU REWARDS THE CORI DUO WITH $17,000 DOLLARS FOR WINNING THE WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP IN TURKEY
While in the United States we debate whether chess is a sport or not, the countries of Latin America have no quarrels in this matter - from Mexico to Argentina chess is classified as a sport. Since chess is a sport in those countries, they are directly funded by their national governments or else they would perish. Case in point are the Cori duo in Peru.

The Cori brothers are a brother and sister duo in the under 14 and under 16 categories. Both are international masters (one is a GM-Elect) and they recently won a gold medal each at the World Youth Championship in Turkey. We have all been in awe with the Polgar sisters and their achievements; however, we have not witnessed in recent times anything close to the Cori duo.

What makes this story so moving is the fact that Peru is a nation with extreme poverty with a large native indian population, so traveling abroad has not been the easiest thing due to financial reasons. Yet through the hardships, the Cori parents have been able to launch their two children to the international chess arena.

This past week, the government of Peru announced that they will be investing $17,000 dollars in the Cori brothers for their achievements in winning two gold medals in the World Youth Championship in Turkey.

In the following link one can see how the Cori family were received at the airport upon their return from Turkey, they were welcomed like heroes:

http://www.rpp.com.pe/2009-11-26-hermanos-cori-fueron-recibidos-como-heroes-en-el-aeropuerto-video_225251.html,

Usually when articles about Latin American governments rewarding their citizens financially for sport achievements are written, most American readers tend to say, "They should be using that money to help their people so they won't have to come to the United States..."

I would answer that Peru helping the Cori duo is exactly that - helping their people.

Pics from Antalya - Thanks Gene

2009-12-03T23:13:00.006-05:00

WYCC, Later Rounds

2009-12-01T12:58:00.001-05:00

Well, I made it back from Turkey without much mishap and an experience to remember. Now that I am back in the land of high speed internet, here are some games from the latter part of the tournament.
In the 7th round, I played my strongest opponent of the tournament, Bajarani, Ulvi, an Azerbaijani rated 2342. It was hard to prepare; Bajarani had played a lot of things and during the game he played a line I was unfamiliar with. Although I played correctly for about another 4 moves after, using a lot of time, I eventually made a mistake and got a bad position. It later turned into an endgame, which was worse for me, and which I duly lost. The next round I played a Scottish 1635, Mcdonald, Ian, who seemed like he played much better than his rating, as his result reflects (he finished with 5 points). However, he let me build up a strong position as White against the Petroff’s Defense after a few inaccurate moves and after a nice rook sac on f7, I won the game shortly afterwards. Round 9 brought me up against Georgiadis, Nico, with the game below:
Georgiadis, Nico (2098) – Finney Stuart (2007)
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be2 e6 7 0-0 Nc6 8 Be3 Be7 9 f4 (At this point I looked over at the game next to me. The moves for that game were 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 Nc3 a6 4 d4 cxd4 5 Nxd4 Qc7 6 Be2 Nf6 7 0-0 Nc6 8 Be3 Be7 9 f4 and at that point, Black played d6. I looked up and the person playing White was one of my earlier opponents. I smiled, looked back at my board, and played…) Qc7 (…reaching the same position by a completely different move order!) 10 a4 Bd7 11 Nb3 0-0 12 Kh1 Rac8 (A bad move. I had meant to play b6 to prevent a5…but completely blanked out and now White has a better position) 13 a5 Qb8 14 Qe1 Rfd8 15 Qg3 (Not the best move. My opponent missed my exchange sac idea, which frees my position and gives Black a good game) Nb4 16 Rac1 Rxc3 17 bxc3 Nxe4 18 Qe1 Na2 19 Ra1 Naxc3 20 Bd3 d5 21 Bd4 Rc8 22 Rf3 Bf6 23 Bxf6 Nxf6 24 Bxh7+ (Before going in for Bf6, I had calculated this variation and my original plan was to play Kxh7 so that my knight stays in a more active position. However, at reaching this position, my hand was just about to touch the king when I thought that my opponent could play 24…Kxh7 25 Qh4+ Kg8 26 Rh3 Kf8 (I had already analyzed this previously, but this time I came up with a new idea for White…) 27 Rxc3 Rxc3 28 Qh8+ which I thought would win my queen because I had missed that I could simply play Ng8.) Nxh7 (While this is worse than Kxh7, it still leaves Black with a better position) 25 Rxc3 Rxc3 26 Qxc3 Qxf4 27 Nc5 Bc6 28 Nd3 Qg5 29 Ne5 Bb5 30 Nf3 Qd8 31 Qe5 Nf6 32 Nd4 Bc4 33 h3 Ne4 34 Rb1 Nc5 35 Rb6 Nd7 36 Qd6 Qc8 37 Rb1 g6 38 Re1 Nc5 (My original idea had been to play 38…e5, but then I realized that after 39 Nf3 e4 40 Nd4, I would prefer my own knight on e4 instead of a pawn) 39 Nf3 Ne4 40 Qb6 Qb8 41 Kg1 Qg3 42 Qd8+ Kg7 43 Qh4 Qxh4 (Qc7 may be slightly better, at least according to Rybka it is. I think Black probably wins the a5 pawn at some point after that.) 44 Nxh4 Kf6 45 Nf3 e5 46 Rb1 Bb5 47 g4 d4 48 Re1 Bc6 49 Rf1 Ke6 50 h4 Nf6 (For some reason, I completely missed that White could play his next move.) 51 Ng5+ Ke7 52 h5 gxh5 53 gxh5 Nxh5 54 Rxf7+ Kd6 55 Rf5 Ng3 (I think Ng7 is better. I had thought trading the knights would be winning for me, but it isn’t.) 56 Rf6+ Kc5 57 Kf2 Ne4+ 58 Nxe4+ Bxe4 59 Re6 Kd5 60 Rb6 Bxc2 61 Ke2 e4 62 Rxb7 Bd3+ (I still thought this was winning for Black. Shortly, I was to be shown otherwise.) 63 Kd1 Bb5 64 Re7 e3 65 Ke1 Kc5 66 Re6 Kb4 67 Re5 Kxa5 68 Re4 d3 69 Rxe3 Kb4 70 Kd2 a5 71 Kc1 Kc3 72 Kb1 (The problem is that White can sac his rook for the d pawn and my bishop is the wrong color.) ½–½
Round 10 is also annotated, with me as White against a higher rated German:
Finney, Stuart (2007) – Friedrich Wiede (2114)
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Bf5 5 Ng3 Bg6 6 h4 h6 7 Nf3 Nf6 8 h5 Bh7 9 Bd3 Bxd3 10 Qxd3 e6 11 Bf4 Qa5+ 12 Bd2 Qc7 13 0-0-0 Be7 14 Ne4 Ng4 (I do not think this is a good move) 15 Ne5 Nxe5 16 dxe5 Na6 (He can’t let me play Nd6. Even though Qxe5 is bad for him, he must play it, but after Bb4 Black is definitely worse) 17 Nd6+ Bxd6 18 exd6 (This pawn becomes an annoying thorn for Black for the rest of the game) Qd7 19 Bc3 Rg8 20 Qe3 (Trying to limit the Black knight’s play) b6 21 Rh4 0-0-0 22 Ra4 Kb7 23 Be5 Nb8 24 Qf3 (Continuing to prevent Black’s knight from getting play) f6 25 Bg3 e5 26 Qa3 Ka8 27 f4 exf4 28 Bxf4 Rge8 29 Qf3 Re6 30 Rd3 Qb7 31 Rda3 Re1+ 32 Kd2 Re6 33 Qg3 Re7 34 Kc1 Red7 35 Qf3 Re8 36 b4 a6 37 Re3 Rdd8 38 Qe2 Rxe3 39 Qxe3 b5 40 Ra3 Qa7 41 Qe4 Qf7 42 Kb2 Re8 43 Qd3 Qe6 44 g3 Kb7 45 Qg6 Qd7 46 Rd3 Re6 47 Kc3 Re1 48 Kd2 Re6 49 g4 (My original plan at this point was to play Rd4 and bring the queen back to d3, hence my king dance. However, at this point I realized that if I did play Rd4, Black could equalize with f5 and so I make another king dance back) Re8 50 Rd4 Ka8 51 Kc3 Re1 52 Kb2 Re6 53 Qd3 Re8 54 Bg3 Kb7 55 Re4 Kc8 56 Qe3 Rxe4 57 Qxe4 Kd8 58 Kc3 Kc8 59 Qe7 Kb7 60 Kd4 Kc8 61 Kc5 Kb7 62 a3 a5 63 bxa5 Na6+ 64 Kd4 Kc8 65 Qe4 Qa7+ 66 Kc3 Qc5+ 67 Kb2 Qd5 68 Qxd5 (The simple response. However, Qe8+ is slightly better according to Rybka, which Anna and Danny have told me is “fishie” in Russian) cxd5 69 Kc3 Kd7 70 Kd4 Kc6 71 d7 Nc5 72 d8=N+ (The last move of the game is fitting, Black’s most annoying pest for the entire game promotes and wins) 1-0
The finish of the tournament brought me up against someone playing for the French team, although with an Armenian last name, Giroyan, Gary. My chess coach (who is Armenian) back at home emailed me to say that he would not be offended if I beat my last opponent, although after a mistake as Black against the Sozin, I lost.
So I finished with 6 out of 11, and tied 43rd out of 138. Respectable and solid, and the ELO report estimates +11 FIDE points. I beat my 4 lower rated opponents and of the 7 rated above me, I won one and drew two, and had the highest performance rating of the US team in my section. It is always nice to do better, but overall I am proud of how I performed.

Back for Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T13:35:00.003-05:00

Today is Thanksgiving, and the house is in a rush to make it a good one, while I’m typing this up! Since my last blog from Turkey, a lot has happened.
I cannot remember the order that various events happened in the tournament, so I will talk about them now. The free day, I used mostly to catch up with the homework I brought with me. Though in truth it probably only took me about 15 hours for my entire homework to be completed, I spent about 8 hours on the free day working on it. I was probably the person on the American delegation who did the most homework. One morning, Anna Matlin saw me working outside on my laptop on my history project and told me she felt guilty about not having done any so far. The next morning, I was preparing for the game, when she came and started doing some homework herself; as her mom told me later, I’m a good influence on her!
At one meal, Danny Rozovsky brought a huge chunk of bread to the table and his mom said a sentence, which Danny later translated as, “Why did you take so much bread?!” Several other times, similar episodes happened and the recurring word, bread, or as Danny’s mom said: “булка!” (pronounced like bulka.) After this, Danny decided to recruit Anna and together, they were to teach me some Russian. Being bad at languages, I protested, but managed to pick up a few words, a rather odd combination: “булка”, “дурак” (which means idiot/fool, pronounced durak), and, of course, a word in Russian sounding like Rybka, which means fishie! The rest of the time there, whenever I was referring to Rybka, I called it a fishie, causing some people to wonder if we were crazy as Danny, Anna, and I laughed.
Several times Andrew Ng liked to feed the cats that roamed throughout the hotel. One time, as there were 2 cats around our table in the restaurant, Andrew got up to feed them. After his unsuccessful attempt and when he came back to the table, Anna and I told him about the breakfast of that same day, in which there were several cats around our table then as well. Danny was terrified of them, and a couple of times Anna and I pranked him by brushing his leg, causing him to jump up and shriek. That night, Anna did it again to demonstrate, and soon afterwards, so did Andrew, causing the restaurant to turn heads, and becoming a source of amusement for our table.
After the tournament had finished, and all pressure was lifted from the players’ heads, 15 players of the American delegation gathered in Andrew’s room and played bughouse and blitz. With only 3 chess sets, we had a lot of extra players around (and without much space!), and Andrew decided to give the little kids 1-5 odds. The reward for them if they won? Time with Andrew’s I-Touch! After the closing ceremony, Andrew’s dad needed to pack, and while several kids went back to their own rooms, about half came to my room to play some more. However, at 10:30 I decided to kick them out to get some sleep myself before the 6AM bus the next morning (I still needed to pack!) Some people had to take the 4AM bus, and even worse, the 12:30AM! Walking back with Danny and Anna to their rooms afterward, we chatted for a while longer and exchanged emails to keep in touch.
Going up to the airport with several other people of the American delegation, we boarded the flight from Antalya at 10 and arrived at Istanbul an hour later. With our flight scheduled for 12:30, we were hurried through express lanes and cut lines to get to the gate in time and with 45 min to spare! I wish I could do that all the time and I’m sure several of the other people whom we skipped ahead of were envious!
While I had mainly slept on the first flight, I had brought the remainder of my homework (math and a bit of bio) with me, and finished it on the 11 hour flight back from Istanbul. At JFK, my mom was waiting to pick me up and we said our farewells to the Ng’s, who had been kind enough to keep an eye on me while I was in Turkey.
You would think I’d deserve a break after participating in the WYCC, but the next morning I had to go to school to turn in the stuff I had done while away. Several people asked how I did and congratulated me on my performance. There is not much I have to do over Thanksgiving, which I’m glad of. Anna should’ve followed my example and done some more homework in Turkey; she told me that she still has 10 hours to do over the holidays!
Overall, I’m very glad I got to go and have a wonderful experience in Turkey. I met a lot of strong chess players from the US I had not known before and they all seemed to be genuinely nice people. I also made friends with some of my opponents, in particular, my second round opponent, and although we could not really communicate with each other (He did not speak much English, and I only know the Russian words listed above) we shook hands whenever we saw each other.
Now time for Thanksgiving and my regular life! I’ll write up a couple of my later games tomorrow.

Kriebel vs Finney

2009-11-24T21:44:00.002-05:00

Kriebel, Tadeas (2173) vs Finney, Stuart (2007)
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3 e6 7 f3 b5 8 g4 h6 9 Qd2 Bb7 (b4 might be better) 10 0-0-0 Nbd7 11 h4 Nb6 12 Ndxb5 (a sac that gives White plenty of compensation, and Rybka thinks it’s about equal) axb5 13 Bxb5+ Nfd7 14 Qd4 Nc8 15 g5 Rg8 16 gxh6 gxh6 17 Rhg1 Rxg1 18 Rxg1 e5 19 Qb4 Rb8 (19…d5 doesn’t work due to 20 Rg8 Ne7 21 Bxh6,but this move is also bad.) 20 Qa4 (Instead, 20 Bxd7+ and if Kxd7 Qb5+ and now: 21…Ke6 22 Qb3+ Ke7 followed by either Nd5+ or just Qxf7+ depending on Black’s move; 21…Ke7 22 Nd5+ Ke6 23 a4 and White is clearly better; 21…Kc7 22 Rg8 and Black is hopelessly tied down) Ke7 21 f4 exf4 22 Bxf4 Nc5 23 Qb4 Qb6 24 Re1 Kd8 25 Be3 Na7 26 a4 Nxb5 27 Nxb5 Ba6 28 Rd1 Kc8 29 Qc4 Bxb5 30 Qxf7 Bd7 (Bxa4 is better. I didn’t consider White’s 33rd move) 31 Qxf8+ Kc7 32 Qf6 Nb3+ (Instead, Bxa4 is still equal) 33 Kb1 (I had only considered taking the knight, after which Qxe3+ is good for Black. After Kb1, White is clearly better.) Nc5 34 a5 Qc6 35 Rxd6 Qb5 36 Rd5 1-0

In the afternoon game, I played a Belgian 1929, during which I sacrificed the exchange to get a lot of compensation, which actually shouldn’t have been enough to win. However, my opponent missed the only winning move for him in a complicated position and turned the game in my favor.

Past Half-Way in the Marathon

2009-11-18T22:34:00.001-05:00

Today is the “rest” day, after two games yesterday and six in all. We are past half way in the marathon. The food in the buffet is becoming very “familiar” after three meals a day every day for nearly a week in the same environment. Andrew Ng’s father, Gene, has proposed we splash out on the $3 cover charge to be able to eat in the a la carte restaurant, and we are all happy to do that. As there is nothing else to pay beyond the cover charge, you can imagine there is quite a waiting list and we need to book in advance.
I have played four games since my last blog. On Saturday I lost as Black to a 2194 rated Georgian. I guess the game was not too instructive, as it began 1 e4 c5 2 b3 d6 3 Bb2 e6, which I now understand is the wrong way to play this variation. So on Sunday I felt a good deal of pressure to do well against my Turkish opponent. The Turks take their chess seriously, and they seem to hold a lot of big tournaments here, but I am not sure whether their FIDE ratings are always a true reflection of their ability. As it happened, the game went well for me, I almost won it very quickly, and then found myself having to win it all over again:
Finney, Stuart (2007) vc Baglan, Esat (1702)
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4Nxd4 Qb6 5 Nb3 Nf6 6 Nc3 e6 7 Be3 Qc7 8 Bd3 Bb4 9 0-0 Bxc3 10 bxc3 0-0 11 f4 a6 12 g4 d6 13 g5 Nd7 14 Qh5 g6 15 Qh6 f5 16 exf5 gxf5 17Qxe6+ Kh8 18 Qh6 Rf7 19 Bc4 Rg7 20Nd4 Rg6 21 Qh5 Nf6 22 Qe2 d5 23 Nxc6 Qxc6 24 Bb3 Ne4 25 Bd4+ Kg8 26 Rf3 Be6 27 h4 Kf7 28 Kh2 Qb5 29 Rd3 Rc8 30 a4 Qa5 31 b5 Rgg8 32 Re1 Qc7 33 Be5 Qc5 34 Re3 Rcd8 35 Rg1 Qf8 36 a5 Rd7 37 c4 dxc4 38 Rxe4 fxe4 39 Bxc4 Qb4 40 Bxe6+ Kxe6 41 Qg4+ Ke7 42 Bf6+ Ke8 43 Qe6+ 1-0

Stevie Wonder playing chess

2009-11-17T10:21:00.005-05:00

Quote of the tournament so far: during the regular post-game review with the coaches on Sunday evening, John Fed was doing the autopsy on a game when a chess Mom, who does not play chess, suddenly commented on a missed opportunity “I saw that (pause), Stevie Wonder would have seen that!”

It happens to the best of us!

Thoughts from the resort

2009-11-14T14:28:00.001-05:00

Well we made it to Turkey, and I have the stamp and visa sticker in my passport to prove it. We are in Kiris, which is a small town, near Kemer, which is a bigger town, near Antalya, a city. There are mountains to the west, the Med to the east – cold water at this time of year; once my feet were wet it was easy to decide not to go any further – and not much else in between. Quite peaceful really; no traffic other than the cats which roam freely all over the resort. It is warm when you are out of the wind, but it goes dark at 5 just like at home, and is clearly no longer high season for the tourists: the beach looks more like a construction site, as they rebuild the jetty for next year.
It’s a huge resort, as you would expect, if it can hold thousands of chess players and their “Accompanying Persons”, so like with other big tournaments, you can go for long periods without seeing people you expect to see, like your teammates. Sometimes we meet by chance in the big buffet style dining room, sometimes in the lobby area, where kids and parents alike gnash our teeth at the overstretched internet service, which makes it difficult to report back as often as I might otherwise. But overall it’s quite nice, and the bedrooms are quite spacious.
I think we are all taking it fairly seriously. Nearly two weeks is a long time, and points given away now could come back to haunt us later on, so there is no big party atmosphere. But we are here to enjoy the experience of mixing with people from all over the world, as well as to learn from it. On the first day I played a boy from Kenya. It was not a difficult game, and it is always nice to make a good start.
Yesterday I played an FM from Russia and had the better of it for much of the game, but I got into time trouble, and was losing for a move before the game ended in a draw.
Finney, Stuart (FIDE 2007) vs. FM Nikologorskyiy, Konstantin (FIDE 2164)
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3 e5 7 Nb3 Be6 8 f3 Be7 9 Qd2 Nbd7 10 0-0-0 Rc8 (Up till now, I had prepared for this variation. However, his other games followed 10…b5 or the main line with 10…0-0) 11 g4 b5 12 g5 Nh5 13 Kb1 Nb6 14 Qf2 Nc4 15 Bxc4 Rxc4 16 Bb6 Qd7 17 h4 Nf4 18 Nd5 Nxd5 19 exd5 Bf5 20 Rd2 h6 21 Rg1 hxg5 22 hxg5 Rh5 23 Be3 Bd8 24 f4 e4 25 Nd4 (at this point, White is slightly better) Ba5 26 Rdd1 Rh3 (The last two Black moves have made White’s position much better, so that Rybka gives White an advantage of around 2 pawns) 27 Rh1 g6 28 Rxh3 Bxh3 29 Qh4 Qg4 30 Qh8+ Kd7 31 Rg1 Qh5 32 Qg8 Ke7 33 Nc6+ (b3 is a better move as it gives the White king luft, which would have given White an extra tempo later in the game. However, Nc6 still gives White a big advantage) Rxc6 34 dxc6 Qe2 35 Bd4 Bf1 36 Bf6+ Ke6 37 Qe8+ (b3 is good for White at any time. When Rybka is on your side it’s easy to see why, but over the board it looked like Black could get serious counter-chances with Bd2) Kd5 38 Qxf7+ Kxc6 39 Qe8+ Kd5 40 Qa8+ (With this move I had another 30 min to think for the rest of the game) Ke6 41 Qg8+ Kd7 42 Qf7+ Kc6 43 Qe8+ Kd5 44 Qa8+ Ke6 45 Qc8+ Kd5 46 Qb7+ Kc5 (Ke6 loses immediately to f5+) 47 b3 Bd2 48 Qc7+ Kd5 49 c4+ (The right idea, but a move too early. Kb2 is correct and black cannot move his queen away from c4 to threaten checkmate because of c4+, winning for White. Now the ensuing endgame is equal.) bxc4 50 bxc4+ Qxc4 51 Qxc4+ Bxc4 52 f5 Bd3+ 53 Kb2 e3 54 fxg6 Bxg6 55 Bc3 Kc4 56 Rg4+ Kc5 57 Rg2 (A losing move. Ra4 is better equal.) Be4 (Throws away the winning position Black had for one move. Bxc3+ followed by d5 is winning.) 58 Bxd2 Bxg2 ½-½

2009 World Youth Chess Championship, Round 1

2009-11-13T09:18:00.006-05:00

First Round of WYCC Played

The first round of 2009 World Youth Championship started with the symbolic first move of Caner Cimenbicer, the chairman of the board of directors of Turkiye İs Bankasi which is the main sponsor of Turkish Chess Federation, in the Aspendos Convention Center of Limra Hotel which is situated in Kemer, Antalya. The FIDE vice-president Georgios Makropoulos and CEO of Global Chess Geoffry Borg was also present in this figurative mini opening ceremony.

In the first round 1375 players from 87 countries experienced the exciting atmosphere of war on the chessboard. It should be noted that the same tournament site saw two years ago the 2007 version of the same championship which was a historical event for Turkish Republic for being the second largest sports event after 2005 Universiade. Since then the site also hosted various Turkish Youth Championships, several legs of Turkiye Is Bankasi Chess League and European Club Cup.

In the age categories, the U-18 category stages the struggle of Russian IM Matlakov Maxim, Spanish GM Lopez Ivan Salgado, Azerbaijani IM Nijat Abasov and Armenian GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan to mention a few. In U-18 girl’s section the Russian player Anastasia Savina is the first seed followed by WGM Olga Girya of Russia and WGM Sopiko Guramishvili of Georgia.

The famous 13 year old Ukrainian rising star Illya Nyzhnyk competes in the U-16 category against Swedish IM Grandelius Nils and Polish GM Dariusz Swiercz.

Turkey participates in to the championship with 150 players in all the age categories and some well-known figures among them are IM Mustafa Yilmaz and FM Mert Yilmazyerli competing in the U-18, FM Burak Firat competing in U-16 category, CM Vahap Sanal in U12 category, WIM Kübra Öztürk in U-18 girls category and Nezihe Ezgi Menzi in U-12 girls category.

Abby Marshall previews the World Youth

2009-11-12T09:54:00.008-05:00

Abby Marshall Previews the World Youth Print E-mail
By Abby Marshall
November 11, 2009

Before I left for Turkey for the World Youth, I sat down with a reporter from the Daily Press, a local newspaper in my hometown Newport News, Virginia to talk a little about the tournament and what I’ve been up to.

Normally, I really dislike reading things about myself because I feel at worst it will be incorrect and at best it will tell me something that I already know. But this time, I am at a loss; I have no idea how to categorize this recent article.

No summary could do it justice, which you can see from the opening:

"Young Abby Marshall may look a lot like the rocking teenage girl next door.

But underneath her trademark T-shirt beats the heart of warrior — one whose remarkable displays of grit, cunning and ferocity on the 64-square battleground of chess have generated international admiration."

It is totally hilarious. It’s not like I wore anything flamboyant or made up stuff. What terrifies me is that I heard there is a billboard in Newport News with my picture on it that people can see driving down the highway. Omg.

Regardless of that craziness that has just sparked up, it feels good to be back in the chess world, and being on the US team keeps me grounded. I haven’t played in a tournament since the Denker and US Open , so I feel a little out of the loop. I misidentified Alex Getz as a Canadian player because I hadn’t seen him since he had a different haircut.

I asked one of the tiny girls on my plane if she played chess and learned that she is a rockstar, one of the favorites to win her section. Hanging out with chess people did motivate me to review my openings, especially the two surprises that I have planned. It would be the second time I have deviated from my repertoire since I was six years old. I swear this time that I am going to switch systems and learn some more grown-up variations. In fact, if any of my opponents are reading this, don't bother preparing for me. You’ll just be disappointed.

Two years ago I was at the exact same tournament at the exact same place. I’m super fantastically looking forward to staying at the Limra again because it is a gorgeous hotel with lots of shops and things to do right in the vicinity. I have great memories of it from two years ago. My only complaints are getting up early and the monotonous food, which will be rough, though as long as they get rid of certain unappetizing desserts I’ll be fine. What would happen is that no one would eat them, so at the end of the week there would be this gelatinous mountain of grey Jell-O blocks. Gross.

Unfortunately, I was so focused on the tournament that only when it was too late did I realize that I had left my red evening gown at home and I had only brought my regular sized chess set. What a shame. Everything else, though, I’m excited about. When people are surrounded by diversity in a foreign country, it makes them realize that they have no cultural reference to draw upon, so sometimes they have to make up their own way of doing things. Anything goes. You shouldn’t limit yourself.

I don’t anticipate many surprises, except for one thing, which is a pretty big unknown: my roommate. The organizers told me that my room would be completely free if I stayed in a double, in which case they would put me with someone else travelling alone. I’ve gotten no further details. I’m excited about it, though I really hope she speaks English. Even if she doesn’t, I’m trying to believe that chess is a universal enough language that we will still be able to connect in some way, even if it is just playing blitz. I’ll be crossing my fingers.

I would say that this is a rebuilding year for the US team because many of the highest-rated players did not come and most of the players here are under 12. However, I think we have a good chance to clear some medals in the younger categories, and these players will be the future leaders of the team. For instance, Annie is 1700 and already has the WFM title from winning the Pam Ams. She’s seven years old. I think I could tie my shoes when I was seven. Initially when I heard that the team had a median age of twelve, I was not so thrilled, but what’s cool is that the kids who I meet here may be just ten or eleven now, but I will probably know them for the rest of my life. It’s a nice thing to realize.

As for my own prospects in the tournament: I’m seeded about fifteenth or so, but the gap between me and the number one seed is only about 200 points (roughly 2400). Sure it’s a long shot, but when I think back to the Denker where I was a low seed and when I remember the Polgar in 2005, when two 2300s played, I feel reasonably confident in my chances. I am going for gold.

Piano in Providence

2009-11-03T10:18:00.002-05:00

It is rare for our family to attend 2 music concerts in the one week, both performed by professional pianists, but we did that last week.

The first was Dr Sang Woo Kang’s concert at Ryan Concert Hall at Providence College on October 25. He played works from Bach, Chopin and Hindemith. My favorite piece was Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu Op.66. Dr Kang played it really fast and full of expression. It has taken me a while to like Chopin; it wasn’t till I heard his Prelude Op.28, No 16 that I started to like his music. Dr Kang played pieces that were not commonly played - it was refreshing hearing those pieces.

“Chopin for Lovers”, October 28 - this was our third Jeffrey Siegel’s Keyboard Conversations concert in the series he performs at Rhode Island College. They are always entertaining; his dialogue creates interest in the music for us. His commentary sort of provides a storyline, or why and how the music came to be. My mom covered my youngest sister’s ears as Mr. Siegel told many stories about Chopin’s love life during this concert. My mom always nags us to remember to raise our body to play certain chords when we want to give that wonderful big sound like he does.

Looking forward to Turkey

2009-10-26T22:54:00.001-04:00