Big Chess at Potter Fest

Ever since Ron Weasley’s self-propelled queen clobbered Harry’s knight in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the bond between chess and J.K. Rowling’s epic series has been unbreakable. After all, was it not their chess skills, in the end, that enabled Harry, Hermione, and Ron to reach the Stone and save the day?



Given the connection, then, it was natural for chess to be included in last Friday’s Harry Potter festival in Oak Park, a celebration of the seventh and final volume in the series. Included it was, and in a big way: a live chess game in which the pieces were played by real people who moved around the board at the direction of the players.

The players in this case were Forest Park Mayor Anthony Calderone and Oak Park Village President David Pope, who joined forces in a friendly exhibition game against International Master Stan Smiatankin. As they played, the costumed kids and adults acted out the moves for the assembled crowd on a big board stenciled onto the grass. In pooling their chess talents against the formidable IM, our West Suburban noblemen were as the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard to Stan’s Paul Morphy. It was a courageous act for the mayors to take him on, but alas, like that famous game in Paris almost 150 years ago, victory again went to the lone master.

Oak Park's Village President David Pope (left) and Forest ParkMayor Anthony Calderone play against IM Stan Smiatankin

Fortunately, the politicians were politic about the results. “They were good sports,” said National Master William Aramil, who served as commentator for the event. “Neither used their influence with the local police to have Stan removed from park.” Nor did the Duke and the Count have Morphy clapped in irons and dragged off to the Bastille. Chess people are civilized, right? “Win with grace, lose with dignity,” as Susan is always reminding us.

And speaking of Susan Polgar, her chess über-blog covered the event, giving it national exposure. (Not that our humble weblog is chopped liver, mind you.) Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg was on hand as well.

Normal-size chess was available at a nearby tent for those not playing pieces in the main event. The whole thing was organized by the Renaissance Knights Foundation. More photos here.

Mind Over (Chess) Material

His unoffial Web site describes Derren Brown as a "psychological illusionist, mentalist, hypnotist and magician." Whatever he is, what he does here is remarkable -- assuming it's real and not humbug. Hat tip: Lamarr Wilson. Click twice on the screen to play the video.

Chess on the Lakefront

Yesterday was the kind of beautiful and comfortable day you seldom get in late July, so I took advantage of it and headed up to the chess pavilion at North Avenue and the lakefront.

Ron Washington and Walter Sowa

It's a lovely spot, and the place is an institution among Chicago chess players. According to a nearby plaque, the semi-enclosed, space-age structure was built in 1957 in response to the popularity of the location among chess players back then. That makes this year the pavilion’s jubilee, and in my humble opinion it wouldn’t be a bad idea for the Park District to mark the occasion by fixing it up a bit. It’s in considerable disrepair: several of the 22 outdoor chess boards are crumbling and unusable, the lights often don’t work at night, and the place just needs some work.

Apart from the lighting, however, these problems seem to matter little to the regular denizens of the place, who flock to it throughout the summer, especially on weekends. While I was there yesterday there were about six or seven games in progress at any given time, and the regulars said attendance was down because of a tournament at Tuley Park. (One person conspicuous in his absence was Master Aleksandar Stamnov, who was believed to be at the South Side meet.)

I got together for awhile with chess Expert Ron Washington, whom Chessdad64 describes as the “mayor” of the chess pavilion. Ray School parents may remember Ron for the simul he played with club members at our chess picnic last fall. After beating me a couple of times he gave me some valuable lessons (at a very reasonable price) on the ideas behind the Giuoco Piano and the Fried Liver Attack.

Next Walter Sowa showed up with the move history of a recent game from the World Open in which Ron and Walter’s mutual friend IM Emory Tate beat IM Salvijus Bercys. It was a brilliant game, and it was a treat for me to watch these two veteran players review it. Go to The Chess Drum to play through the game and read the analysis by Tate, who is well-known for his chess annotations.

More photos here.

Krush Wins Women’s Championship

Popular New Yorker grabs her second title

Congratulations to Irina Krush, who emerged today from a week of grueling competition in Stillwater, Oklahoma, to become the winner of the 2007 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship.

Irina’s victory was decisive and, thank heavens, averted the cumbersome series of tiebreaking blitz games (including one called “Armageddon”) that would have ensued had the regular nine-round tournament ended in a tie. It looked as if that might indeed happen going into the ninth and final round, which Irina and Katerina Rohonyan entered in a dead heat at 6.0/8.0. But Irina, with the black pieces and playing the Sicilian Defense, beat Tatev Abrahamyan in 40 moves. Some time later Katerina was forced to settle for a 56-move draw against Alisa Melekhina, making Ms. Krush the winner with the tournament’s top score of 7.0/9.0.

Irina is a familiar face on the American chess scene. She won the championship once before, in 1998; she’s represented the U.S. in some number of chess Olympiads; and she is a member of the New York Knights of the United States Chess League. (Yes, there really is a league of professional chess teams, and no, Chicago is not part of it. Just one of many ways in which we lag other big cities as a chess center, but don’t get me started on that. As Monty Python would say, “This is supposed to be an ‘appy occasion!”)

Congratulations to Irina Krush on an excellent victory.

More at the official Web site and from Steve, Susan, Paul, and Mig.

Showdown in Stillwater

America’s top female chess players battle for the championship

For the second time this year the epicenter of American chess is Stillwater, Oklahoma, where the top female chess players in the country are competing this week for the 2007 U.S. Women’s Championship.

After six rounds of the nine-round tournament, Katerina Rohonyan and top seed Irina Krush lead the field of ten players with 4.5/6 each. Right behind them is Tsagaan Battsetseg, with 4.0/6.0, followed by defending champ Anna Zatonskih and Camilla Baginskaite, each with 3.5/6.0.

Katerina Rohonyan, Irina Krush

The two-games-a-day round-robin match has been exciting and fast-paced and not without its surprises. Prognosticator Greg Shahade gave odds to Krush and Zatonskih, but Anna fell back following her fifth-round defeat to Katerina. If you’d like to follow the tournament while it’s in progress, now’s the time to do it because it will be over by Friday.

Since the executives at ESPN show little interest in women’s chess—or for that matter any event held at the Stillwater Quality Inn—it's a good thing the blogosphere has it covered. Former champion Jennifer Shahade is on the scene, writing for the U.S. Chess Federation, while Mig Greengard, The New York Times, and my old boss Paul Hoffman are reporting as well. One of the players in the tournament, Elizabeth Vicary, is blogging about the experience for the USCF. Steve Goldberg is watching things closely at Scholastic Chess Gateway. You can follow the games live through MonRoi technology.

And last but by no means least, don’t miss the excellent photos by Illinois’s very own Betsy Dynako, possibly the best chess photographer around. It’s hard to take good chess pictures—they can easily turn out all looking alike—but when they’re done well you get a strong sense of the game’s emotional intensity. Betsy’s photos achieve that, and along with Elizabeth’s blogging they convey the human drama of the event.

The match is sponsored by wealthy Oklahoma chess organizer Frank K. Berry. His brother Jim Berry is the tournament director. Thanks to them for supporting chess.

Rohonyan photo Copyright MonRoi

Shulman to Play for World Cup

Congratulations to local Grandmaster Yury Shulman, who gets a nice write-up in today's Daily Herald:

Chess grandmaster to vie for World Cup

By Chad Brooks, cbrooks@dailyherald.com, Posted
Friday, July 13, 2007

Chess Grandmaster Yury Shulman of Barrington is hoping to add another title
to his laundry list of accomplishments: world champion.

For the third time, Schulman has qualified for the World Chess Federation’s
World Cup, to be held Nov. 23 to Dec. 16 in Russia. . . .

Read the rest of the story here.

Chess for Lunch

As someone who works in the Loop and believes that chess should be played on more occasions and in more settings than it normally is, I wasn’t about to miss the June 20 Chess Lunch Break put on by Renaissance Knights at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Coach Rob (with hat) gives a chess lesson

That Wednesday afternoon, from 12:00 to 2:00, anyone could just walk into the center’s games annex, at 72 East Randolph, and play a game of chess or get a lesson from one of several teachers on hand: master William Aramil, expert Eric Heiser, and coach Rob Krauss of Stevenson High School.

Chess master William Aramil (right) instructs a player on the fine points

Here’s the game I lost to Eric. Anyone familiar with the Sicilian Defense will recognize quickly that I’m not (7. e5??).

Here also are some photos from another fun chess event by Renaissance Knights at the cultural center on June 9.