Ancona Rising

A Ray School rival flexes its chess muscle

Belated congratulations to our neighbor The Ancona School, its chess trainer Wayne Smith, and manager Charles Swan for a splendid write-up about the school’s chess team in the June 20 issue of the Hyde Park Herald.

The article was prompted by the school’s conspicuous success at two major spring chess tournaments, the Chicago Open and the National Elementary School Championships. Ancona students named in the article for their outstanding play were Nosa Cash O’Bannon, Clarence Bourne, Jonathan Jackson Jr., Noah Jackson, Charles “CJ” Swan Jr., Coleman Strong, Anthony Chen, and Kamal Bilal. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Kamal’s name high on the crosstables of Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago tournaments, so he’s one to watch. Mr. Swan Sr. also thanked Ancona math professor Zeus Preckwinkle for help with the team.

For some time I’ve known that Wayne, a top local chess trainer and majordomo of The Hyde Park Academy of Scholastic Chess, was working with Ancona and that the school had a rapidly improving chess program, but I didn’t realize just how good they had become until I read the Herald story. Wayne is also training kids at U of C Lab School, and their growing club, combined with Ancona’s and Ray’s, is making Hyde Park a flashpoint for scholastic chess in the Chicago area. Congratulations, everyone.

Write the Caption

Lest anyone think the Boylston Chess Club has a monopoly on funny chess photos, here's one from us. We do, however, gratefully acknowledge BCC as the source of our inspiration.



Leave your caption as a comment below. If nobody enters, I keep the prize.

Gulko Wins Open on Tiebreaks

Former U.S. chess champion GM Boris Gulko has won the 2007 U.S. Open Chess Tournament on statistical tiebreaks after seven players tied for the lead with 7.5/9.0 at the end of the nine-round tournament.

The other players who tied for first were Alexander Shabalov, Sergey Kudrin, Benjamin Finegold, Michael Rohde, Michael Mulyar and Anton Del Mundo.

Though participation by Chicago and Illinois players was light, Tony Cao, the Land of Lincoln’s top high school player, finished 40th in a field of over 400. Other Illinois players who made the pilgrimage to the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill, N.J., for the meet included Eric Rosen, James Egerton, Lawrence Cohen, Tenzing Shaw, and Andrew Chen.

I haven’t looked closely at any of the games, but you can go to MonRoi if you want to see them. Also:

Final standings
Report by Jennifer Shahade for the U.S. Chess Federation
Final standings for Denker and Polgar competitions
Report on the Polgar tournament
Report on Denker competition

Photo: Jennifer Shahade

Illinois Rising: Kudos to several chess people in our fair state who have recently achieved national milestones and recognition. Sevan Muradian took Organizer of the Year honors from the U.S. Chess Federation, while Donna and Fred Gruenberg got USCF Distinguished Service awards. Meanwhile, chess promoter Betsy Dynako, one the best photographers in the game, has added the title of Associate National Tournament Director to her resume. Congratulations all around!

Eschew your food

The expression “liquid diet” is generally a euphemism for hitting the sauce. One reason people recognize it as a term of art for excessive alcohol consumption is that few people ever go on a real liquid diet. But Lamarr Wilson is doing it. The educational technologist, former chess coach, webmaster emeritus, and friend of Ray School says he won't take solid food for the next 30 days. Only juices.

“I am embarking on an amazing 30-day juice fast,” he announced in a blog post today. “Why am I doing this?”

Losing weight is one reason, he says, but it goes well beyond that.

“I don't have a lot of energy/stamina, and my system is sluggish. I'm doing this fast to detox my system. One of the benefits is that I will lose weight, but the main reason is to get the toxins and other garbage out of my body. If I focus on that, the weight loss will come.”

Inveterate blogger that he is, Lamarr will chronicle the whole thing on his weblog. Look for his reports at http://www.lamarrwilson.com/blog/.

Good luck, Lamarr. I hope you’re successful and that the fast makes you feel better. I’m interested to hear how it affects your chess game.

Cao Places in Denker Competition

Illinois luminaries stay home, but local kids soldier on in U.S. Open; sleeper IM beats Nakamura

In a U.S. Open tournament that is light on high-profile participants from Chicago and Illinois, the Prairie State has nevertheless made itself felt in the person of Tony Cao, who finished second in the Denker competition for the top high school chess player in the United States.

Tony, who hails from downstate, finished with a splendid 5.0/6.0—that’s five victories in six rounds—against the other 49 state champions. The only player to finish ahead of him was the winner, Warren Harper of Texas, with 5.5/6.0. Tony’s only loss came in the fourth round to Warren. Maxx Coleman of Kansas also finished with the same record as Tony but ended up in third place on tiebreaks.

The Denker tournament is named for the late, great International Master Arnold Denker and is taking place in conjunction with the 2007 U.S. Open and the Susan Polgar Invitational for Girls. Julia Kerr of New York won the Polgar tournament—Illinois had no representative, I believe—and the main event, the U.S. Open, continues. After six rounds, Tony is in 42nd place in a field of 416 players, while Eric Rosen of Skokie in is 56th place, with 4.5/6.0.

Eric, an eighth-grader-to-be and a strong Class A player (1900+) got a draw in the third round against strong master Daniel Shapiro of New York. While Eric has beaten masters before, Shapiro (2300+) is the strongest player against whom he has gotten at least a draw. Incidentally, considering the problems that tournament officials have had getting results from the tournament up on the Web, I and others around here are indebted to Eric’s mother Andi Rosen, who has sent home regular dispatches from the scene.

In other action, IM Amon Simutowe, not a player I’d ever heard of before, staged an upset in beating former U.S. Champion Grand Master Hikaru Nakamura in round 6. I’ve heard of him now! Simutowe is in second place behind leader Benjamin Feingold of Michigan. More as it becomes available.

Update: This just in. Eric Rosen got a draw in his final round against Maxx Coleman, who finished third in the Denker competition. Eric, it's worth noting, isn't eligible for the Denker competition, since he's not in high school yet, but as the Cubs say, wait'll next year (though, of course, it has a completely different meaning in Eric's case).

Bergman and Chess

DEATH (disguised as a priest confessor): How can you outwit Death?

ANTONIUS: By a combination of bishop and knight, I will break his flank.

DEATH (revealing himself): I shall remember that…

I guess the moral of the story is never tell anyone your strategy.

This being its 50th anniversary, a revival of interest in Ingmar Bergman's 1957 classic film The Seventh Seal was under way well before the filmmaker's death at 89 last Monday. It's the story of a knight returned from the Crusades and suffering a crisis of faith. Facing Death himself, he contrives to hold off the Grim Reaper by challenging him to a game of chess. His aim, it seems, is to buy time to satisfy his curiosity about God's existence and perform an act that will give his life meaning.

But I'm no film critic; see it and judge for yourself.

Click twice on the screen to watch he trailer.

Chess in a Parallel Universe?

I’m not really sure what this is all about, but the picture was too much to pass up. Far out (I think).