The Hand is Quicker than the Eye

See if you can make sense of this now-famous video of the Armageddon match (don't you love that term?) that decided the 2008 U.S. Women's Chess Championship. Double or triple-click on the screen to see the clip on YouTube full screen. Try to figure out who actually won and who moved out of turn. I certainly can't.

Thanks in no small part to this clip, chances are a national championship will never be decided in this way again. From Chicago's own Betsy Dynako.

Frisco Holds Blaze at Bay

Chicago bows to Mechanics 2.5-1.5



It was a seesaw match that seemed at first to be going our way, but the storybook ending was not to be, as the San Francisco Mechanics held on, as widely predicted, to beat Chicago Blaze last night 2.5-1.5.

The match, which went well past 11:00 PM Chicago time, ended when San Francisco’s GM Jesse Kraai succeeded in pushing an imminently promotable pawn down the g-file, against the valiant endgame efforts of Chicago’s FM Florin Felecan to prevent it, giving Kraai the game and San Francisco the edge in the match. The Blaze now fall to 1-3 after four weeks, with six matches left in the season.

As usual, there were bright spots for the Blaze. In a game that should be in the running for the league’s new Upset of the Week prize, IM Angelo Young defeated IM Sam Shankland and maintained his undefeated record in USCL play. On Board 1, where Blaze players have often struggled, IM Jan van De Mortel held the much higher rated GM Josh Friedel to a draw.

Here are the games, by board number:

1. IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC)vs GM Josh Friedel (SF) 1/2-1/2

2. GM Jesse Kraai (SF) vs FM Florin Felecan (CHC) 1-0

3. IM Angelo Young (CHC) vs IM Sam Shankland (SF) 1-0

4. NM Yian Liou (SF) vs IM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) 1-0

Special thanks to NM Len Weber, who served as our Celebrity Tournament Director for the evening. Thanks also to GM Nikola Mitkov and Betsy Dynako, neither of whom had official duties with the team last night, for showing up and cheering the Blaze all the same. As always, we were honored to host Professor Gary Alan Fine of Northwestern University, who is following the Blaze and the USCL as part of a larger study on the sociology of chess. Finally, personal thanks to Chessdad64 (Brad Rosen), for a tough and interesting G/40 game.

Our next match is a week from Wednesday against the New Jersey Knockouts, who are jabbing their way through the league this year with a one-two combination of superb chess and bad puns. They’ll be tough, but we’ll be ready. Please join us next week and lend your voice to the cheering section. Go Blaze!

Deja Vu

Blaze Stung by Scorpions in Season Opener Again

In the short rivalry between the Chicago Blaze and the Arizona Scorpions, there really hasn’t been much of a rivalry at all. In fact, the “rivalry” can be summed up easily: they own us.

Aside from the fact that both teams joined the U.S. Chess League at the same time last year, there are few similarities between them, especially when they go head to head. The Blaze dropped both of their matches to Arizona last year, and last night the Scorpions’ streak against the Windy City squad went to three as they handed us our most lopsided defeat ever, 3.5-.5. For the second year in a row, the Blaze lost their opening match of the season to the same team.

A Few Bright Spots
There weren’t many bright spots in last night’s match, but there were a few. FM Florin Felecan managed to hold IM Levon Altounian for a draw. And as Blaze Manager Glenn Panner sees it, the remaining three games, which the Blaze lost, could have gone either way for most of the night.

There was no shortage of excitement. Trevor Magness, this year’s Illinois Denker champion, playing in his first game for the Blaze, gave a sharp and aggressive response to David Adelberg’s Sicilian. IM Mehmed Pasalic of the Blaze blitzed valiantly against FM Robby Adamson, as both of them drew short on time for about the last twenty moves of their game. GM Nikola Mitkov of the Blaze made GM Alejandro Ramirez work and sweat to grind out a victory in the last game of the night to end.

“I think we can be about as happy as you can be after a 3.5-.5 defeat,” said Glenn optimistically at the end of the night. Here are the games:

Board 1. GM Alejandro Ramirez (ARZ) vs GM Nikola Mitkov (CHC) 1-0

Board 2. FM Florin Felecan (CHC) vs IM Levon Altounian (ARZ) 1/2-1/2

Board 3. FM Robby Adamson (ARZ) vs IM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) 1-0

Board 4. Trevor Magness (CHC) vs David Adelberg (ARZ) 0-1

The Blaze as the Object of Scholarship
Off the board, we had a distinguished guest at the Holiday Inn Skokie, where the Blaze play their games. Professor Gary Alan Fine of Northwestern University, a leading expert on the sociology of leisure and popular culture, was on hand in his capacity as a researcher studying chess. That’s right: the Blaze have attracted the attention of scholars, so have a little respect. Happily, Gary will be with us a good part of the season.

Of course we were delighted to have our celebrity tournament director Betsy Dynako on hand. Betsy not only officiated during a mouse-slip in one game but as always took great pictures, this time doing it with my ancient point-and-shoot camera and despite technical difficulties with her own. We were also joined by the new Blaze assistant manager, Daniel Parmet, about which you'll be hearing more. He knows alot about chess, Indian food, and apparently many other things.

Props also to William Shehan of the Midway Chess Club, which did a webcast from their perch on the Southwest Side to which several people tuned in and NM Len Weber provided excellent play-by-play. I'd also like to thank the Internet Chess Club for providing me with access to the lives games, which enabled me to give real-time commentary on Twitter, such as it was.

It’s good to have our ignominious defeat for the season out of the way. Now the Blaze can concentrate on winning, which we’ll do beginning next week when we take on the Miami Sharks. And we get another shot at the Scorpions later in the year. So things are looking up. Stay tuned: the Blaze have not yet caught fire.

Photos: Betsy Dynako

Blaze Fall to Arizona in Season Opener

The Blaze lineup for its first match, from left: IM Jan Van De Mortel, IM Mehmed Pasalic, Ilan Meerovich, NM Jon Burgess



Jon Burgess and Tournament Director Betsy Dynako joke as Betsy collects the players' cell phones before the game.

Niles North High School star Ilan Meerovich overcame a 170-point ratings deficit against National Master Warren Harper last night to post the sole victory for the Chicago Blaze, as the Windy City's new chess team lost its first match, the U.S. Chess League season opener, to the Arizona Scorpions.

The score was 2.5-1.5, a perfectly respectable showing for the Blaze considering that Arizona enjoyed a ratings advantage on all fours boards. IM Mehmed Pasalic was the other Blaze player to get on the scoreboard, with a 70-move draw against Arizona IM Mark Ginsburg that went late into the night.

The key to victory for Ilan was a ferocious kingside attack that deconstructed Harper's Nimzo-Indian Defense, prompting the Arizona master to resign on move 25. See all the games here:

1. IM Levon Altounian (ARZ) vs IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC) 1-0

2. FM Mehmed Pasalic (CHC) vs IM Mark Ginsburg (ARZ) 1/2-1/2

3. FM Robby Adamson (ARZ) vs NM Jon Burgess (CHC) 1-0

4. Ilan Meerovich (CHC) vs NM Warren Harper (ARZ) 1-0

Thanks to the four Blaze players and also to Betsy Dynako for serving as tournament director. Next up: the Blaze face the San Franciso Mechanics on Wednesday, September 3, at 7:30 Central Time.

[Reposted from Blaze blog.]

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!