Evanston Chess Tournament Tomorrow

Adult chess club on North Shore holds “economy open”

I almost forgot to tell everyone that the Evanston Chess Club, which is rapidly becoming one of the great chess success stories in the Chicago area, will hold its third (or fourth?) “economy open” tomorrow, with registration beginning at 9:00 a.m. With an entry fee of $5.00, it’s the cheapest chess tournament you’re likely to find. It’s unrated, and I have it on good authority that the people are very nice.

Though it only started last February, Evanston Chess is rapidly becoming the area headquarters for friendly and relaxed adult chess. Details on tomorrow’s tournament here.

Also make a note of their next blitz tournament, on November 17. (But note as well that Ray kids will be playing in a tournament at Disney School that day.)

Chessdude, Belatedly

He lives here in the Chicago area, he’s one of the most promising young chess players in the country, his parents are friends of mine, and this very cool tribute his mother produced is one of the most popular chess videos on the Internet.

And yet I’ve never posted it here, even though it’s been out there for the better part of a year. Sure, the family dog gets publicity here, but somehow the brilliant chess kid has fallen through the cracks. Why? What’s taken me so long to show you what everyone else in the world saw months ago?

I could give senility as my excuse, but I have to be careful how often I go back to that particular well. So forget the excuses. Here it is, the early and brilliant chess career of Eric Rosen, a.k.a. Chessdude64, submitted to you belatedly but nevertheless in full. As usual, click twice on the screen to play the video. And see how many grandmasters you can spot in the show.

Upcoming Tournaments

Two upcoming scholastic tournaments for Ray School Chess Club members:

Sunday, November 4
Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, 5480 S. Kenwood Avenue, Chicago. Check in begins at 8:00 a.m. Round 1 begins at 9:00. Entry fee: $20 + U.S. Chess Federation membership required. Register at Chess Education Partners.

Saturday, November 17
Disney Elementary School, 4140 N. Marine Drive, Chicago. Sponsored by the Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago. Check in 9:00 – 9:30. First round at 10:00. Free of charge.

Please let us know if your child would like to play in either tournament.

Sevan at the Reti

I suppose I should issue a bad-pun alert before posting a headline like that, but be that as it may, here’s an interesting game from Sunday’s simul at the Illinois Chess Association banquet. IM Angelo Young played all diners, taking the Black pieces in every game, and in this one he and Sevan Muradian agreed to a draw after move 33. To the best of my knowledge it was the only draw of the afternoon; Angelo beat everyone else. Comments or annotations, anyone?

Sevan during Sunday’s game

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Elite Meet to Eat, Bleat, Compete

Young plays all comers in ICA banquet simul

Some of the most important people in Illinois chess, the movers and shakers who really make things go, got together Sunday afternoon for the annual Illinois Chess Association banquet.

I was there, too, since you didn’t have to be important to attend, just pay your twenty bucks and be a member of ICA. They didn’t even ask my rating, thank goodness.

ICA Treasurer Carl Dolson, President Chris Merli, famed chess blogger Brad Rosen, and ICA honcha Maret Thorpe

Over great Middle Eastern food we talked chess and played chess. After lunch and conversation Illinois state champion Angelo Young held a “simul”—a simultaneous exhibition, in which he played everyone at once. Despite the generally high caliber of the talent on hand—I counted no fewer than four expert-rated players in the group—Angelo, an International Master, beat almost everybody easily. Only Sevan Muradian got a draw.

State chess champ Angelo Young analyzes a position during the simul

It was my first ICA banquet, and I had a great time. The organization seems to be in the hands of smart and committed people. (Sane ones, too, which is no mean feat in the chess world.) Thanks to Angelo (and his mom) not only for his dazzling play but for hosting the event at his Touch Move Chess Center; to Sevan, ICA webmaster and owner of the North American Chess Association, who organized it; and to the guys from downstate who drove long distances to attend.

Sevan Muradian, Bill Brock, and Glenn Panner ponder their positions during the simul

Searching for Jonathan Poe

In the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, you may recall, the main character, Josh Waitzkin, has a rival for the national chess championship: a brooding, solitary kid named Jonathan Poe. Jonathan is so single-minded about chess that he doesn’t even go to school; he spends all his time playing and studying the game under the grinding tutelage of a glib and supercilious coach, a Svengali for whom Jonathan is less a human being than a lump of clay to be molded and shaped into a champion whose triumph, the coach apparently believes, will redound to his own good fortune as much as to Jonathan’s.

It’s a disturbing image, but it’s not a Hollywood fabrication: there really was such a kid in Josh’s life. His real name was Jeff Sarwer. In the book on which the movie was based Josh’s father Fred Waitzkin had this to say about Jeff:

“Little Jeff studied and played chess from morning until night. He was
insatiable about the game, happy when he was moving pieces and restless when
there was no opponent to crush. ‘Kill, kill, kill,’ he sometimes said with
an impish grin as he launched his attacks.”

Apart from the fact that the coach was actually Jeff’s father, “an undiagnosed manic depressive,” the story of Jonathan/Jeff as told in the movie is mostly true. Jeff and his sister Julia, who was also a chess prodigy, had a bizarre childhood, and thanks to the eagle eye of Michael Goeller at the Kenilworthian, we now know about their Web site, which describes their lives today and their efforts to recover.

There was at least one other fact on which the film diverged from reality. Josh didn’t actually win that big game at the end of the movie; it ended in a draw. Here it is:

The best way to see the game, though, is here, with Michael Goeller’s annotations. Batgirl adds some intriguing information about Jeff’s recent comeback over at Chess.com.

Blog Carnival II

With Jack Le Moine feeling under the weather, Samurai Chess has stepped up and pulled together the second Chess Blog Carnival. Check it out; it's quite a read.