Delaware Chess Weblog

The DCA is in need of a new editor for its newsletter.  If you are interested, please contact Dave Power (bikedavid@aol.com) or Todd Snider (302-373-0595).

The site will be undergoing updates over the next several days.  Therefore, some links may not work properly until the updates are complete.

Thanks for your patience and have a great holiday season!

I have stumbled upon a free book that can be downloaded from the chess.com site titled, “Learn Chess or Call Me an Idiot”.  It is aimed at beginners but has some good information and it is hard to beat the price :-)  The description from the website states,

A FREE electronic chess book for beginners. Written by an International Master, the book contains lots of animated graphics and easy to follow explanations. The book is fun to read, but what makes this an out of the ordinary book (apart from being FREE!) is that you also get free on-line support for it!

You can download it at http://www.chess.com/download/view/learn-chess-or-call-me-an-idi

As stated in the previous two mailings, the Delaware Chess Association Newsletter is now delivered electronically! You must send Ira Riddle your email address if you wish to continue receiving this member benefit. You can contact Ira at Iralee@aol.com. The May 2007 newsletter was just sent. If you did not receive it in your email then we probably don’t have your email address. Don’t miss out on another great issue of the DCN!

If you are not a DCA member and you want to become one (to play in local tournaments and receive the newsletter), simply go to http://www.delawarechess.org/membership.htm to print out the membership form.

The Corus Supertournament at Wijk aan Zee is over with three GMs sharing first place. Several players analyzed their games after they were finished and these analyses were recorded and uploaded to YouTube. Here is a sample, Part 1 of Vladimir Kramnik’s analysis of his win over Anand.

To find more from that tournament, search for chessvibes on the YouTube site.

The Newark Chess Club will continue our 4th Sat of the Month Quad throughout the new year 2007.

When: Feb 24, 2007. (our 46th)

Where: Perkins Student Center (U of De.) in the Ewing Room (look for signs)
325 Academy Street in Newark, De. (Parking available at P.S.C., the entrance is back off the road and is only $2.50 all day.)

Format: Game 75 mins./40, S/D 30mins. in grouping of 4 players of equal playing strength.

Registration: begins at 9am-9:45.

Cost: is $20, DCA membership required ($10), other states accepted.
Women players are $10 in the first Quarter of this year.

Prizes: $40 for each winner.
Any player that scores a perfect 3.0 gets a free quad and every 10th quad is free.

Contact: Rick Lathem at rangerrick47@comcast.net (302) 299-5407

The Delaware Chess Association will be seeking candidates for the position of secretary and vice-president. Each office serves a two-year term. If you are member of the DCA and would like to run for either office then contact the current secretary, Richard Lathem at bishoprick@comcast.net The election will be held during the yearly business meeting on December 3, 2006 prior to the 4th round of the State Championship.

The DCA By-Laws are now posted here on our website. You can access them in pdf format from the site menu or the links section.

May 21, 2006 at the Bear Library (event starts at 1:20 with a lecture). To reserve one of the last remaining spaces, call Richard Martin at 832-2952. T-shirts available.

This Saturday (20 May) the Scouts are sponsoring their very first tournament ever! Bring canned goods to donate and get chances in their raffle! Please consider playing or stop by to watch the action at St. John the Beloved Church on Milltown Rd.

There are two sections: a USCF section and a huge non-member section. Lots of kids are making this their first tournament - come join them! You can register at the door, but early registrants are guaranteed a certificate and medal. For more information, please see: Info and Flyer

On Sunday, April 9th, the Game Show Network will be airing a show titled, The Mad Genius of Bobby Fischer. This is part of a series titled Anything to Win. GSN is channel 42 on Comcast. The blurb for the show states, “The tactics Bobby Fischer used to become one of the world’s best chess players.” So tune in and see one of America’s best ever chess players.

You can go to the Yahoo TV information for the show by clicking here.

Thanks to Phil Simpkins for finding this show - good work Phil

On Wednesday, March 8, 2006 the Charter School of Wilmington traveled to Christiana High School to take on the Vikings in a 6 board chess match. Christiana has only recently restarted their chess club under the moderation of Social Studies teacher Allen Sylvester. Although inexperienced, Christiana represented themselves well in the match putting forth strong opposition against a much more seasoned Charter squad. In the end, Charter used their experience to win all 6 boards but given some more time Christiana will prove difficult to beat. The match-ups were:

1. Chase Butler (CSW) – Jose Sanchez (CHS)
2. Andrew Esherman (CHS) – Phil Saponaro (CSW
3. Matt Borowski (CSW) – Adrienne Ganoe (CHS)
4. Junior Ramirez (CHS) – Claire Hatkevich (CSW)
5. Matt Saponaro (CSW) – Megan Mercado (CHS)
6. Robert Garland (CHS) - Tom Wiltsey (CSW)

All in all, both schools enjoyed the competition, the camaraderie and the snacks and hope to play other schools in the near future.

Dave Gertler sends this report:

Kevin Pytel earned his place in Delaware chess history by winning the top section of the 2006 First State Junior Invitational. Sponsored by the Bear Scholastic Chess Club, sixteen of Delaware’s top players under age 20 assembled at the Howard Johnson Inn in Newark on two Saturdays in January. Delaware Chess Association president Richard Martin and vice president Bob Wilder, known for their fine work with the Bear club, organized and directed the new event.

The players were divided into two eight-player sections by rating. The “round-robin” format meant that each player played the other seven players in his or her section. A time control of game/60 meant that four games could be squeezed into the first day, while the other three were held a week later.

In the Championship section, there was a tough battle at the top. First place was up for grabs even during the last round. Leader Kevin Pytel, with 5 points in the first six rounds, got into early trouble against top seed Jonathan Martin. One point behind Kevin was the rapidly improving Andrew Shermeyer, playing Black against state elementary school champion Aaron Gertler (who had lost an easily winning ending against Kevin in the previous round).

Andrew hoped that Kevin would lose and he would win, leading to a tie for first and a playoff. His hopes were raised early in the round, as Jon applied heavy pressure to Kevin’s King. Meanwhile, Aaron and Andrew maintained roughly equal chances in a closed position.

When Jon missed a couple of strong tactical shots, Kevin managed to trade down into an endgame where he was one pawn down but had more active pieces. At the same time, Andrew started to make some headway against Aaron’s solid setup.

Jon was finally persuaded to give the Kevin the draw he’d been asking for, which clinched the championship for Kevin. Seeing this result, Andrew offered Aaron a draw, wrapping up second place.

After an early loss to Andrew and a later one to James Sloven, Jon bounced back well enough to tie for third. Surprisingly, he was caught by Michael Escobar, who scored two losses and a draw in his first three games but finished the tournament by winning four in a row. Michael’s final win dropped his opponent, James, who played unusual openings such as 1.g4 and 1. … f6, from third to fifth place.

Rounding out the field were the three lowest-rated players in the Championship section: Aaron Gertler, Christian Martin, and Michael Pergeorelis. All of them gave tough battles to the leaders and gained a lot of valuable experience.

The plot was much simpler in the B section. Top-ranked Joe Reynolds won every game to finish with a 7-0 record. Apart from a lucky escape against John Hughes, he cruised pretty smoothly through the field.

Below Joe, though, the parity was remarkable. Aric Lu finished at 4.5-2.5; Alisa Spitelle and John Hughes were right behind him at 4-3; Francis Fish scored an even 3.5-3.5; and Josiah Martin went 3-4. The other participants were Brian Frame, who played in only the first four rounds, and Jacob Martin.

Each section’s winner was awarded a Ron Curry trophy, honoring the long-time Delaware chess player, teacher, and author. By winning the B section, Joe Reynolds also earned an automatic entry into next year’s Championship section.

He will probably face an even tougher field, as only about half of the 16 highest-rated Delaware juniors entered the tournament this year. After such a successful start, this tournament is likely to attract more of the top players next time.
—–
Games and crosstables available at: http://bear.delawarechess.org/FSJI_06_rpt.htm

The Corus Chess Tournament has started and consists of many of the top players in the world. You can watch the games online at http://www.coruschess.com/. Of course, the chess servers such as Chesslive, Playchess, and the ICC relay the games and include audio commentary. So if you are a member of any of those servers I highly recommend tuning in to the audio to learn how these great players think and see wonderful game analysis!

Wishing everyone the very best over this holiday season and throughout the new year.

Happy New Year to all!

The Newark Chess Club has moved its website to its new home under the Delaware Chess ‘banner’. Under the skillful webmastery of Mike Bartley the site is up and running at http://ncc.delawarechess.org. Click on over and checkout the club news, book reviews, membership information and tournament schedule at Newark’s premiere place to play on Thursday nights.

Please join us for an exciting day as we kick off the start of a new year at the Hockessin Library Scholastic Club. The club will have a new leader - Josephine Fish - and is starting off on January 7th with a simul against our very own Delaware native, Master Dave Gertler! Click on over to the club flyer to see how you can participate. Be sure to come on out that day to support Delaware chess!

There is a new sheriff in town and his name is Richard Martin. He has a new deputy named Bob Wilder and the town record keeper is now Rick Lathem. These are your newly elected president, vice-president and secretary for the Delaware Chess Association. Congratulations gang!

You can view the complete list of officers, new and continuing, on our website at http://www.delawarechess.org/officers.htm

You will also note their email addresses on that page. The new crew very much wants to encourage all you Delaware chess players, parents and coaches to contact them with suggestions for making chess even better in this great state. A forum topic has already been started if you want to chime in on our Delaware Chess Forum. It can be found here.

So please join us on the message boards or email them directly so we can all carry this great game to a new level in our state.

Starting October 8, 2005……every Saturday 10am - noon
New Castle Chess Club
New Castle Public Library
424 Delaware Street
New Castle, Delaware 19720
Library phone is 302-328-1996

Running the club will be Phil Simpkins, past DCA President 2002-2004, Current USCF Tournament Clearinghouse 197-199, Certified Local level Tournament Director, his contact info is, 302-326-2101, e-mail is phillip.simpkins@verizon.net

If you have it, bring your own equipment, notation pad and clock.

Casual Play, USCF Rated Events, Blitz Events, Club Championships,
Classes Offered, Lectures Offered, Private Lessons Offered,
Simuls Offered, Any Age, Any Skill level, Handicap Accessible.

USCF and DCA memberships available

Starting on Wednesday, September 28, 2005, the world’s best chess players compete for the World Chess Championship in San Luis, Argentina. Eight of the top chess players will compete in a double round robin to determine the new World Chess Champion. The competitors will be Anand, Topalov, Leko, Svidler, Polgar, Adams, Morozevich and Kasimdzhanov. The chess world has waited a long long time for such an event to take place and you won’t want to miss out on this one. The official English homepage of the championship is http://www.ajedrezcampeonatomundial2005.com/home.asp?lang=en

There is also a link on that site to view the games live on the Internet at http://www.ajedrezdepunta.com/. Of course you can always watch the games on any of the chess servers and listen in at chess.fm, although it appears they are not starting their coverage until Friday for some odd reason.(?)

Go to the official site to read biographies of the players and take your best guess who you think will win. Then go on over to our forum and cast your vote - but do so soon because this event is almost underway!