The second chapter of the 2010 Delaware Series Challenge has been written and Vlad Anderson is the new star of this book. Vlad leads with 4 points with William Wong still 1/2 point behind with 3.5. Glenn Davis remains atop the Under 1600 division with 4 points also. For full results, check out the result page.
The next event is the 5 round Swiss at the Bear Library on May 15th. There is still time to join in and catch the leaders!
On March 24th, Delaware’s state champion Dave Gertler participated in the US State Champion of Champions tournament to crown the ‘state champion of champions’ and to earn a seat in the 2010 US Championships. Unfortunately Dave didn’t win, but he did write up an interesting article on the event from his perspective. The article was posted on uschess.org and is posted below.
By FM David Gertler
The annual “State Champion of Champions” event is a wonderful idea. It lets state champs from around the country compete for a spot in the invitational U.S. Championship.
The field is broken into East and West sections. Two players from each section qualify for a playoff, with the winner earning that Championship seeding. Games are played through the Internet Chess Club at a 3 0 speed (three minutes per player for the whole game, with no clock delay or increment on each move).
At this year’s tournament, I was fortunate to be Delaware’s representative for the second time. Though I had no realistic hope of reaching the playoff, it was a great way to test my skills and to justify actually studying a few opening variations.
In a huge round robin, blitz chess is a necessary evil. Playing 21 rounds takes hours even at that pace. Still, increasing the speed decreases the quality of the games. (I’m semi-retired from over-the-board tournaments but do play 3 0 games online regularly, so I know what typical online blitz games are like.)
Speaking only for my own games, the level of play in this tournament was appalling. My computer chess program laughed helplessly when it saw these supposedly master-level games. Positional struggles turned into strings of one-move threats followed by mindless time scrambles where, as the saying goes, the player making the next-to-last blunder won. I flagged (lost on time) in multiple dead winning positions, and I offered a draw to an opponent who was about to flag because I couldn’t bear to win with a lone Rook vs. a Rook plus two connected pawns.
Color assignments made the event even weirder. I got white in my first nine games (which helped me start out well at 6-4, including a win in my first black game). When I messaged the director, he said something about engineers looking into the problem. Inevitably, I was black in my next ten games!
Another initial software kink was a lack of ratings. Our USCF ratings were supposed to appear by our names during the games, but I was shown as 1400 for my first 14 games, and seven of my opponents bore that same 1400 rating.
Toward the end, mental fatigue set in – more strongly in some of us than in others. I’m in good physical shape for a middle-aged guy (having run a couple of recent half-marathons), but brain function is a different matter. I scored 2.5 from my last 11 games and nearly stopped caring. New Hampshire chess organizers used to hold an annual “Monadnock Marathon,” where participants played through the day and night, past the point of exhaustion. I imagined it would be fun to try that event once. I no longer think so.
Though my cold streak dropped me to a 15th-place finish out of 22 players (well below the midpack result I’d wanted), I found a couple of silver linings. One was a quick ninth-round win over GM Julio Becerra (who had started out 7-1).
The other – my favorite moment of the event – was when I created Alekhine’s Gun.
For anyone not in the know, Alekhine’s Gun is a tremendously powerful battery formed by doubled Rooks with a Queen behind them. I don’t think I’d ever achieved it in any sort of tournament game. Against New Jersey representative IM Dean Ippolito, though, I loaded it up and took what should have been deadly aim.
Sad to say, I was struggling with the clock, and after missing many trivial wins, I actually lost this game by flagging when I had Rook and four pawns vs. three lone pawns. Being old and slow has its drawbacks.
I hope to qualify for the State Champion of Champions tournament again next year. Perhaps caffeine could help me overcome my speed handicap, though my other chess shortcomings may be beyond chemical aid. A suggestion: changing the time control to 3 1 could greatly reward players who focus on quality rather than pure mouse speed. That one second per move could help them avoid losses in ridiculously winning positions, a common tragedy that shouldn’t be part of choosing a U.S. Championship qualifier.
Thanks Dave!
Now tell us what YOU think. Should the time control be changed? Is a 3 0 time control even really chess? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
The first event in the 2010 Delaware Series Challenge is complete. Congratulations to Paris Mitchell for taking the early lead. Hot on her heels and only a 1/2 point behind is William Wong. Several players are tied for third, including Glenn Davis who leads the Under 1600 pack.
For full results, check out our results page here: http://www.delawarechess.org/tournaments/grandprix2010.html
It is not too late to join the series – there are still several events to go. The next event is the 4th Saturday Quad in Newark on March 27. Enjoy a great day of chess and earn points to become the 2010 Series Champion!
Stay tuned for more event updates throughout the year…
The following information is from Dan Heisman. Dan will be giving a FREE seminar on April 6, 2010.
Hi!
On Apr 6, I will be giving a seminar at ~9:30 at the Main Line Chess Club in Gladwyne (www.mainlinechess.com) about how I discovered that 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.d4 (The Lolli, as opposed to the Fried Liver 6.Nxf7; the Fried Liver was previously thought to be weaker) is not as good as previously thought, which led GM Larry Kaufman and I to conclude that 5…Nxd5 is probably as good as any other recommended 5th move: 5…Na5, 5…b5, and 5…Nd4. This discovery has subsequently been published in New In Chess Yearbook #94, recently available, on page 25. This seminar is open to everyone and is free. Please spread the word if you think you know someone who might be interested.
Questions: 610-649-0750.
Regards,
Dan Heisman
The April Quad will be the 3rd Saturday rather than the usual 2nd. The new date is April 17, 2010.
3RR rated 2nd Sat of the month Quad – March 13, 2010
Where : Calvary United Methodist Church
301 South East Front Street
Milford, DE 19963
Handicap accessible
Prizes: $40 per Quad winner
EF $20
Must be USCF memb, and Req’d DCA memb OSA
Reg. 9-9:30 Rds 9:45-1:15-5:00
Affiliation Central DE Chess Club No. 6001310
Contact: Day 302.853.5008; Night 302.422.4328; email themillers10@verizon.net
This weekend (3/20/10) is our Gr Phila area scholastic championship!
So if your students (and teams) want to win titles, here they are! Want to be the Gr Phila HS Champion (or MS or Elementary). Or want your school to be the 2009-2010 Gr Phila high school (or MS or Elementary) champions. This is your only chance. Not too many MS and HS teams play so everyone who brings four or more from their school has a good chance! As usual, if you bring more students, that makes the team titles easier to win (our rules encourage that – the more the better). If you bring everyone from your after-school program (if you have one at your school) you will probably win quite a few trophies.
Anyone from anywhere grades K-12 can play.
Dan Heisman
Questions 610-649-0750
The 2010 Delaware Series Challenge begins March 13 with the second Saturday quads in Milford. The series will consist of four events this year and the winner of the series gets a free entry into the Delaware State Championship at the end of the year. Read below for more details. For a printable flier, click here: 2010 Series Challenge
DETAILS:
*5 events testing all chess skill
*open to all with USCF membership
*trophies for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd overall
* trophy for top player under 1600 rating( must be under 1600 at the first event you compete in)
*based on cumulative points earned in all of the events (1= win ½ = draw)
*each event will also have its own cash prize list
* 1st place overall gets free entry into DE state championship
Series Schedule:
Event #1:
March 13: 2nd Saturday Quad @ Calvary United Methodist Church, 301 S.E. Front St. Milford, DE (40/80, SD/30 Time Control)
Event #2:
March 27: 4th Saturday Quad @ Howard Johnson’s Hotel, Route 896, Newark (40/75, SD/30 Time Control)
Event #3:
May 15: 5 round Swiss @ Bear Library (G/29 Time Control)
Event #4:
June 5 & 6: Delaware Capital Open (5 round swiss, G/90 time control)
For more information, contact:
David Power (bikedavid@aol.com)
3RR rated 2nd Sat of the month Quad – March 13, 2010
Where : Calvary United Methodist Church
301 South East Front Street
Milford, DE 19963
Handicap accessible
Prizes: $40 per Quad winner
EF $20
Must be USCF memb, and Req’d DCA memb OSA
Reg. 9-9:30 Rds 9:45-1:15-5:00
Affiliation Central DE Chess Club No. 6001310
Contact: Day 302.853.5008; Night 302.422.4328; email themillers10@verizon.net
The Bear Scholastic Club is sponsoring their 6th annual Christmas tournament. The tournament will be a four round event with a G45 time control. There will be an open section and a scholastic section for the under-1000 crowd. Join the Bear Club for this always popular event!
For details, see the tournament flier here: Bear December 2009
We have added a page showing DCA adult and scholastic members. The page shows each player’s name, DCA expiration date, and USCF#. The link is found on the DCA Information page or you can click here.