You can see results through round 3 of the ongoing Sturgis Memorial at Fitchburg State University at www.wachusettchess.org. There is virtually no cost other than USCF membership to compete in the final two rounds of this event the next two Wednesdays.
Note the colorful map of New England that greets you on the homepage, with the 25 top-rated players in New England, 15 of whom reside in Massachusetts, starting with Larry Christiansen of Cambridge, who is playing all comers at no cost in recent months on the second Tuesday at Boston
‘s South Station. Details at www.boylstonchessclub.org.It
‘s ho-ho-ho Friday night at the Waltham Chess Club, 404 Wyman St., Waltham, as the club‘s last meeting of the year features a free quick chess event, pot luck food and bughouse (fun chess variation) going into the wee hours, according to Dr. Nicholas Sterling, tournament director at www.walthamchessclub.org.Don
‘t stay up too late, as the Boylston Chess Club, 240-B Elm St., Somerville, presents the Harry Lyman Memorial at 10 a.m. Saturday (details at www.masschess.org). Henry Harry Lyman (1915-99) was one of the best-known and beloved New England players and chess benefactors of the 20th century. Tributes abound on the BCC site and in all of Joel Johnson‘s books. Lyman spent his last two decades rebuilding the club at its two former Boston sites after retiring as an accountant for General Dynamics in southeast Connecticut.Last week we didn
‘t mention the other historical note of December, the birth of Harry Pillsbury (1872-1906) and the anniversary of the 1972 Pillsbury Centennial, New England‘s largest chess event ever, with 738 players in numerous sections at Northeastern University and the Boston YMCA in Boston‘s Back Bay.Hikaru Nakamura of St. Louis had to settle for third at the fourth London Classic (www.londonchessclassic.com) as Magnus Carlsen dashed off five (3 pt.) wins and three (1 pt.) draws in the nine-player field. The hoopla was that Carlsen achieved the highest live chess rating ever (topping Kasparov and Fischer). World champ Anand finished fifth with just one win, losing rating points.
Vishy Remembers, part one began Tuesday at www.chessbase.com, and tells the story of how Anand first won the world title in 2000, and defended it four times since.
Answer to quiz: White wins easily with 1. g7. From Attacking 101, Vol. 1 by Joel Johnson of Arizona, former Chess Horizons editor, who credits this writer in the preface with giving him the idea of issuing low cost books with attacking game motifs.
Good column.