February has proved that chess ultimately wins over the worst of winter weather as a hobby, sport and educational endeavor.
Forty state players and almost four dozen others from New England made the trek to Parsipanny, N.J. for the World Amateur Team, which we began to relate last Sunday. Three from New England had perfect 6-0 scores — Alan Price and Doug Fiske of Connecticut and Chris Gu of Rhode Island. The 1,167-player event is still being publicized as journalists pore over the 44-page rating report and more games appear at www.uschess.org.
Last weekend, 71 competed in the new one-day version of the Queen City Open, now called a “tornado” (given the four-round format), swept 4-0 in each of three rated sections by Alexander Ivanov of Newton, Erik Blatt of Vermont and Dan Reed of New Hampshire. Sponsor was www.nhchess.org.
The Natick Groundhog Day Open might have missed a Tuesday round due to a storm, but it didn’t stop 74 players from competing, and five individuals scoring 3-0 to top the four sections detailed at www.metrowestchess.org.
This past week, Carissa Yip, 10, of Chelmsford received more honor and instruction, becoming the youngest of 13 top under-age-14 students at the Schein-Friedman Chess Camp in St. Louis and the envy of her fifth-grade class.
Next Sunday, one of the greatest tributes to a modern chess organizer, the GGG, better known as the Gilbert Gosselin Memorial Grade Championship, will be contested in eight sections at the Marlboro Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel; details at www.masschess.org. See the same site to view the start of MACA’s annual election season, as 18 volunteers vie for the 12 positions of officers and at-large board members featuring the exchange of positive ideas. No one loses when constructive ideas are exchanged in the open by one of America’s top nonprofit educational groups that received federal recognition in 1980.
Librarians, parents and hobbyists of all ages should be listening to Joseph Phelps of Louisville, Ky., as his words, “Chess books that really helped me, in the order I wish I had read them” appeared on “Listmania” as well as www.amazon.com, where sales of printed books and e-books now vie for the eyes of the world.
The listing of 29 books for chess novices and amateurs is a daunting one and mirrors many of the best-known American and worldwide writers. It’s topped by Patrick Wolff, a Massachusetts native now of California, who compiled three editions of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess” in grand style and grace. Second was “399 Super Easy Chess Tactics” by Coloradian amateur chess dynamo Anthea Carson, who visited Boston in mid-January at the urging of her writing partner, Tim Brennan of www.tacticstime.com fame.
Source: http://www.telegram.com
Excellent.