The “old stalwarts” swept the MetroWest club’s ( www.metrowestchess.org) 81-player, 4-section Summer Solstice Open in Natick. Denys Shmelov, 26, of Pepperell was by far the youngest of the winners, joining Joseph F. Kelly, Ed Chornoboy and Ray Behenna, atop the classgroups.The Independence Day Open starting Tuesday is a five-week event at the Natick Senior Center.
Boris Gelfand of Israel won clear first in the very strong 8th Tal Memorial in Moscow, as American Hikaru Nakamura had four wins, four losses and one draw to finish with an even score. Gelfand had only three wins, but didn’t lose any games. Magnus Carlsen of Norway was in clear second place, and find a detailed report at www.chessbase.com.
Daniel Naroditsky, 17, of California won the U.S. Junior Closed round robin in St. Louis, with a clutch win as black in the final round over Robert Perez, 17, the teen star attending MIT, and, there wasn’t a New York player in the field — this year dominated by players from the West. Perez, one of the higher seeds, had three wins, four losses (he had his queen trapped three times, several in severe time trouble) and two draws. More details, photos and games at www.uschesschamps.com.
Few seem to understand the 2nd National Online Invitational Championship, a section of which was won by Carissa Yip, 9, of Chelmsford. The games, played at 10 chess clubs (via Internet) coast to coast (including the Boylston Club of Somerville) was nationally rated (see www.uschess.org under AZ), with Daniel Rensch coordinating all the details, for www.ChessKid.com, and the USCF. In a report last Sunday, Rensch again mentions that the event “fills a void” to give students under age 13 national exposure without excessive travel.Carissa was the only girl in the under-age-10 section, and, received top billing for her efforts, also with games carried live on www.chess.com.
Bruce Pandolfini’s June column at www.chesscafe.com highlights his lecture of Oct., 16, 2007, at the Dalton School New York City. For potential chess instructors, the 20 diagrammed positions are there, but it’s not a beginner’s lesson by any means, seeing he was teaching one of the country’s top young chess teams.Great lesson if your young student needs to learn what a “fortress” is in chess.
Worcester chess takes a holiday vacation, as the next event at www.chesspals.combegins on July 11. At Fitchburg State University, the Harlow Daly Memorial continues on Wed., details at www.wachusettchess.org.
Friday, a real holiday special can be found at www.walthamchessclub.org. Free “wild card” events, free pizza, and no rated competition or other requirements … sounds like fun.
The 41st World Open next weekend is in the Washington D.C. area, so there is also a two-day major event in here in New England, the Nashua Open, or view other one-day events at www.masschess.org.
Answer to quiz: White wins by a double rook sacrifice, starting with 1. PxB (axb4). Then white mates with Qxc6 and Ba6. You can subscribe to the free feeds that Tim Brennan of Colorado has been sending out weekly for more than two years.
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