Andrew Liu, 14, of Westboro tied for first last weekend in the under-age-15 section of the U.S. Junior Open in Tarrytown, N.Y. He was one of two students in the 319-player, four-section event. At the same site, Alexander Ivanov of Newton won his third U.S. Senior Open title, after tying with James Rizzitano of Southboro, one of three state seniors at the 57-player event. For photos and a complete list of junior open winners, see www.chesseducators.com.
John Curdo of Auburn won the Mayte in Five Open at the Greater Worcester Chess Club, with Maharrem Brahimaj and Anil Marthi taking second and third. The May Be Mate Open ended in a tie between Justin Wang and Lawrence Legros. Details of the June Knights and Jolly June Opens this month on Thursday nights in Worcester can be found at www.chesspals.com.
Christopher Gu, 14, of Wakefield, R.I., won the 58-player R.I. Open, where about a third of the field was from Massachusetts. The rating report is at www.uschess.org/msa, with all USCF records going back to 1992.
The parade of New England state championships continues next weekend with the 63rd N.H. Open in three sections at the Manchester Comfort Inn. Details at www.nhchess.org.
Dominguez Perez Leinier of Cuba topped the www.fide.com Grand Prix in Greece, with Americans Gata Kamsky and Hikaru Nakamura finishing tied for second and in seventh place in the 12-player event.
Yes, it was Garry Kasparov on TV network news saying he will not be returning to Russia any time soon, one of the top stories of the week at www.chessbase.com.
More news also featured on top-level chess cheating allegations, this time in Bulgaria.
If you live southeast of Worcester, consider viewing www.svenbraskcc.org, a club meeting on Wednesdays now in Plainville, and having roots of more than 50 years in Attleboro, Mansfield and Woonsocket, R.I. James Aspinall of Mansfield is the club director, and George Winsor of South Easton recently won the annual club championship.
State co-champion Robert Perez, 17, an undergrad at M.I.T., will be one of the 10 students at the U.S. Junior Closed starting Friday in St. Louis. He qualified by having one of the highest ratings of anyone under the age of 21.
Answer to quiz: The scene is Baku in 1972. Tal uncorks 1. Rxf4 and black’s defense crumbles. From “The Magic Tactics of Mikhail Tal” by www.newinchess.com. More on the Tal Memorial next week; another Tal position on June 23.
Source: http://www.telegram.com
Tal was amazing.