Panamercian Youth Championships

Pocos de Caldas is small town in Brazil, situated approximately 250 km away from Sao Paolo. The place is famous for its thermal waters and is one of Brazilian beloved resorts. This year it hosted the Panamerican Individual Championships for girls and boys aged up to eighteen.



From 25-th of July to 1-st of August the best players of South and North America competed in the event. By character the tournament is equivalent to the European Championship. By scale it should be bigger than that as there are two continents involved in the competitions.
North America was represented mainly by USA, Jamaica and Mexico, while South by almost all the countries. The most impressive was the group from Peru with approximately a hundred of competitors.



It is winter on the south part of the hemisphere and during the first couple of days it was rainy and gloomy. Not the kind of weather one should expect from Brazil. It was the people that made the days fine though. No matter if they speak your language or not, with a smile on their faces Brazilians will try to help you in every aspect they can in a most patient and polite way. And once that the rains were over none could guess what the actual season was. Warm and pleasant weather, plus 25 degrees Celsius all day long- just the perfect conditions to enjoy your stay. The majority of the players were accommodated in the nice Golden Park hotel, which was equipped with swimming pool, sauna, and tennis court and situated five minutes away from the venue. Food was perfect, exuberant and tasty, and…
The kids had only six days to take advantage of these wonderful characteristics of Brazil. Throughout those days they had also to play nine games of chess. A tough program which included three double rounds, an opening round at 7 p.m and a last round at 9 a.m. On the top of that the blitz tournament took place soon after the classical tournaments were over. Indeed, chess is getting more and more competitive in any sense.
I flew to South America as a coach of three of my American students. All of them are members of NorCal House of Chess in Bay Area, California. This remarkable club is run by the Pilipino-born coach Ted Castro who cooperates with a bunch of Grandmasters and experienced coaches all over the world to provide the best education for his students. Many of the club members belong to the list of Top Kids in the country.
My students did well in Pocos de Caldes. Ashritha Eswaran ended sixth in the group under fourteen, Chenyi Zhao-fourth under ten while Aksithi Eswaran took home the trophy of the youngest girls (under eight). Aksithi owes her success not only to coach Ted, but to coaches Mathew Benson, Ronald Cusi and Ricardo de Guzman.

Two more American kids deserve special attention in this report as both Kevin Chor (under 8) and David Peng (under 10) left no chance to their opponents and won all their games!
Overall the seventeen Americans took eight medals and the cup of the second best team. First place came naturally for the Peruvians. In some categories they swept all the medals! My personal award for most supportive team went to the Chile fellows. They were most expressive during the closing ceremony! Which was a feast of colours and sounds.
Results in each group and games here.
On the way back I enjoyed the hospitality of a friend of mine. IM Herman Claudius van Riemsdijk is a living legend of the Brazilian chess. Born in Netherlands, he was raised in Brazil and won the national title three times. Many of the country records are owned by him, including the number of finals that he played-30! Herman is a walking encyclopedia who met all the world champions starting with Euwe and was one of the arbiters at the WCC in San Luis.
He showed me in a fast mode the sights of Sao Paolo, all the famous chess spots including the place where Najdorf game his famous simul.
Thank you for the hospitality, Brazil!

Material Unbalance

In our chess games often situations occur in which one side can trade two light pieces (six pawns) for a rook and a pawn (also six pawns). Nominally speaking, this should be equal, but in reality it is one of the sides who profits from the exchange.
The general rule states that the pieces are stronger, especially at the beginning and in the middle game, but this is not always the case.
If the rooks have open files and can create direct attack against the enemy king they might be the better pieces.
Have a look at the following example:

Short,Nigel D (2440) - Tempone,Marcelo (2335)
Wch U20 Mexico, 1981



White's activity is overwhelming and it is no wonder that he can start decisive attack.

16.Bxf7+! Rxf7 17.Nxf7 Kxf7 18.Rae1!



The last reserves are coming in the action and Black cannot hold the king's flank.

18...Bf8 [Or: 18...Bd6 19.Bxf6 gxf6 (There is an in-between check in the line- 19...Qxf6 20.Ne4 Qxf3 21.Nxd6+) 20.Qh5+ Kg7 21.Ne4 where Black is helpless. Just have a look at his flanks and you will know why.]

19.Ne4 Ra5 [The rooks are ruling in the line- 19...Nbd5 20.Nxf6 Nxf6 21.Bxf6 Qxf6 (21...gxf6 22.Qh5+ Kg8 23.Rg3+) 22.Qh5+ Kg8 23.Rf3



While 19...Bg4 loses material- 20.Bxf6 Bxf3 21.Bxd8]

20.Nxf6 gxf6 21.Re8 Qd6 22.Qh5+ Kg8

23.R1e7! Qxe7 24.Rxe7 Bxe7 25.Qe8+ [Black resigned because of the line-]

[25.Qe8+ Bf8 26.Bh6 Nd7 27.Qxc8]

1–0

A Camp with the Champ

The third edition of the Metropolitan Chess Camp took place in Los Angeles from 10 to 14 July. More than one hundred players took part in it. The age of the participants varied from young kids aged five or six to experienced masters aged above sixty.
The trainer’s team was a mixture of experienced local coaches (GM Melik Khachiyan, IMs Armen Ambartsoumian, Andranik Matikozian and Zhanibek Amanov) plus two non-US residing GMs- Vadim Milov and yours truly.


However, the pearl in the crown was the presence of the reigning World Champion Vishy Anand. For a second consecutive year the Metropolitan Chess founder and national master Ankit Gupta managed to treat the lucky campers with the knowledge of a world class player.
The lectures were conducted in the comfortable Radisson hotel situated within a walking distance from the Los Angeles International airport.
The schedule was tough, especially for the lower-rated participants and included after-class activities like simuls, blitz tournament and even a bughouse one! After all, chess should be fun, should not it?


Anand showed some of the recent top GM games, including his own victory against Jon Ludvig Hammer from the Sandes Masters tournament in Norway in May as well as games of his colleagues from the recent top-GM events.
The last day of the event saw a simul by the World Champion against twenty selected players from the camp and a game against the chess.com members. More than ten thousand players took part in the latter, but it had to end prematurely as the servers went down. From Anand’s over-the-board opponents two were luckier than the others. Michael Brown drew his game (and he did so in the previous year as well!) while the ten year old Marcus Miyasaka won his one!

The sessions of the World Champion were recorded and will be released on a DVD soon. So were mine in one of the training day :)

Hello, Africa

This is an old article but I hope you will enjoy it!
Organizing and conducting TRG seminars (FIDE training seminar) is part of my job as a FIDE Senior Trainer. A couple of months ago when from the trainers council wrote me about the seminar in Botswana, I did not hesitate at all and applied for the job. This was a great opportunity to visit and see the cradle of civilization- Africa!


Moreover, I already knew a lot about it by my friend Ruppert Jones, a colourful chap from Leeds, who used to live and develop chess in Botswana, now represents Papua New Guinea and helps the developing countries play better chess.
The course coincided with the African Zonal tournament for men and women. Botswana has strong players in its disposal but the tournaments were dominated by the representatives of Zambia and South Africa respectively.
FM Bwalya Gillian left no chances at all to his opponents. He started with seven straight wins and was 1.5 point ahead of his closest rival before the final round. The overall win of the event granted him a spot for the World Cup and the IM title.
The remaining players fought hard for the titles as well as the top three players had chances in obtaining it in case that they score at least six points out of the nine rounds played.
The ladies section saw another foreign triumph. Charlize Van Zyl started with a draw but won the next five games and the overall.


The South Africans did a great job with their junior squad and showed clearly what should be the aim of any country which wants to develop chess.
In Africa I met Peter Leko. Not the Super GM, but probably a future one. One of the strongest female players in Botswana Tshepiso Lopang felt in love with the games of the Hungarian GM and decided to name her son after him. Leko would proudly announce his name at the events and stand next to his Mom while she plays her games.
The logo of the Botswana Chess Federation says “30 Years of making smart moves.” They made one more of those with their decision to host a FIDE training seminar in the capital city of Gaborone from 3-8 May. Many of the participants in the Zonal tournaments took part at the seminar as well, thus improving their knowledge in both the competitive and teaching area.
All the participants of the TRG seminar successfully passed the exam and are now ready to be more effective and skilled as chess coaches. They received their certificates at an impressive closing ceremony.
It was a great experience to see the exuberant nature that Botswana offers to everyone. The variety of animal species, the colourful shops and markets, beautiful gift shops everything was so unusual.
And finally, the new word that I learned. Botho. It is a bit complicated to explain it, but as whole this is the positive and passionate attitude towards the people. The human behavior.

Out-going President of Botswana Chess Federation Honored

Report by: Keenese Katisenge (BCF PR-Director)

The out-going President of Botswana Chess Federation and FIDE Zone 4.3 President Mr. Tshepo Sitale was on Saturday 8th June 2013, awarded the 2012 Sports Administrator of the Year at the 33rd Botswana National Sports Council Awards held in GICC, Gaborone. The award is given to the administrator who have led a Sporting Code that has excelled and there is clear demonstration of accountability, attraction of sponsors, positive media coverage and grassroots development.

Mr. Sitale was commended for successfully leading the Federation to great heights in 2012. In the year, the Federation celebrated 30 years of existence with the slogan ’30 years of making smart moves’. This is attested by ‘Re Ba Bona Ha’ grassroots program (Re Ba Bona Ha is a Setswana phrase that means catch them when young), which is run in Gaborone West, a high-density populated area mostly comprising of low income earners. The program which is sponsored by Debswana and the Botswana National Sports Council is meant for kids aged 6 years to 13 years in the community and are assembled during the week to play chess.
BCF is one of the active Federations in Africa and shining example that there is progress in African Chess. The Federation hosted the reigning World Chess Champion, Mr. Viswanathan Anand in 2009. The federation has hosted various Zonal & Continental event and they have local tournaments in average of every 2 weeks. Chess is recognized as a sport in Botswana and the Federation receives funding from the Botswana National Sports Council and has various Sponsors from major companies in the likes of Debswana, Metropolitan and National Development Bank.

Administratively, the Federation is run in a democratic system and annual Congress are held where clubs and associate members are given opportunity to have input on the affairs of the Federation. The award winning administrator Mr. Tshepo Sitale has voluntarily stepped down in May 2013, after leading the Federation for over 5 years and Presidency has been assumed by the former Vice President Mr. Tshenolo Maruatona. The new Executive Committee led by Mr. Maruatona is to lead the Federation for the next 4 years.

On the Doping

“Jerry, hurry up! I just got a man with beep-beep!!!” In his overexcitement the Romanian born Gabriel Mirza could not find the appropriate word for a computer device but came in the hall fast sprinting. Gerry Graham urged to the Gents. Mirza then forced the door and pulled out the suspect. It appeared to be sixteen-year old boy who admitted that had used the device. This happened on the 21 of April at the final day of the Cork Chess Congress in Ireland. Mirza and his opponent were on the lead with 3/4 at the time of the incident, a point behind their main rival.
The results of the player who was caught red-handed were erased and he was expelled from the tournament. So was Mirza who overreacted in this case. At first he peered from the top of the cubical wall and tried to grab the tablet from the hands of his opponent and later broke down the door. “What could I do?” said the devastated player later- “what would you do if someone steals from you?” However, since a minor was involved in the case and there was an aggressive behavior by the opponent the whole thing will be deeply investigated by the ICU.



It would have been funny if this was a separated case, but things start to get out of control lately.
Once that I was back in Bulgaria after this wonderful tournament I visited the Bulgarian Individual Championships. “Everyone here talks about one person”, said one of the participants, “-about Borislav (Ivanov)”. After his success in Villava, Spain- Ivanov took part at another rapid tournament- the “Bogomil Andonov Memorial” in Bulgaria. It was conducted just a couple of days prior to the start of the Bulgarian finals. Ivanov started with 3/3 then lost to IM Sasho Nikolov and recovered with three wins. Two of them were against Grandmasters. Peter Drenchev felt victim to fabulous tactics in the endgame, while Kiril Georgiev was simply swept off with simple moves. What they obviously did not like about the games (other than the result) was the fact that they opponent spent very little time on his clock to finish the game in his favour. And, as Kiril wrote on facebook “all moves after move 10 were with Houdini 3.”

Ivanov’s next opponent GM Grigor Grigorov solved the suspicion problem easily- he did not sit on the table for the game and lost on forfeit. This allowed a chance to the former to win the tournament with a draw in the last round.
The story felt too mean to happen at a tournament in memory of such a marvelous and easy-going personality like Bogomil. The first price of the event was 150 euro and the people did not gather there for the money but from respect of the man.
Therefore, during the finals the participants took actions and published the following statement:
“We are deeply convinced that the individual Borislav Ivanov uses electronic help during his chess games.
We declare that we are not going to participate in any tournament in which he might play if there is not specialized technique supplied which would guarantee that the usage of electronic devices in the venue is impossible.”
The letter was signed by almost all the participants in the final.
In the meanwhile the organizer of the 1-st Open Old Capital in Veliko Tarnovo denied access to Ivanov at his tournament. The latter threatened with court. Another scandal was looming, when a tricky solution was found.
Ivanov was granted access to the event. And after a draw in the first round he confidently grabbed the lead and with 5.5/6. It seems as another bright victory is on the way. But there was a catch…
The tournament regulations state that:
“If a player has more than two unplayed games he/she will not participate in the distribution of prizes!”
Guess what? In round four and round six Ivanov defeated IM Sasho Nikolov and Peter Drenchev on forfeit… He then defeated Alex Rombaldoni in round seven, and drew in round 8 against IM Kukov.
In the final round Ivanov was paired to play against IM Sasho Nikolov again. This was possible as the latter did not show for the first game.
Nikolov did not show once more, Ivanov won on forfeit. He should be the overall winner of the event with 8/9, but as he did not play 3 games, this is how the standings look like.
The players too care of the suspect...
In the meanwhile ACP launched the following statement:
“Dear friends,
We are glad to inform you that FIDE has supported the idea to establish the special anti-cheating committee, that will include a number of ACP representatives. If you are interested to be a member of the committee, please, submit your ideas and vision in a letter to the ACP Board

We will revise all the proposals and select two or three of our members that will represent the ACP in the anti-cheating committee.

Let's fight this plague together!”

You can read my opinion here.
We will be happy to hear more ideas and ways to handle the real doping in chess!

And an American One

Approximately at the time when Akito's title was confirmed the US All Nationals Championship took place. Ashritha Eswaran confirmed her title from the last year in a most convincing way. She won all her games! A critical game was the one in round five when everything was hanging by a thread:
Arab,Kiana (1957) - Ashritha (1999)
All girls nationals 2013 5th rd Shredder for iPad, 28.04.2013
[Bojkov,Dejan]



[White's initiative on the king's flank is most unpleasant. Ashritha decided to go for counter attack.]

16...Nxe5!? 17.fxe5 Nxg4 18.Qxf7+ Kh8 [It seems as White should checkmate at any moment. However, it turns that her king is vulnerable too.]

19.Qxg6 [The most obvious continuation lets the initiative slip away.]

[19.Rf4 Qh4 would transpose into the game but:; 19.Qf4! was extremely strong. The logic of the game have changed, and White needs no longer to attack, but to play against the knight on g4 which lacks pawn defense. Endgame would work best! 19...Qh4 20.Rf3 Rf8 21.Qg3 Qxg3+ 22.Rxg3±]

19...Qh4 20.Rf4



20...Bxe5! [The point of Ashritha's counter attack. ]

21.Qxg4? [Black would be also close to winning in case of: 21.dxe5 Rg8! 22.Rxg4 Rxg6 23.Rxg6 d4!; Only a narrow path would have kept the balance- 21.Rxg4! Qh2+ 22.Kf1 Rg8 23.Qxg8+ Rxg8 24.Rxg8+ Kxg8 25.dxe5 Qxe5 when a draw is a most likely result.]

21...Rg8!



Tables have turned. It is Black who completely overtook the initiative!]

22.Bg6 Rxg6! 23.Qxg6 Bxf4 24.Kf1 Rg8 25.Qxg8+ Kxg8 26.exf4 Qh1+



with decisive material advantage and attack as compensation, Black wins easily.]

27.Ke2 Be8 28.b4 Bh5+ 29.Kf2 Qh2+ 30.Ke1 Qg1+ 31.Kd2 Qxd4+ 32.Kc2 Bg6+ 33.Kb3 Qd3 34.f5 Bxf5 35.Bb2 Qc4+ 36.Ka4 Bc2+ 37.Ka5 b6#

0–1
The trophies of the winners were presented by Garry Kasparov himself!




To many's surprise Ashritha's younger sister Aksithi became a champion in her age as well! She scored 5.5/6. "Now they will no longer fight about who got the bigger trophy", joked their delighted father.



One more of my students did very well in Chicago. Chenyi Zhao scored 5/6 and tied for the second place in her section.