World Chess Beat (August 2008)
This new feature will provide briefs on some of the latest chess news around the world. Feel free to post comments and/or add chess news that would be of interest to the general audience on current events.
World Junior Championship (August 2nd-August 16th) – A strong field is assembled in Turkey for the Open and Girls Junior Championship. WGM Hou Yifan is playing in the Open section along with 22 GMs and four other Women GMs. There are 60 countries represented. (Official Site)
Mainz Festival (July 28th-August 3rd) – GM Hikaru Nakamura win the Mainz 960 tournament while GM Viswanathan Anand crushed GM Magnus Carlsen in the Mainz Rapid final. (ChessBase)
Viswanathan Anand (right) polishing off Magnus Carlsen.
Photo by ChessBase.
North Urals Cup (July 26th-August 3rd) – The strongest woment’s tournament in history saw GM Antoaneta Stefanova win the crown with IM Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) and GM-elect Marie Sebag (France). Top-seed GM Humpy Koneru was crippled by two early losses and had to settle for an even score. (Official Site)
Players’ Stage of North Urals Cup.
Photo by Vadim Smalkov.
Biel 2008 (July 17th – August 1st) – GM Evgeny Alekseev of Russia caught Cuba’s Lenier Dominguez in a tiebreak match to win the 41st edition of the tournament. GM Magnus Carlsen came in 3rd. (Official Site)
Lenier Dominguez battles Evgeny Alekseev in the tiebreak.
Photo by ChessBase.
The U.S. Open (August 2nd-August 10th) is happening as well. There are only two Grandmasters amongst a field of titled players and this is clearly a bad sign. The U.S. Open is clearly the longest-running tournament in America, but has lost much of its prestige due to the quest of GMs seeking greener pastures in Europe. Hikaru Nakamura is currently in Europe coming off of a win in the Mainz 960 (above). Most other Grandmasters have dispersed around the world to compete in a variety of tournament. The USCF will have to be creative to bring the magic that the tournament saw in the days of Samuel Reshevsky, Bobby Fischer and Walter Browne.
Games: https://www.monroi.com
Results: https://main.uschess.org/tournaments/2008/usopen/
Yes, Emory is in striking distance! He seems to be in great form and given the field, his chances of finishing high, or even winning, are quite realistic.
As the players have gorged themselves on the numerous chess tournaments offered as part of the US Open (main tournament; Denker HS Champs, College Champs, Weekend Swiss, Daily Quads, Blitz tourney, etc.), the Other Side of chess has been going on simultaneously. That is the organizational work of the US Chess Federation.
Recalling an earlier thread on the Drum Blog, if you want to get linked into the inner workings of all the things that happen to bring chess to life in the US, this is the event to attend. There are committee meetings and workshops on numerous facets of chess organization: College Chess, Rules, Women’s Outreach, How to Organize a Tournament, Chess in Education, Chess Journalists, Rules (let me repeat .. Rules) , and more!
And of course on the final weekend, there is the annual meeting of the USCF’s governing body – the Executive Board, which as we know is elected by direct ballot of USCF members, and the State Delegates, who are selected by the procedures of their respective state chess organizations. There is also the annual USCF Awards Luncheon. (FYI – The Drum was recognized with an award a few years ago, selected by the Chess Journalists committee)
What does it take to get involved? In my opinion two things – 1. The willingness to invest your precious time on the organization of chess – and/or 2. A chess organization activity that you already lead or participate in… in which case you can benefit from networking with like minded people. And if you have a vision of adding some diversity and different ideas to the the world of chess.. then get involved!
6.5 out of 9 is still a strong score from one of our most active Black IM’s. I am glad that he continues to play attacking chess. I look forward to seeing him earn the GM title.
Yes Frank i must agree and im sure Emory will get his well deserved Gm title soon, also i dont believe theses european ideas are good enough to keep up with Emory’s African Genius and can lead to confusion at times during his games , i believe this has contributed to him not having attained that title yet. Dzindzi just lost to a machine perhaps because of similar flaws in their science.
We mean the romantics,classicist, and hypermoderns as a group they represent the “traditionalist”. Now that we have our own science,Ultramodern Theory,true genius of players like Maurice,Emory, and some of the other african pioneers will have the chance to blossom and produce new chess. Those european descent have been challenging our theory over-the-board for 10 years now and we have proven sucessful in the form of the”ULTRAMODERNIST” on the icc. Yes,i recognize the dzindzi-indian game and they credit him for that ,yet they have not credited us for our ultraconcept g4-h5-ng5, which we demonstrated vs them on the icc instead they continue to pretend as though they created it. Their machines are limited by the restrictive methods of the hypermoderns so they are vulnerable as well with or without a pawn.
ok ,thanks brother shabazz i wasnt really looking at it that way,so ill come beat their gms in their tournaments and retire from competitive chess and leave UM theory for the younger generations, ill send some ultragames as well , Peace and Love to you all.
Best support to you Brother Lionel in producing your theories against GMs!!!
Peace,
Kimani Stancil