North American Open Part Three: Delusions of Grandeur

I had played Eugene Yanayt a few months ago in the New England Masters. Before that game, some people (I can't remember precisely who, but let's say Dave and Josh Friedel and probably Elliott Liu and possibly others) were explaining to me that Eugene's nickname is Zen Master, because he's completely focused and undistractable, and that even if I appeared at the board wearing a bikini, he would not bat an eyelash. Notice that I was not considering doing this. But somehow it had come up because Elliott's next opponent had a strange obsession with water, so there was some distraction/amusement scheme in the works that involved multiple towels and trips to the shower. It never actually happened, any of this.

I lost that game also but it was an interesting Bogo Indian. So I was surprised when Zen M played 1. c4.

(180) Yanayt,Eugene - Vicary,Elizabeth [A30]
North American Open Las Vegas (3), 27.12.2007
1.c4 c5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 e6
5.Nc2? How strange.
5... Qb6 After the game, Alex mentioned that point of playing Qb6 is to make the knight on d4 move, so it's stupid to play it after 5. Nc2. I somehow had convinced myself that my idea was to play Qb6 and Bc5, making white play e3 before getting out the Bc1, but that's just an insane fantasy on my part since the queen is vunerable on b6 to Nc3-a4 and white can just play e3 and then e4 later or something.

6.Nc3 Nf6 [If I play 6...Bc5 first he just goes 7.Ne4]
7.Rb1 Bc5
8.e3

8...0–0

8...d5 was my other idea. I get lots of compensation if he takes the pawn: 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Nxd5 Nxd5 11.Qxd5? Be6 12.Qe4 0–0 13.Bd3 g6 14.b3 Bf5 15.Qc4 Ne5.

But he can play the same idea as in the game: 9. b4 and now I have to grovel with 9...Be7 10.c5 Qc7 I don't really know how to assess this, since I refuse to turn on Fritz and Dave hasn't told me what to think yet. I didn't see it during the game because I missed his idea of taking on b4 completely. If I try to take with 9...Nxb4 10.Nxb4 Bxb4 11.Bd2 Qc5 12.Rxb4 Qxb4 13.Nxd5, it's the same as in the game only worse. So why didn't I play 8...d5? I just figured I'd castle first and then play it.

Notice that 8...a5 is ugly for me: 9.Na4 Qa7 (9...Bb4+ 10.Nxb4 Qxb4+ 11.Bd2 Qe7 12.Nb6) 10.Nxc5 Qxc5 11.b3 and I have big problems on dark squares.

9.b4 Nxb4

10.Nxb4 Bxb4

11.Bd2 Qc5

At this moment Jesse Kraai walked past. He glanced at my position, visibly winced, and gave me a pitying look. Of course, I had no idea what was going on, but it was now apparent to me that I ought to be very concerned.

12.Rxb4! Qxb4

13.Nd5 Nxd5

All the lines are ugly, but one typical one goes 13...Qa3 14.Bb4 Qxa2 15.Nxf6+ gxf6 16.Qg4+ Kh8 17.Bxf8 Qb1+ 18.Ke2 Qc2+ 19.Kf3

The best try is 13...Qd6 14.Bb4 Qe5 15.Bc3 Qg5 16.h4 Qh6 17.Nxf6+ gxf6 18.Rh3 and now something like 18...e5 allows 19.Qd6 ... oh whatever... he has multiple ways to win...

14.Bxb4 Nxb4
15.Qd6
and let's just stop here and say white didn't have too many problems converting.


On to round four, where I am paired with Rodelay Medina, who I vaguely recall knowing from many years ago.

Medina,Rodelay - Vicary,Elizabeth [B22]
North American Open Las Vegas, 31.12.2007
1.e4 c5
2.d4 cxd4
3.c3 Nf6
4.e5 Nd5
5.Qxd4 e6
6.Nf3 Nc6
7.Qe4 f5
8.exf6 Nxf6
9.Qh4

So far I'm very happy, still in the realm of knowing what I'm supposed to be doing and not having to do any difficult (as we know, almost impossible for me) original thinking. But here I mess up.

9...Be7
Of course I remember immediately after this move that the bishop is supposed to be on d6 so my king has the e7 square

The correct line goes 9...d5 10.Bd3 Bd6 11.Bg5 (11.Bg6+ Ke7 12.Bc2 h6 13.Bg6 Bd7) 11...Kf7 12.0–0 h6 13.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.Qxf6+ gxf6]

10.Bd3 0–0

11.g4

I expected 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bxf6 when I was going to play Rxf6.

"What? Why not 12...Bxf6!?" -- this is Alex and Todd laughing at me afterwards: "What are you afraid of?? One check? Hahahhaha. I WANT him to put his queen on h7. HAHHAHAHA" Now, I don't want you to think I'm complaining here. Obviously any chessplayer would kill to be able to show their games to a strong player(s) whenever they want and I'm incredibly lucky etc., but man, you sure do have to get used to feeling like the stupidest person in the room basically all the time.

13.Qe4 g6 This was my intention but it's bad, or at least it's scary (13...d5 Is very good for black also, same attitude as in the last line) 14.Qe3 Qf8 15.h4 alright, I caved and turned on Fritz, who says it's good. Whatever. Fritz doesn't understand what it's like.

11...Ne4

Alex was advocating 11....e5 based on the following variation 12.g5 e4 13.gxf6 Bxf6 14.Ng5 h6 15.Qxe4 Re8 but look what Fritz finds: 16.Bc4+! Kh8 17.Nf7+ Kg8 18.Nxd8+. Craziness.

12.g5 d5
13.Bxe4 dxe4
14.Qxe4 Qd5

Now I thought I was being hot shit with Qd5, mostly because I had seen it when I played Ne4, but really his king is so weak that I should keep queens on and play e5 instead: 14...e5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.Qxe5 and I have lots of great ideas: 16...Qb6 (16...Qd3; 16...Bh3) 17.0–0 Bh3]

15.Qxd5 exd5
16.Nd4 Ne5
17.0–0 Bh3

17...Nd3 This just wins a pawn. I saw it in the game, but somehow it did not fit in with my self-important desire to punish my opponent for attacking me so unreasonably.


18.Re1 Nd3

19.Re3
So here I faced a big choice. The great tragedy is that I saw this beautiful line: 19...Nxf2 20.Rxe7 Ne4 21.Nd2 Rf2 22.N4f3 Rf8 23.Rxe4 Rg2+ 24.Kh1 dxe4 25.Nxe4 Rxf3, mating, but I chickened out of playing it. Why did I chicken out? I think the truthful answer is that I couldn't see anything after 22... Rf8 but I felt like I might be missing a good move for white. On top of that, I liked the line I played and thought it was safer.

Now the reality is that there is a hole in the above line, but there is also a big improvement for black before the hole. White saves himself with 22. Rxe4 Rg2+ 23. Kh1 dxe4 24. Nc4! However, 20... Nd3 instead of 20...Ne4 is completely winning.

Another pseudo attractive line was 19...Bxg5 20.Rxd3 Bxc1 21.Rxh3 Bxb2 but after 22.Nb3 Rae8 23.Kf1 Bxa1 24.Nxa1 I just didn't see why he couldn't get his knights out.

19. ...Nxc1

20.Rxh3 Bxg5

21.Na3 Rae8

22.Kf1 Rf6

23.Rf3 Ref8

So by now I'm in my normal absurd time pressure and my moves cease making any sense.

24.Kg2 Bd2

25.Nac2 Rg6+

26.Kf1 Rgf6

27.Rxf6 Rxf6

28.Nb3 Nd3 [28...Nxb3 29.axb3 a6 30.Rd1 Bf4=]

29.Ke2 Nxb2

30.Nxd2 1-0

Oh goodness. I was starting to feel like maybe it wasn't a huge tragedy, and I was playing myself into shape. Then I lost the next game, and was getting beat by Christian Tanaka when I slimed him. That will be coming up in the next post. Very chess heavy, I'm being these days, no? I'm sure it's what my readers read my blog for, right?

North American Open Round Two: Why Am I Such a Huge Baby?

So round two I'm playing IM Mezentsev. The opening confused me, of course I couldn't remember what I was supposed to be doing, and then I seemed to be in a lot of trouble. What I couldn't work out was why my position started off bad, but then I made some weakish moves, he made some quite decent moves, and suddenly I seemed to be doing rather well. It's not supposed to go like that, right?

By the time we reach the diagrammed position, things have picked up for me, but having spent a large part of the game getting glasses of water, feeling sorry for myself and considering the larger problems in my life, I am stupidly short of time.

My first thought is 38. Qd7, threatening both to take on e7 and to play Qe8-f7. But then I see he has 38...Qc5, so I panic, look wildly around, spot Qa7 and fail to notice it hangs e6. Of course 38. Qd7 Qc5 39. Ne3 is actually quite nice for me, by which I mean it's an immediate draw after 39... Re1 40. Nf5 Qxf5 41. Qxe7.

I am such a stupid retarded disgusting mindless child. Is that really so hard to see? Am I really incapable of calculating simple captures? I officially hate myself.

But enough about me. Let's talk about what other people think of me. I had two experiences lately in which people have told me how I play. That's always a strange thing to happen because it's hard to know what your own style is: it always seems to me like I'm just trying to make the best move. Each move is just an uneducated guess, a stab in complete darkness; there's no real agenda, much less style, behind any of it.

So after the last round Dennis Monokrousis comes over to where I'm analysing with my nice opponent, Robert Akopian, and expresses surprise that I'm not attacking him. I look at him quizzically, and he explains to Robert, "She's always been a carnivore as long as I've known her." Now, I'm immediately suspicious of this for two reasons:

1. Everyone always seems to think women are crazy attackers.

2. To my knowledge, Dennis has never seen me play a game of chess before.

But ok, maybe he's secretly studying my games. And maybe he's right; how would I know? It's not like I have some huge insight. In any case, when I got home I was amused to read Braden Bournival's "Player Analysis" of me.

http://bradenbournival.com/chess_players/elizabeth_vicary/

Strengths: Eliz.. I mean Liz is very good at positions where she knows what she's supposed to be doing. She definitely does better in positional games where the pawn structure in the center is established.

Weaknesses: Elizabeth is much weaker when she needs to come up with her own plan at the board. If she gets an unfamiliar position out of the opening where she has to do this, she has trouble. This is why she does much better with fixed pawn structures because the plans don't change.

Now, this is clearly a huge insult. I'm a mindless robot who can only follow directions and gets easily confused? How sad. Even worse, Brad almost certainly got this insight into me from my coach, Dave. (Could he be angry at me because I haven't taken lessons lately? I'm sorry, Dave! I've been so busy!) Unfortunately, I think they're probably right. I wonder if there are any special exercises I can do to become an independant thinker.

Next round: I think I've out-strategized the Zen Master, but fall flat on my face.

North American Open, Part One

Hello, blog readers! I caught the red eye last night back from Vegas, where I had a poor performance but an amusing time. I'm too tired to tell you everything now, but hopefully over the next few days ....

So round one I'm playing GM Anatoly Lein. Things are not going well for me: I forget my opening preparation as usual and so I'm down a pawn for nothing with white after 15 moves.

But I'm distracted from this because two boards over, Dennis Monokrousis is a little worse against an expert, in some time pressure, and becoming agitated. His opponent writes his next move down, and Dennis blurts out, "You aren't allowed to write the move down before you make it. It's illegal." So I immediately look away because, of course, this is a hilarious thing to say and I'm in danger of laughing. Not only is it the stupidest rule ever, but Goichburg has publicly refused to enforce it at CCA tournaments and the USCF recently repealed the change anyway. Dennis's opponent contritely apologizes, which gets me thinking: "Exactly what would Anatoly Lein do and say right now if I were to tell him he couldn't write down the move before making it?" If you don't know Mr. Lein, he's a venerable if cantankerous old Russian dude who has been playing chess for at least sixty years. I happen to like him a lot, but it would be fair to say he doesn't suffer fools gladly. So my fantasy of his reaction amused me for quite a while.

And then something strange happens. I am completely lost by this point, but Mr. Lein is getting inexplicably low on time. The position isn't so complicated; I have a few pseudo-threats, but nothing really serious. When he has 50 seconds left for five moves, the clock dies. Just goes blank. Lein furrows his eyebrows, picks the clock up, shakes it vigorously, and it starts working again as if nothing happened. I just smile at him and nod. The game continues.

And then his flag falls on move 39 so I stop the clock and he asks me what I think I'm doing. I point out that he hasn't made forty moves, to which he replies, "But you haven't either." Of course, this was true, but since I still had some time, it didn't matter. Lein didn't seem entirely convinced, but there wasn't much he could do. Later, Alex runs into him as he's leaving the playing hall: "He kept saying 'We both flagged, I don't know why they are insisting that I am the only one who lost.'"

As funny as I found the whole thing, it's not a win I'm proud of. Lein both forgot to set time delay and managed to start his clock first (he was black), so the move counter said 41 when it was really still his fortieth move. Plus I was hopelessly lost. But obviously I don't feel too bad--as someone's ICC notes once pointed out "I am not responsible for my opponent completing his moves in the allotted time."

but if he was....

Canada’s PM: Dalai Lama ‘is not a call girl’

Harper adds in TV interview ‘he’s a respected international spiritual leader’

OTTAWA - When Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper tried to explain in a year-end interview why he'd met the Dalai Lama in his Ottawa office, it was clear he wanted to show respect for the exiled Tibetan leader.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite come out that way.

"I met the Dalai Lama in my office, but I meet everyone in my office. I don't know why I would sneak off to a hotel room just to meet the Dalai Lama. You know, he's not a call girl," Harper told OMNI television....

Harper's chief spokeswoman did not respond to a query as to if the prime minister regretted his choice of words in the interview.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22349737/

Reminder: Chess Is Not High-Pressure.

So I was googling chess in Edmonton when I stumbled across:

Pastor busted for cheating chess team
Eric Koreen, National Post Published: Monday, December 03, 2007

While cheating in athletics is usually saved for the high-pressure world of collegiate or professional sports, it is apparently seeping its way down the educational system. All the way to the competitive world of South Carolina high-school chess. Bowman Academy had to return its second-place trophy that it won at last month's South Carolina Independent School Association State chess tournament after the team's sponsor used a home-schooled boy, his son, to fill in for another player on his team. The guilty party, Ryan Davis, is a church pastor. Davis resigned his position, while the school was fined and banned from chess tournaments for the next year. "We're dealing with young people here, and we have to send the message this is not tolerated," Larry Watt, the Association's executive director, told the Times and Democrat. In the tournament, 86 players from 15 different schools participated. At the end of the tournament, five different players finished with the same amount of points, so a computer-scoring system was used to pick the trophy winners. Bowman wound up with the second-place trophy. Davis said he did not go into the day planning to use his son. Rather, he had 13 players chosen, but one did not show up. As his son had tagged along with him, he substituted him in for the no-show. "I did not intend for it to happen this way. ... I did not intend to win a trophy. I had one kid missing and one extra kid standing by," Davis said. "We didn't take him as a ringer." Davis added that he did not know that his son was good enough to win the school a trophy. Watt said that he never imagined such a transgression taking place in a chess tournament. "It was like, 'A chess tournament?' " Watt said. "The stakes for a chess tournament and the stakes for an athletic tournament are not equitable. ... Chess is not high-pressure."

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http://www.nationalpost.com/scripts/story.html?id=140065

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Of course it's always funny to see people getting caught for doing stupid things. But what's weird is that it isn't just the reporter who can't understand why the pastor would do this (if it was I would just chalk his reaction up to a non-chess player not understanding things), it's also the tournament organizer! And ok, he's a educrat, but still, he's running a chess tournament. You'd think he would have some idea that pressure is involved?!

Look: I'm In a Puppet Show!

http://www.jibjab.com/sendables/view/UsihPFq3cbeboUpEatgkinqp

My Students Are Geniuses

The eighth grade team

Greg and I (both photos courtesy of Betsy Dynako). His shirt says "Rock Paper Scissors Champion."

The best part of my job is sometimes I feel like the kids I teach are great intellectuals and I'm simply lucky to have met them. The fact that I am 32 and they are 13 is just a coincidence of life which allows me to be their "teacher."
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So I went with 24 of them to Texas last weekend for the National Grade Championships. The eighth graders won clear first, beating an incredible team of 4 1800s taught by my first chess teacher, the wonderful Mike Feinstein. He taught me for maybe three months when I was eleven, and I still remember how much I looked forward to my lesson every week. He wrote me out some notes once on long yellow sheets of legal paper: what to do if you are down a pawn, what to do if you are down an exchange, etc. I read and reread them until the pages fell apart.

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The sixth graders tied for second but got third on tiebreaks, and the seventh graders tied for third (fourth on tiebreaks). They also won both the K-6 and the K-12 blitz tournaments. I had an amazing amount of help: Greg Shahade selflessly volunteered his time; Yuri Lapshun, Fritz Gaspard, and Shaun Smith of Chess in the Schools also worked brilliantly, cheerfully and tirelessly. Yuri in particular is an analysis machine: by round seven I could barely see straight, but he was still going strong.
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So here are a couple amusing chess moments from my top scoring eighth grader, Angelica Berrios (far right in the picture).

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Sidish Venkataraman 1402 -Angelica Berrios 1626

25.... Rxe3+ 26.fxe3 Qxh4+ 27.Kd1 Rf1+ 28.Ke2 Rf2+ 29.Kd3 Qe4+ 30.Kc3 Qc4#

And this I feel like is just a nice game overall, displaying Angelica's understanding, calm-headedness, and resilience.

Danny Chen 1883 - Angelica Berrios 1626

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 0–0 8.Nge2 Nbd7 9.0–0 Nb6 10.Bb3 Bf5 11.Ng3 Bg6 12.f4 h6 13.f5 Bh7 14.Nce2 Nbd5 15.Nf4 Nxf4 16.Bxf4 c6 17.Qd2 Bd6 18.Rad1 Bxf4 19.Qxf4 Re8 20.Qf3 Qd6 21.d5 Qc5+ 22.Qf2 Qxf2+ 23.Rxf2 Ng4 24.Rf4 Ne3 25.Rd3 cxd5 26.Kf2 Nc4 27.Bxc4 dxc4 28.Rxc4 Kf8 29.Rd7 Rad8 30.Rxb7 Rd2+ 31.Kf3 Rd3+ 32.Kf4 Rd2 33.Kf3 Rd3+ 34.Kg4 Rd2 35.Kh3 g5 36.Rcb4

36.... Re3 37.Rb3 Bxf5#

Funny stuff.

I'm writing a Chess Life article about the tournament, which I'm excited about: I have a number of interesting interviews and quotes. My angle is "Scholastic Chess: Why Texas??" and in particular "How come every* talented scholastic Texan player is Asian?" It should be in the March issue.

* Sorry, "almost every"

Going to Texas....

... with 24 kids tomorrow at 5 am for the National Grade School Championships. 318 has teams in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade sections. I guess we have some reasonable chance to win the top two grades, but there's an incredible team from Texas with 4 1800s in 8th grade, so the kids have their work cut out for them.

Greg Shahade is coming to help look at games, plus I'm looking forward to seeing my old friend Andrei Zaremba, who will be coaching the UTD team.

Expect some photos of kids playing chess in a week or so.

An Extremely Funny Idea For a Chess Teaching Experiment

So Greg Shahade has a whole lot of chess videos; I don't know if you've seen them, but the link is on your right at the top. Basically he's switching openings and feels that making an instructional video out of every single ICC game he plays will help him learn them. As black, he's playing everything Perelshteyn and Dzindzi recommend in Chess Openings for Black, Explained. And then he's playing his favorite English lines as white.

But in addition to disussing the openings, he explains the whole game, plus lots of colorful reflection on practical aspects of play: thinking methods, psychology, time management, style, etc.

So my big idea is to pick two of my students, one 900 and the other 1200, and tell them Greg is the greatest chess player ever and their secret teacher and they are to do and play everything like he does. I'll post a huge picture of him inside my classroom, a picture that dwarfs all the photos of Topalov, Kasparov, Polgar etc. And these two kids will have to watch one video of his every day, and see every video at least three times. Plus all the normal stuff: tactics, I go over their games, whatever else we do in chess club, except they get no regular kid openings, just what Greg shows.

And then I just sit back and watch their rating changes.

I'm starting this Monday morning, and I can already tell that even if the kids don't show any remarkable progress, tracking the experimental data is going to amuse me endlessly every single working day for the next six months.

Original Sin

Has anyone seen this movie, Original Sin (2001, Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas)?

I got it from Netflix, and it's absolutely unbelievable. It's like a parody of a period drama, trying to reference every possible cliche just for fun. But I'm pretty sure it's intentional camp rather than cheesiness. Although I should mention that I felt this way for a long time about the movie Damage, like it was mocking itself and Jeremy Irons' hyper-repressed English sexuality by freezing the camera for a hilariously long time in high-drama moments. But people I confided this belief in uniformly told me I was stupid. And then I watched it again a couple years ago and wasn't as sure.

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But this one is definitely a joke. There's even a carnival scene with a traveling theater troope.

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And the really crazy part is that halfway into the movie it turns abruptly into a porn movie for maybe 4 and a half minutes. Not a NC-17 movie either, a full-on hotel room porn movie. Then goes right back to overacted colonial romance. Huh?!? I'm sure it's a body double sometimes , but you can see her face in a reasonable amount of the footage.

So, how can it be that Angelina Jolie is in a porn movie and no one has ever mentioned it to me? And a porn movie with Antonio Banderas?! Maybe I'm just really out of touch??!

I'm actually only halfway through watching; the sleeve promises it will turn into a spy thriller next. I guess I should watch more movies. Any thoughts?

13 Questions With Dallas Destiny's Manager, IM John Bartholomew

1. If you were trapped on a desert island for eternity with no possibility of rescue and could choose to have with you:
a. 5 books

The Great Gatsby, A Confederacy of Dunces, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Lord of the Flies, and something good I had yet to read

b. 5 albums

Tough, tough question. Off the top of my head... The Eagles – Hotel California, Bob Marley – Legend, The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony – E 1999 Eternal, and Paul Simon – Graceland

c. 1 chess player

Carmen Kass

d. 1 luxury item,

“The Internet” is a lame answer, so I’m going with a solar-powered dune buggy

What would you choose? (The island already contains a chessboard and clock)

2. What are you studying at UTD? What do you hope to do with the degree when you finish? Are the classes what you expected them to be? Is college life what you expected?

I’m a business administration major and I’ll be graduating in three more semesters. After that, I suspect I will start working and/or get my MBA. UTD is a school where academics are taken very seriously…we still have a good time though!

3. How do you see the final match going, board by board?

It’s going to be a close match, no question. I have faith in our players – as Drasko said, we are solid on every board. Boston may have a nominal rating advantage, but USCL competition has shown that to be largely irrelevant.

4. The last two finals have been won by teams who did not have a grandmaster on board one. Do you think this is a coincidence, or could it be that the small rating advantage conferred by having a player over 2590 is outweighed by the advantage of stronger lower boards?

Stacking the top boards and hoping to survive on the lower boards is a big mistake in my opinion. Each board is worth a point and it’s important to have a balanced roster with more than one capable lineup. This is something I thought about at length before the season began.

5. If you had to play for/ manage a different USCL team, which would it be and why?

San Francisco. They have a lot of young, exciting players who play really dynamic chess.

6. Describe your preparations for USCL games, including, but not limited to: opening preparation, pre-game superstitions, and interactions with teammates.

Usually I will just flick through Chessbase to try and get a feel for what openings my opponent plays. Pretty standard stuff. As manager, I certainly try to assist the team in any way possible, but most of our players prepare on their own.

7. If you could choose the next USCL expansion team, which city would you choose, which players would you draft, and why?

Chicago deserves a team, no doubt! They could easily be one of the premier squads in the league.

8. Are there any openings that give you special pleasure to either play or play against?

I’ve been playing the Scandinavian for almost my entire chess career and it has served me very, very well.

9. If you had to pick name on type of ending that you are especially good at, what would it be?

At Foxwoods 2005, I was unable to win K+Q vs. K+R against GM Stripunsky with about 5 minutes left in sudden death. I know a thing or two about this ending now.

10. Which are your top five chess-related websites and why?

Chessbase.com, chessninja.com, chesspublishing.com, chessgames.com. Pretty much all the chess info you need at these sites. My absolute favourite site is thechessdrum.net

11. What chess book had the most influence on you?

Kotov – Think Like a Grandmaster.

12. How obsessed are you with chess? In an average week, how much do you study, play and think about chess? When you study, what exactly do you do? If you could choose to be more or less obsessed, would you choose either and to what extent?

Chess is an on-again off-again thing for me. Usually right before and after a big tournament I will get extremely motivated to study some new material. Sometimes I’ll go for months without doing any serious study. Even though my work on the game is inconsistent, I couldn’t imagine it any other way.

13. In recent years, a number of prose books about the chess world have been published. Have you read any of the following and, if so, what did you think: The Day Kasparov Quit (Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam), Chess Bitch (Jennifer Shahade), The Chess Artist (J. C. Hallman), Kings of New York (Michael Weinreb), The Art of Learning (Josh Waitzkin), King’s Gambit (Paul Hoffman), Engaging Pieces (Howard Goldowsky), How Life Imitates Chess (Gary Kasparov)?

I’ve read several of those. Waitzkin’s The Art of Learning is really, really honest and inspiring. I picked up Hallman’s The Chess Artist while on summer vacation in Wisconsin and couldn’t put it down.

17 Questions With GM Larry Christiansen of the Boston Blitz

1. Quickie questions! What’s your favourite:
a. Fruit? Tangerines
b. Vegetable? Tomatoes
c. Ethnic cuisine? Italian
d. Breakfast food? Blueberry Pancakes
e. Drink? Bloody Mary

f. Dessert? Apple Pie
g. Classical composer? Beethoven
h. Painter? Van Gogh
i. Poet? Poe
j. Novelist? Raymond Chandler
k. Foreign Country? Spain
l. Geographic land formation? Yosemite National Park
m. Type of pie? Apple
n. Chess piece? Knight
o. Color? Blue
p. Musical instrument? Piano
q. Word? Refund
r. Person? Natasha
s. Calendar Year? 1956
t. Piece of clothing? Shoes
u. Holiday? Christmas
v. Day of the week? Saturday
w. Quality in yourself? Sense of humor
x. Quality in your friends? Sense of humor
y. Season? spring
z. Saying? “I’m not as dumb as you look”.

2. So how do you envision your match with Dallas going, board by board?

I lose, everyone else wins…

3. The last two finals have been won by teams who did not have a grandmaster on board one. Do you think this is a coincidence, or could it be that the small rating advantage conferred by having a player over 2590 is outweighed by the advantage of stronger lower boards?

This really increases the importance of the bottom boards---prob a slight edge for the non-gm teams—also they are younger and more ambitious.

4. I remember meeting Chris Williams for the first time when I ran into the two of you at 6 am in the lobby of a Houston hotel on the Monday morning after Grade Nationals. Having taught Chris for a long time, can you give us your opinion of him as a developing player?

Chris is much stronger now but a bit unpredictable. His openings have improved enormously

5. Why do you think Nakamura underperformed (if you do think he underperformed) for the Knights?

He obviously played too quickly.

6. How much do you care about the USCL result? Recently Ilya Krasik described not eating or sleeping after last year’s semi-final defeat by New York. Do you think you will share his experience if Boston loses the Championship?

Lol I will sleep soundly no matter the result. But I do want us to win.

7. How do you see the composition of the Blitz team next year? Any changes planned? Chris Williams was an amazing 4th board this year, but his rating has (deservedly) shot up. How will this affect his status for next year?

Likely, Chris and Denys will be moved up a notch or two. We should have more flexibility in the line-up and be ready to have a more balanced lineup.. I can see a crew of 2500, 2400, 2350 and 2350 as being well suited for many of our matches.

8. Who are your favorite and least favorite USCL opponents and why?

least favourite team NY and least favourite opponent Pascal Charbonneau

9. If you had to play for/ manage a different USCL team, which would it be and why?

SF Mechanics—good places to celebrate or drown sorrows

10. Describe your preparations for USCL games, including, but not limited to: opening preparation, pre-game superstitions, and interactions with teammates.

I walk from my place to the Harvard Observatory where we play which is about 2.5 miles and I get in the mood by playing material odds on ICC.

11. If you could choose the next USCL expansion team, which city would you choose, which players would you draft, and why?

San Diego and I would draft de Firmian, Fedorowicz, and two players to be named later

12. You have a new ICC show, Attacking With GM Larry Christiansen. How’s that going? How do you choose the material you present each week?

I have lots of games and examples of superb attacking play to draw from plus I can scrape up example from my own experience.

13. An ICC addict requested I ask the next question: What are the people who lose to you in material odds blitz doing wrong?

They play a little too scared in general.

14. How much competitive chess are you playing these days? Are you happy with the amount? Any plans for upcoming tournaments? I often see Natasha at tournaments without you; are you often tempted to go with her or do you feel like you are completely over Goichburg-style Swisses?

I skip 2 rounds a day nowadays but anticipate playing in some tournaments this spring and summer.

10. What are/ were your thoughts on the US Championship in Stillwater?

The organizers and sponsors deserve high praise for hosting and sponsoring the even under difficult circumstances.

11. If you had to pick name on type of ending that you are especially good at, what would it be?

Q vs K

12. Which are your top five chess-related websites and why?

TWIC, Chesslab. Chessgames.com, ICC, Chessbase and BoylstonCC I get recent games, news, and local color. Chesslab is easy to use, TWIC has great timely info, Chessbase has it all and the Boylston blog keeps me informed on local issues. ICC is simply the best site out there.

13. What chess book had the most influence on you?

Reinfeld 1001 Sacs and Combos

14. Which chess player (living or dead) do you admire the most?

Tal

15. If Bill Gates gave you $500,000 to organize a chess tournament
a. where would you hold it, Death Valley in the summer
b. what format would you choose, Outdoor tournament, bring your own water;
c. who would you invite, and The top 800
d. what, if any, special rules would you impose? Absolutely no quick draws

16. How obsessed are you with chess? In an average week, how much do you study, play and think about chess? When you study, what exactly do you do? If you could choose to be more or less obsessed, would you choose either and to what extent?

I am fairly obsessed—I study with Shredder and go through openings mainly but I also pay attention to interesting endings and I review about 100-200 recent games per week at least. My obsession is just right imo. On an average week I am either playing, teaching, writing or studying chess about 60 hours per week.

17. In recent years, a number of prose books about the chess world have been published. Have you read any of the following and, if so, what did you think: The Day Kasparov Quit (Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam), Chess Bitch (Jennifer Shahade), The Chess Artist (J. C. Hallman), Kings of New York (Michael Weinreb), The Art of Learning (Josh Waitzkin), King’s Gambit (Paul Hoffman), Engaging Pieces (Howard Goldowsky), How Life Imitates Chess (Gary Kasparov)?

Read Chess Bitch and King’s Gambit I found Jennifer’s views on chess and chess players quite interesting. King’s Gambit was a fun read well-written with interesting insights from a real chess fan.

15 Questions with IM Jacek Stopa of the Dallas Destiny

1. Quickie questions! What’s your favourite:
a. Fruit? Mango
b. Vegetable? Tomato
c. Ethnic cuisine? Japanese
d. Breakfast food? Oatmeal
e. Drink? Banana juice
f. Dessert? Pineapple in dough with banana juice
g. Classical composer? Johann Sebastian Bach
h. Painter? Jean Louis David
i. Poet? William Blake
j. Novelist? Jerzy Eleuter Siemignowski
k. Foreign Country? Greece
l. Geographic land formation? Island
m. Type of pie? Banana
n. Chess piece? a7 pawn promoted into a knight on g1
o. Color? Black
p. Musical instrument? Accordion
q. Word? Tunczycy
r. Person? Myself
s. Calendar Year? 2005
t. Piece of clothing? Hat
u. Holiday? New Year’s Eve
v. Day of the week? Friday
w. Quality in yourself? The quality of being sexy
x. Quality in your friends? Trustworthiness
y. Season? Summer

2. Ilya Krasik of the Boston Blitz recently said “I am only looking for motivational material, it isn’t easy to find these days, Dallas players are a reserved bunch.” Are you going to let Ilya insult your team like this? What do you have to say in response? Something really rude, perhaps?

I have never heard of that guy. Frankly, I don’t really care about random people expressing their ridiculous opinions. I’m ok with whatever leaves that gentleman’s mouth.

3. You will be playing Denys Shmelov in the final. What do you think of him as a player? What do you see as his strengths and weaknesses? What opening do you expect? What would you guess will decide the result of the game? How do you estimate your chances?

I expect 1.Nc3 and I don’t really count on surprising my opponent as far as opening preparation is concerned.

4. How do you envision the other three boards going?

Well, what I hope to see is all of us winning our games. It’s hard to tell, the match is going to be very equalized and luck may play a big role. I’m sure we will try to do our best – Drasko has successfully confronted grandmasters and I don’t think he is an underdog against Christiansen, to Davorin it pretty much does not make much difference who he is playing as the result stubbornly stays the same, and Bayaraa is a clear favorite in her game. I hope my 1.Nc3 will be successful, as it usually is.

5. How much do you care about the result of your game? About the result of the match? Would you rather play a horrible, horrible game but Dallas wins or the best game of your life but Dallas loses?

Definitely the former option. I do care about my personal performance, obviously, but this is a team competition and therefore team result is the priority and what I care about most in this particular competition.

6. The last two finals have been won by teams who did not have a grandmaster on board one. Do you think this is a coincidence, or could it be that the small rating advantage conferred by having a player over 2590 is outweighed by the advantage of stronger lower boards?

I believe it’s all about the balance of all four boards, so having a notably strong 1st board at the expense of the remaining three is not a good strategy.

7. Are there any openings that give you special pleasure to either play or play against?

1.Nc3 with white. For black it depends on my mood.

8. If you had to play for a different USCL team, which would it be and why?

I would choose exactly the players I’m on the team with.

9. If you had to pick name on type of ending that you are especially good at, what would it be?

I’m good at the checkmating part.

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10. Which are your top five chess-related websites and why?

I visit chessbase.com on a semi-regular basis.

11. What chess book had the most influence on you?

Kotov’s book on endgames, I don’t recall the title

12. Which chess player (living or dead) do you admire the most?

I admire Davorin Kuljasevic for his determination.

13. If Bill Gates gave you $500,000 to organize a chess tournament
a. where would you hold it, on a Greek island
b. what format would you choose, active
c. who would you invite, and top 8 players and a bunch of buddies
d. what, if any, special rules would you impose? Interchangeably games with chess problems, such as threemovers

14. How obsessed are you with chess? In an average week, how much do you study, play and think about chess? When you study, what exactly do you do?

I’m definitely not obsessed with chess. I do it since it’s fun to interact with other chessplayers both socially at tournaments and on the board. My work on chess is irregular, I have moments of passionate interest, but equally often whiles of total ignorance. When it comes to studying chess, I normally solve some puzzles or go through some games on ICC, or chessbase.com.

15. In recent years, a number of prose books about the chess world have been published. Have you read any of the following and, if so, what did you think: The Day Kasparov Quit (Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam), Chess Bitch (Jennifer Shahade), The Chess Artist (J. C. Hallman), Kings of New York (Michael Weinreb), The Art of Learning (Josh Waitzkin), King’s Gambit (Paul Hoffman), Engaging Pieces (Howard Goldowsky), How Life Imitates Chess (Gary Kasparov)?

I haven’t reached for any of these books, which does not mean I won’t, but I don’t think that is gonna happen very soon. A friend of mine was impressed by the last one, authored by Kasparov, and, recalling his reaction, I think it would be the first one I would read.

20 Questions with USCL Commissioner IM Greg Shahade

1. If you were trapped on a desert island for eternity with no possibility of rescue and could choose to have with you:
a. 5 books: Really really long ones.
b. 5 albums: Don’t need these I will have internet access so I will download music for free.
c. 1 chess player:
d. 1 luxury item: the Internet
What would you choose? (The island already contains a chessboard and clock)

2. Quickie questions! What’s your favourite:
a. Fruit? peach
b. Vegetable? brocolli
c. Ethnic cuisine? Does pizza count
d. Breakfast food? cereal
e. Drink? Looza Peach Nectar. Sometimes Apricot
f. Dessert? Ice cream
g. Classical composer? Bach?
h. Painter? No comment
i. Poet? I’m not very artistic as you can see
j. Novelist? Im bad at this
k. Foreign Country? Brazil?
l. Geographic land formation? This is a dumb question
m. Type of pie? Apple pie but there must be vanilla ice cream to go with it or its worthless
n. Chess piece? bishop
o. Color? blue
p. Word? You know what, I refuse to answer the rest of these questions!!!! No one wants to read this, for Boskovic’s I just skipped through this entire section.
q. Calendar Year? GREG SUCKS
r. Piece of clothing? GREG SUCKS

s. Person? ELIZABETH VICARY

t. Holiday? GREG SUCKS
u. Day of the week? GREG SUCKS
v. Quality in yourself? HUGE SUCKINESS AND POOR QUESTION-ANSWERING SKILLS

w. Quality in your friends? KINDNESS AND UNDERSTANDING
x. Season? GREG SUCKS
y. Saying? GREG SUCKS
z. Movie? GREG SUCKS
aa. Book? GREG SUCKS
bb. TV Show? GREG SUCKS
cc. Time of Day? GREG SUCKS
dd. Smell? GREG SUCKS

(Sorry-- probably some kind of computer virus. EV)

3. Tell us about how the USCL came into being… Exactly when and where did the idea first pop into your head? How long did you bounce the idea around before you began organizing the first season?

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I am very impulsive. It came into my head one day at the dentist chair. I immediately went home and started making the phone calls. I was sure I would do it right away.

4. Are you happy with the progress the League has made in its first three years? What goals do you have for next year and the next 5 years?

The progress has been very good. Hopefully it just gets better and better, until we get at least 100k sponsorship for the league each year. Once we get there I will be pretty satisfied.

5. What changes do you expect to see for next year? New Rules? New expansion teams?

There will be two expansion teams of course. There may be some slight rule alterations but nothing too major. Obviously, changes will also occur within teams as ratings change, people move, etc.

6. Which team line-ups do you expect to change most drastically? Are there any teams whose performance was mediocre this year who you expect to improve drastically next year? Any players who were “cheap” this year in terms of rating “cost,” but whose USCF’s have caught up with them and whose chances of being drafted next year have fallen considerably?

I think Boston’s lineup will change dramatically because they will no longer be able to use guys who are 150 points higher rated on the current rating list. I’m sure they will come up with something good over there, and will still be one of the top teams in the league.

7. Which team do you feel was the most lucky this year? Unlucky?

Lucky….hmmm….no team really comes to mind. Maybe Miami, but they were also unlucky in that they had a lot of internal problems. Their qualification for the playoffs after their start was really miraculous though. I wouldn’t exactly call it luck though, they took advantage of the opportunities they were given.

8. What do you look for in a team manager? Who would you give a MVM (most valuable manager) award to?

I look for someone very reliable and responsible, who is sort of obsessed with the league and will do all they can to publicize the league and their team. One day we may have a Most Valuable Manager award but it’s really tough to see how we’d determine the winner.

9. Tell us about your day to day life. How long does running the USCL take? What do you do with the rest of your time?

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Now that we are down to just two teams, running the USCL is easy! In general it’s pretty tough, but thank God I have Arun Sharma to help me. The quality of the league would be so much lower if I still had to do everything myself.

10. If FIDE asked you to be their next president, would you accept (they will allow you to run everything from your living room), and if so, what would be at the top of your agenda?

Hmm….probably not, I don’t think I’m prepared to run FIDE. Also International chess is doing OK, at least compared to US Chess.

11. If the US government asked you the same question, would you accept and what would be at the top of your agenda?

Now this I’m prepared for, I accept! Well there are too many poor people, forgotten neighbourhoods, stupid drug laws. I can’t talk about it all in one paragraph but clearly the world would be a much better place.

12. What lessons in team strategy have you gleaned from watching successes and failures in the USCL?

Hmm….I don’t know honestly. I’m not a quick learner, I’ll need 2 more seasons of experience at least.

13. Which team this year do you feel most exceeded your expectations? Which team (would you say) are the biggest losers?

I’d say that Philadelphia and Dallas exceeded expectations more than any other team. As commissioner of the league I’m obviously not going to name who the “biggest losers” are. All of the teams played very hard and had their good moments, and their bad.

14. Tell us about the Game of the Week judging. Do you feel that it could teach us all an important social-psychological lesson in the extent to which people’s semi-objective judgments are influenced by the opinions of others? Are you considering administering a “test” GOTW to future judging candidate hopefuls?

I have no idea what you are talking about. First let me say that my opinions are always totally objective. Also I’d like to say that I completely disagree with at least 3 of my former picks for game of the week. I think that a few of the games that won were totally undeserving, and it’s partly my fault. Like Mr. Krasik, I can barely sleep at night when I think about what I’ve done.

15. What was the most popular item of USCL merchandise ordered?

The mugs. One loyal fan has ordered a mug for every single team.

16. OK, now let me be very clear, I’m not asking you for your personal opinion, but from a professional gambler’s perspective, who would you advise me to wager my ten dollars on in the final?

Gambling is wrong! You will corrupt your mind!

Non-USCL Questions

17. Which chess player (living or dead) do you admire the most?

That’s tough, the ones that you end up admiring always end up doing something unconscionable to make you dislike them. A great example is Topalov, who is loved by everyone and then acts like a total buffoon in his match with Kramnik. There has basically never been any top player whose sole motivation was the improvement of chess. It is always themselves first, and then if they have time and it’s extremely convenient, they will try to do something for the game. The plethora of quick draws is a clear example. Anyone who ever takes a quick draw in a major spectator event is simply saying a big “F YOU” to the fans and everyone who cares about chess, and almost every player does this from time to time.

Kasparov embarrassed the game with his premature draw on national television versus the computer. Anything he says about how he tries so hard to promote the game is a total mockery after that disaster. You have the biggest audience in history watching a game on TV, and he decides he is scared so offers a draw in an extremely complex position. I’m sure the fans who knew little about chess loved that exciting conclusion! This was probably the biggest chance he had to promote the game of chess, but the only thing that interested him was himself. Also all chess organizers are gutless for allowing these draws to begin with.

18. If Bill Gates gave you $500,000 to organize a chess tournament

a. where would you hold it: On the Internet

b. what format would you choose: Well I’d hope that I could use it for more than one event. Throwing so much money into a one time event is not something I like to do, because okay everyone comes and it’s Christmas for a few days, some people get lucky, and then its back to normal where big events are few and far between. I’d ask permission to run an event every few months for a few years, or something like that.

c. who would you invite: I don’t know, different people? Depends. Probably it’d be American players, because I try to promote chess in America

d. what, if any, special rules would you impose: Secret

19. In recent years, a number of prose books about the chess world have been published. Have you read any of the following and, if so, what did you think: The Day Kasparov Quit (Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam), Chess Bitch (Jennifer Shahade), The Chess Artist (J. C. Hallman), Kings of New York (Michael Weinreb), The Art of Learning (Josh Waitzkin), King’s Gambit (Paul Hoffman), Engaging Pieces (Howard Goldowsky), How Life Imitates Chess (Gary Kasparov)?

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I read almost all of them. Jenn’s is great of course, mainly because I’m the star character in the book. Same goes for Kings of New York, Kings Gambit and Engaging Pieces. The others weren’t as good because I was relegated to more of a supporting role or God forbid, perhaps not even mentioned at all!

20. Which are your top five chess-related websites and why?

Hmmm, uschessleague.com, uschess.org (at least before they did the terrible makeover), lizzyknowsall.blogspot.com, boston-blitz.com, boylstonblog.blogspot.com (probably got the url wrong, but you know what I mean)

18 Questions with Mr 2007-2008 IM Draks Boskovic of the Dallas Destiny

1. Quickie questions! What’s your favourite:
a. Fruit? strawbery
b. Vegetable? potatoes
c. Ethnic cuisine? Serbian
d. Breakfast food? omelette
e. Drink? Sweet tea
f. Dessert? Cheese cake
g. Classical composer? Mozart
h. Painter? Picasso
i. Novelist? Dan Harrington
j. Foreign Country? Czech Republic
k. Geographic land formation? seaside
l. Type of pie? Banana cream
m. Chess piece? rook
n. Color? blue
o. Musical instrument? keyboard
p. Word? Shipping
q. Person? Marina Lupik
r. Calendar Year? 2007
s. Piece of clothing? T-shirts
t. Holiday? New year
u. Day of the week? Friday
v. Quality in yourself? workoholic
w. Season? Summer
x. Saying? – lets bumble

2. Ilya Krasik of the Boston Blitz recently remarked, “I am only looking for motivational material, it isn’t easy to find these days, Dallas players are a reserved bunch.” Are you going to let Ilya insult your team like this? What do you have to say in response? Something really rude, perhaps?

Well, I don’t really know who this person is (Ilya Krasik). Larry Christiansen and Eugene Perelshteyn are great players, and that’s definitely their advantage over us. (Or could have been their advantage --EV) If four players like Ilya Krasik played against Dallas, they wouldn’t score more than ½ point. hahaha.

3. You will be playing Larry Christensen in the final. What do you think of him as a player? What do you see as his strengths and weaknesses? What opening do you expect? What would you guess will decide the result of the game? How do you estimate your chances?

He is amazing player, and I have the most respect for him. He was coaching UTD last year when we were preparing for the final four, and that was the only time I’ve met him. He’s a great player and knows so much about chess. I’ll be honoured to play against such a strong player. And he beat Karpov in 12 moves! I’m hoping not to lose the game, draw would be solid.

4. Describe your preparations for USCL games, including, but not limited to: opening preparation, pre-game superstitions, and interactions with teammates.

Sounds unbelievable for some people, but there wasn’t a game I’ve prepared this season. Usually I run or play racquetball before the game, that’s my only preparation. My teammates can vouch!

5. How much do you care about the result of your game? About the result of the match? Would you rather play a horrible, horrible game but Dallas wins or the best game of your life but Dallas loses?

Every chess game I play, I try to win, and I care about result. And, since it’s a team competition, of course I want my team to win every match. Like basketball players, if my team wins, and even if I play bad, I’ll be happy.

6. How do you envision the bottom three boards going?

I think we have advantage on board 3, where Jack Stopa has white, and we are hoping that he will win. Draws on boards 2 and 4 would be good for us, so I have to make a draw and we’ll win easily J

7. The last two finals have been won by teams who did not have a grandmaster on board one. Do you think this is a coincidence, or could it be that the small rating advantage conferred by having a player over 2590 is outweighed by the advantage of stronger lower boards?

The problem with having a GM is that it has to be compensated by playing weaker player on lower boards. Our team is solid on every board, and that’s our biggest advantage.

8. Let’s talk about your game with Becerra. Exactly how happy did you feel afterwards? How long did the euphoria last? Tell us about the game: how much was opening prep? What did you feel was your best move? What was his first mistake? Biggest mistake? How scared were you when you sacked the exchange? When did you know you were going to win?

I was so happy after I won the game, cause I lost 3 games before, so I needed to win to return my prominence before finals! The euphoria lasted next couple of hours, and when I saw that I won the game of the week, the euphoria returned again. It’s still on. As I said earlier, I don’t prepare for games ( I’ll have to do it for Larry). I think my best move was sacrificing exchange in the middle game for compensation, which lead to a very complicated position, and, at the end, victory which made me the happiest man in the world at that moment. I don’t think I’ve made any big mistake in the game. I wasn’t scared when I sacrificed the exchange, because you can’t be scared and expect to win. So, I saw it, and had a feeling it’s gonna be successful.

9. Who are your favorite and least favorite USCL opponents and why? (You may answer individuals and/or teams)

There are no favorite and least favorite opponents for me !! I like playing against strong players and trying to win against them!

10. If you had to play for/ manage a different USCL team, which would it be and why?

San Francisco, because there are some nice beaches over there

11. Are there any openings that give you special pleasure to either play or play against?

I enjoy playing accelerated dragon for black- that’s my favourite opening. I like playing against the English too.

12. If you had to pick name on type of ending that you are especially good at, what would it be?

Knight and bishop endings

13. Which are your top five chess-related websites and why?

I check www.fide.com , www.uschess.org, Jonkman’s tournament site, and www.serbiachess.net (Serbian chess federation). That’s all I can think of now.

14. Which chess player (living or dead) do you admire the most?

Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov

15. If Bill Gates gave you $500,000 to organize a chess tournament
a. where would you hold it, - Caribbean
b. what format would you choose, - round robin, 8-10 players
c. who would you invite, and – top 5 players in the world, close friends of mine, Viktoria Beinoraite, and myself
d. what, if any, special rules would you impose? – you can drink up to 6 drinks ( alcoholic ) during the game. Every next drink your opponent loses 5 minutes on clock- I bet games would be interesting.

16. How obsessed are you with chess? In an average week, how much do you study, play and think about chess? When you study, what exactly do you do? If you could choose to be more or less obsessed, would you choose either and to what extent?

I’m not really obsessed with chess, I haven’t been studying it lately. I probably should more, but there are just so many other thing on my mind these days…I usually look at openings I play, or just look at top GMs games. I prefer staying the same like now about my obsession with chess. I’m happy.

17. What are you studying at UTD? What do you hope to do with the degree when you finish? Are the classes what you expected them to be? Is American college life what you expected?

I’m a senior majoring in business administration. American college life is exactly like I thought it would be- no pressure- great! I had troubles just with couple of classes so far. I’m thinking about gong to grad school, and I’ll have to make my decision very soon. I’m still young lol

18. Do you think American girls are easy?

Noooo, no way. European girls ( primarily Czech and Russian) is where it’s at right now.

St. Pancras Train Station

It's really tragic that with the exception of Grand Central, America doesn't give much heed to aesthetics when thinking about public works. (The half-hearted art projects in the NYC subways are cute but don't count.)

My father took a detour to show me the new St. Pancras train station today... it opened last week and I say well done, whoever designed this one! In general, I feel like train stations create such room for imagination .... you could be going anywhere for any reason....

But this is especially lovely: the filtered light from the glass roof, the twice-life size sculpture of the couple saying goodbye to each other....

the Champagne bar on the departure platform, my 62- year -old father carefully wheeling his 90-odd-year-old mother in the wheelchair, every time turning her and stopping so she could read the poems etched into the stone floor ... sometimes it's just so touching and there's nothing to think except you wish you were getting on the next train ...

Thirteen Questions with the Unsuperstitious IM Davorin Kuljasevic of the Dallas Destiny

1. You have a truly incredible performance this season (also last). Why do you think you play so well in the USCL?

I think I'm doing so well this season because I've become a bit more mature and experienced, both in chess and life in general. A few years ago, a friend of mine told me that he's noticed a pattern of young chess players reaching their local peak performance at the age of 21. So I guess he was a good prophet! On the other hand, I'm also enjoying chess more than I used to a few years ago. And of course, I had some luck in a few games, but I'm not complaining! Mistakes are an inherent part of chess and you need to know how to take advantage of them.

2. I understand you felt unfairly passed over for the Game of the Week nomination. Which of your games do you feel most deserved to win, and why? Please describe both why it should have won and why it was of higher quality than the game that did win that week.

Yes, I believed I deserved a GOTW for my win against Tangborn. It was a really well played game on my part, both from strategical and tactical standpoint. However, judges didn't share my opinion and that's fine. It's a very subjective matter, despite some objective features to it, so I understand it's hard to make everyone happy.

3. How obsessed are you with chess? In an average week, how much do you study, play and think about chess? When you study, what exactly do you do? If you could choose to be more or less obsessed, would you choose either and to what extent?

I'm obsessed with chess and I can't help it :) Sometimes I find myself studying a certain position knowing that I'm supposed to do something else. It's like a mental drug. But if someone offered a cure, I would decline it :)
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These days I'm mostly studying typical middlegame positions and trying to find new opening ideas. I already know a lot about chess so I don't have to bother with basic stuff. I also like to learn from 2700+ GM's games because they are dictating chess trends.

4. Describe your preparations for USCL games, including, but not limited to: opening preparation, pre-game superstitions, and interactions with teammates.

I start preparing for my opponent as soon as John informs me about the lineup. Fortunately, I got rid of pre-game superstitions, it's a really stupid habit. When I was younger I used to have a favorite pencil, favorite route to the game, and such useless routines. I doesn't make any sense if you think about it.

My preparation for USCL games is quite thorough since I have more time to prepare compared to regular tournaments. I'm trying to get as much data about my opponent as I can, and try to asses his overall playing abilities in order to know what kind of game I should expect. Then I decide on my opening and prepare accordingly.

5. How much are you playing chess outside the USCL? What’s your next big tournament? How ambitious are you in chess in general?

During the school year I hardly play any tournaments, but I make up for it by playing heavily during school breaks. I like it that way, because it allows me to fully concentrate on school when it's time to study, and on chess, when I play in tournaments. USCL comes nicely as a link between those two periods.

As far as my chess ambitions go, I'm not too ambitious about my chess career because I'm planning a career in business/finance. Hopefully, I will get as many opportunities to play chess as possible, because I just love it.

6. What are your thoughts on America in general, and Texas in particular? It must be something of a culture shock for you?

It is a bit of a culture shock, but I'm trying to fit in. Texans are friendly people in general and UTD community is very supportive of international students. What really impressed me about Americans is their appreciation of hard-work, which is lacking in the part of the world where I come from.

7. In recent years, a number of prose books about the chess world have been published. Have you read any of the following and, if so, what did you think: The Day Kasparov Quit (Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam), Chess Bitch (Jennifer Shahade), The Chess Artist (J. C. Hallman), Kings of New York (Michael Weinreb), The Art of Learning (Josh Waitzkin), King’s Gambit (Paul Hoffman), Engaging Pieces (Howard Goldowsky), How Life Imitates Chess (Gary Kasparov)?

I have to admit I haven't read any of these books. It seems they were created to spread awareness about chess in the general public, which is good because chess needs more financial support.

I'd like to note that Kotov's "Think like a Grandmaster" and Shereshevsky's "Endgame Strategy" are my favorite chess books.

8. Which are your top five chess-related websites and why?
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Crochess.com-chess news from Croatia
Chessbase.com-interesting chess articles
The Week in Chess-TWIC download and news
Susan Polgar Chess Blog-covers a lot of chess stuff
USCL-I like to be informed about the league
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9. Give us the inside scoop on the UTD chess team. How cohesive are the chess players there? Are you all close friends? Do you study together? How regimented is the chess training?

We're a pretty cohesive group both inside and outside of chess. I get along well with other team members, but I'm good friends with only a few of them. It's similar with others. I honestly don't know anything about other people's chess training. Like if you asked me how does Alejandro Ramirez work on chess I wouldn't have a clue. I think people like to keep those details to themselves, because, although we have to work as a team in collegiate tournaments, we want to beat each other in individual tournaments, such as the UTD GM Invitational.

10. What is the playing environment like at the Dallas site? Do you have spectators? Andrei Zaremba reported many distracting girls at his games. Has this been a problem for you also?
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Yeah, it can get distracting with all those people dropping by, so each player needs to find his own way to concentrate on the game in the critical moments. But I don't mind the spectators because it's much more fun when they are around. The only thing I don't like is our internet connection. For some reason our supposedly stable campus connection breaks at least twice during the game.

I should also note that Keaton Kiewra is our most ardent supporter, we usually win when he is around (or on the team).

11. You will probably play board two in the upcoming final. Would you prefer to face Perelshteyn or Sammour-Hasbun? Why? Which do you expect to play? What predictions (opening, result, type of game) would you make for the encounter?

It's hard to predict anything, so I won't go into it. However, from what I've been able to conclude so far, Sammour-Hasbun will likely be the most challenging opponent this season. I'm looking forward to the game!

12. What you think Dallas’ chances against Boston are? How do you see the match, board by board?

I've believed we would win the league since the very beginning, so I see us winning the match on Wednesday :)

13. How much do you care about the result? Recently, in a video, Boston’s Ilya Krasik described not eating or sleeping after his team’s defeat last year by New York. Do you think you will share his experience if Dallas loses the Finals?

If we lose in the finals, I will probably quit chess. Just kidding ;) I played a few last round matches with even higher stakes before, so I'm used to the kind of psychological pressure Ilya had described. In any event, I'm delighted that Destiny has made it this far, so I already feel as we've accomplished something big, regardless of the final outcome.

Symmetrical Photos!

Just to cheer up your Sunday.

http://threequestionmarks.com/flickr/tag.php?tag=symmetry&total=67

(Just to be clear: I didn't take the photos or anything. I just think they're good. Also, this one kinda matches my blog, don't you think?)

Eleven Questions With NM Fransisco Guadalupe of the Dallas Destiny

1. You are a last minute replacement for Zorigt. The story of how that happened is available to read on the USCL website, but are there any behind-the-scenes explanations you can share? I have to say I’m surprised Dallas agreed to move the match when it means you will be facing an infinitely stronger Miami team.

From what I understand, Mr. Becerra and Mr. Lugo had already committed to play in another tournament here in Texas. The most likely reason why we agreed to move the date is that it would have been a lopsided match (rating-wise) with their top two players gone (then again, look at week 9 for Miami). In this process, Zorigt was unable to play so I have been chosen to step in.

2. You only played two matches in the regular season. Do you hate John Bartholomew for this?

No, I cannot say that I hate John in any way. Zorigt is a very solid Board 4 player, and with her in the lineup, we are able to play IMs on the other 3 boards. It just happens that I am slightly higher rated and cannot fit into that lineup.

3. You will be facing Luis Barredo next week. What are your expectations for this game? Any thoughts on Barredo as a player, strengths, weaknesses?

Even though I had lived in Florida for the majority of my life and first began chess there, I have never played Mr. Barredo before. My main goal is to come out of the opening in relatively equal game since that has been my main problem lately. From what I can tell from his past games, he is a sharp, tactical player. For this reason, I need to make sure that I do not make any serious tactical mistakes.

4. Any predictions for the top three boards of Miami - Dallas?

I think the most likely scenario would be us achieving 1.5/3 on the top three boards, needing my result to be at least a draw. I like our chances to win this match.

5. Boston won the Eastern finals. If Dallas takes the West, what line up would you expect Bartholomew would field against Boston? How do you estimate Dallas’s chances? Do you expect to be playing?

If we win the West, I would expect our lineup to consist of the usual: Drasko, Davorin, Jacek, and Bayaraa. I would not expect myself to play, especially because I am playing this week. Considering how well we have played during this year, I expect us to have a good chance of winning; although, Boston is a very good team.

6. Give us the inside scoop on the UTD chess team. How cohesive are the chess players there? Are you all close friends? Do you study together? How regimented is the chess training?

Since I just arrived at UTD as a freshman, I have not had the opportunity to get to know everyone very well. Many of the players room together so they are fairly close. As for the studying and training, well, we will just keep that a UTD secret.

7. Describe your preparations for USCL games, including, but not limited to: opening preparation, pre-game superstitions, and interactions with teammates.

For the most part, I usual just prepare for the opening and brush up on some tactics. I am not a very superstitious person, so I cannot say that I have any pre-game ritual.

8. Are there any openings that give you special pleasure to either play or play against?

Since I have been an e4 player my entire life, I enjoy common king pawn lines, such as the Ruy Lopez. Oddly enough, I usually do not have the opportunity to play this as white, but rather as black! It is probably the only opening that I play from both sides of the board.

9. If you had to pick name on type of ending that you are especially good at, what would it be?

Even though the ending is draw-ish, I consider myself to be a pretty good rook endgame player. I suppose an example of this would be from the recent UTD-Belgrade match where I was able to draw the ending down a pawn, after I won it back (although, and to his credit, he hung another pawn and was able to draw me!).

10. Do you dream about chess and if so, tell us a dream.

I cannot say that I truly dream of chess but more so daydream. I am still looking for my first win over an IM or a GM and that is a constant thought. Even though I am a master, I have yet to beat anyone over 2350, which is rather unusual.

11. How obsessed are you with chess? In an average week, how much do you study, play and think about chess? When you study, what exactly do you do? If you could choose to be more or less obsessed, would you choose either and to what extent?

For about the past year, I have not consistently studied chess. In general, I limit my chess time to playing online and playing in weekly tournaments (so maybe 6-7 hours a week?). Since I usually only study the week before a tournament, I focus mainly on tactics to keep myself somewhat sharp. I wish I could devote more time, but as a college freshman my education comes first.