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."

.

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

.

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."
.

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.

.

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.
.

So here are a couple amusing chess moments from my top scoring eighth grader, Angelica Berrios (far right in the picture).

.

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.

.

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

.

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.

.

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?

.

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?

.

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)?

.

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)