maybe they made an illegal move?!

Drop that bishop and come out with your hands up!
A squad of cops in bulletproof vests swooped into an upper Manhattan park and charged seven men with the "crime" of playing chess in an area off-limits to adults unaccompanied by kids -- even though no youngsters were there.
"Is chess really something that should be considered a threat to the neighborhood?" Inwood resident and mom Joanne Johnson wrote Mayor Bloomberg, the City Council and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly after the raid.


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/kiddie_pawn_shock_KnKyQ0JfMITAIqGawRJf8J#ixzz15dyShqfd

David Kim ties for first at the Marshall G/60 with GM Alex Lenderman!

 David Kim (1765, now 1877) went 4-0 yesterday to tie for first at the Marshall G/60, beating NMs Juan Sena and Leif Pressman. Nineteen IS 318 students played. Shawn Swindell and Ed Kopiecki shared the Under 2000 prize with 3/4, and Aleem Awan, Jermaine Cooper, Vaughn Soso, D'Andrea Dey, and Alex Bradford tied with 3 others for the Under 1700 prize.

 The talented 6th grader Brian Arthur (1225) is white here against the experienced and clever 8th grader Jermaine Cooper (1684). Black played the only move, 28....f6. What happens next?

Brian is black here against fellow 6th grader Carlos Tapia (1087). He blundered with 8...Ngf6. How should Carlos have taken advantage?

Mariah McGreen (1446) was black against Michael Mendez (1517). How does she avoid an immediate loss?

answers
1) 1... f6 2. Qxh6+ gxh6 3. Bxf6+ Kh7 4. Rg7+ Kh8 5. Rg6+ Kh7  is a draw.
2) 9. c4! Qe6 (9... Qa5 10. Nd6+ Kd8 11. Nxb7+) 10. Nd4 Qe5 11. Nxf5 Qxf5 12. Nd6+
3) Black has two ways out:  16... Kg7 17. gxh5 Rh8 Now black threatens simply to take on h6, so: 18. h6+ Kg8 19. Nxe6 (19. h7+ Kg7 +/=) 19... Qd7 (not 19... fxe6?? 20. Qxe6+ Kf8 21. Qf6+ Ke8 22. Qxh8+) 20. Ng5 Qxh3 21. Nxh3 and white is better but it's far from over. There is also the strangely simple 16... Qd7, with the idea that 17. gxh5 Nf5 18. hxg6 fxg6 and the 7th rank is covered just fine.

Kevin M (925)

fun: solve the deficit!

The Pledge of Chess

At my school, the kids have to say the Pledge of Allegiance every day. They don't have to, actually, but mostly they do. I have decided to copy this indoctrinational form of instruction and have created the Pledge of Chess, which my students now have to say every day. It is composed of all the things I say over and over again every Saturday when I'm looking at their games. It goes like this:


The Pledge of Chess
I will consider every check and every capture on every move!
I will never trade a bishop for a knight without a good reason!
I will not stop developing until my rooks are active!
I will make a special effort to consider pawn moves that change the pawn structure (like pawn breaks!)!
I will not trade pieces just because I can (I will have a good reason!)!
In d4-d5 structures, I will not put the knight in front of my c pawn!
I will not play Ng5 if ...h6 just makes me go back!
I will write my move down before I play it!

photos and positions from children, thoughts about my game with Brad

 Kenneth Martin (1551), almost won the tournament, and was proud to finish 3rd (overheard on the train home: "I keep thinking my trophy is a single bar trophy, but then I reach down to feel the double bars...")

Teraab Feaster, 1234, who tied for first in the Intermediate (under 1500) section, watches Anita's game.

 Maya McGreen was disappointed in her result today, but she's playing 3 more tournaments in the next week: the Right Move (which her parents run) today, CIS's Columbus Day tournament Thursday, and the Marshall G/60 on Saturday.

Spike and Kevin joke around before their games. 

Carlos

puzzles from student games

1. Shanniah is black. How could she have won a pawn?

2. She is white here, and this time she can win a piece.

3. Alex B is black against Ashanti M. What should he have played?

4. Michael Peguero was a star of the IS 318 chess team 3-5 years ago, when he went from 0 to 1900 in 2.5 years. Along the way, he won the national under 750 section and tied for 2nd in the k-8 open. He now works for the school on Saturdays, helping me go over student games. Michael comes from a family of 7 brothers, most of whom are named after archangels. His youngest brother, Ariel, is now in 6th grade and was black in the above position. How could he have won a piece?

answers

1. 1... Nxd3+ 2. Qxd3 Bxf4
2. 15. Bxc6+ bxc6 16. Qh5+ and Qxg5
3. 1... Nxd4! 2. Qxd4 (2. Bxe7 Nxf3 3. Bxd8 Nxd2 4. Bxb6 Nxb6 5. Rxd2 Nc4 6. Re2 Kd7

Black has not won a pawn in this variation, but is much better because his central pawns are strong , while white's h pawn and queenside pawns are potentially weak. Black has a plan of doubling rooks on the h file to attack the pawns, and then playing ...f6 and ... g5 to force h5. After h5, black transfers his rooks to the f file and invades on f4: 7. b3 Nd6 8. h4 Rh6 9. f4 Rah8 10. Reh2 f6 11. Kd2 g5 12. fxg5 fxg5 13. h5 Rf8 14. Re1 Rf4 15. Rg2 g6 16. hxg6 Rxg6 17. a4 Rh6 18. Reg1 Rh4) 2... Bxg5+ 3. Nxg5 Qxg5+

4. ...Qa5+ wins the bishop



I keep thinking about two moments from my game against Braden Bournival, and how they are very typical examples of my chess weaknesses

This is the end of my knowledge of theory. I had a game with Bill Paschal 4 or 5 years ago that went 14...Qc8 and then I played either 15. Qf3 or 15. Qe4, I couldn't remember which, but it was the wrong move, whichever it was. That's why I played 15. Qc6+ after 14...Be7: because in comparison with my first game Brad hadn't prevented the check, and I went after the d pawn immediately because, I don't know, secretly I don't like being down a pawn?  I notice that I play inflexibly when I think there is a right idea in the position, my mind closes up and I let my (correct or incorrect) knowledge of a position trump thinking about it for myself.

I now move my queen four times in a row.  

Notice how nothing has changed in my position, but black has developed his bishop, got his king off the e file, and played ..f5. I'm expecting Brad to take the pawn on b2-- it's a very important pawn if I have any thought of playing an endgame, mostly because without it, the c pawn is so weak. 

But he doesn't, he plays 18...Rg8. 

Now, I absolutely 100% should play 19. Rb1 here, then 20. b3, then Rd1. But somehow, and I think being a chess teacher has made me more this way, in my head I'm in the midst of some narrative about how I'm playing boldly and vigorously, sacking a pawn on principle. I'm unwilling to play little, ugly, necessary moves out of egotism. I went on to lose insipidly. 

Interview with New England Nor'Easters Manager IM Dave Vigorito

EV:  Congratulations on an amazingly successful season! 9.5/10 is a huge accomplishment. What do you say to the haters who grumble that you had an easy schedule, faced weak line-ups, and generally got lucky?

DV: We have had a lighter schedule than other teams, but we have made the most of it. We have seen that CAR (who we played twice) is not an automatic win. In weeks 8 and 9, CAR drew powerhouses NY and BOS. In week 10 we played CAR. We only needed a 2-2 tie, but we won 4-0. We take care of business.


Also, look at a team like PHI. One reason they have a poor record is that we beat them twice. They should have a good team - they have Magesh and Smith, but those guys hardly played. There's not much we can do about that.


When we faced our biggest challenge in facing NY in week 7, we only had one of our four IM's available and we were facing a lineup with Georgi, Pascal, and Irina. We won the match.


The thing that is special about our team is that we never have to field a weak lineup. We used 10 different lineups in 10 weeks (and the first playoff match features and 11th lineup)!


EV:  Tell us about the creation of the Nor’Easters.

DV: Well, our region has a lot of good players. Even now there are a lot of good players around that do not play in the USCL - Foygel, Fang, Rizzitano, Kelleher, Mac Intyre, Coleman. Boston is a great team, but they generally remain unchanged each year, so there was clearly room for a second team. Both Brad and I have talked to Greg about a second Boston area team for many years. When Tennessee left, LA filled their spot. This made sense regionally. But then St Louis emerged, and their sudden addition allowed us to join the league (there has to be an even number of teams). Greg knew I could get a team together very quickly. Our preseason goal was to qualify for the playoffs. We made it.


EV:  Almost all of your players had plus scores for the season, but is there a standout whom you would pick as MVP?

DV: There are several MVP's. You could say it starts with Sam. He was 3/5 in the regular season, which may not seem tremendous, but he started 0-2. Neither of those losses was costly for the team. Then he won 3 in a row (Finegold, Kachi, Milman) and those wins were huge. As far as we are all concerned he's been great, both as a board 1 and as a teammate. We are really hope he does not quit chess because we certainly want him back last year.


Robert and I have both performed well (4/5 and 3.5/4). Brad has done well, and so has Chris Chase. One big moment in the season for me was when we faced NJ. Chris was playing Victor Shen, who had just demolished the <2400 section of the World Open with 8/9. It was this game I was the most worried about in the match, but Chris won a wonderful game, propelling us to a 2.5 victory. In general, our losses have not been costly and several players have had huge wins. You have to create your own luck.


If I did have to pick a MVP though, I'd probably go with Alex Cherniack. Every board counts the same, and he has scored 5/6. Board 4 can be unpredictable, so having a reliable, experienced master has given us a lot of confidence there.

quintuple whammy

Hi again everyone! You are very patient if you are still reading this blog. thank you.

Let's start with Justus. He's an impressive 5.5/7 in the World Youth, Boys 12 and Under, tied for 3rd-12th.  There are 4 more rounds; you can follow the results here.

I played in the USCL last night, lost stupidly to Braden Bournival. I moved my queen five time in a row like a child. I'm also annoyed at myself for playing this bad pawn sac line, making semi random moves, and losing like I always do in it, especially after I had decided a long time ago to play a much better line that goes 7. Bf1 Bg4 8. h3 Bh5 9. g4 (I learned this from a chess lecture by David Vigorito, and during the game I could hear him saying "I play this myself for black, and it's good as long as white doesn't play h3 and g4 immediately, which is the secret to the position." I remembered that yet somehow I felt too chicken to play it.) 9... Bg6 10. d3 e6 11. Nh4 Nd7 12. Ng2, intending f4-f5 and Nf4. I also forgot he switched to the Sveshnikov years ago and spent half of Monday looking at the Panov. stupidstupidstupid.

Amazing how well New England did though. I'm very curious to see if they can keep it up in the post season.

School is great/ insanely busy. I met Jesper Hall, a chess teacher from Sweden and a member of a FIDE committee on chess and education, who was visiting NYC. We talked shop for a bit, and he showed me a great lesson that I've been loving:

White gets five moves in in a row to checkmate the black king. Black does not move at all. White cannot put the king in check before the last move. It's like a Coakley Double Whammy, but Quintiple. We do a couple examples together so kids know what solutions look like (e5, exf6, Ng5, Qh5, Qxh7 or Nh4-f5, Qg4xg6 xg7), and then they have 1/2 - 1 period, a partner, and a board to find as many other solutions as they can. With some classes, I said you have to find as many solutions as the hundreds place of your rating (a 1450 has to find 14), after you did that you could play. Everyone had a great time and learned mating patterns.

I have a new project/ experiment: I've picked a 6th grader (now rated 1093) and am going to see how high I can get him in a year. The program inclues: private lessons 2 lunch periods a week, extra tactics, making sure I see all his games, and always pairing him up in club.  Any opinions on what constitutes success? Galvin's promised to buy me any chess book I want if he gets to 1600. I'm trying to get Galvin to pick his own kid to compete with me, but he's refusing because he knows he'll lose.

a cool video for you.

318 goes to the Marshall; James beats Lapshun and breaks 2100

Shawn, Alex, and Markus waiting

Maya, who beat Caey Jacobs (1900) and gained over 100 points to reach a personal best of 1481!

Alex

Markus

James  Black and Yuri Lapshun analyze their game

James Black (2100) -- IM Yuri Lapshun (2550)

1. d4 c5 2. d5 e5 3. e4 d6 4. Bb5+ Nd7 5. a4 Be7 6. Nf3 Ngf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. O-O h6 9. a5 Nh7 10. Nd2 Bg5 11. Nc4 Ndf6 12. a6 bxa6 13. Bxa6 Ne8 14. Nb5 Qd7 15. Bxc8 Qxb5 16. Ba6 Qd7 17. Na5 Nc7 18. Bb7 Rab8 19. Bc6 Qe7 20. Nc4 a6 21. Qd3 Nf6 22. g3 Bxc1 23. Raxc1 Rfc8 24. Ra1 Rf8 25. Rfe1 Nh5 26. Rf1 g5 27. Qe2 Ng7 28. g4 h5 29. h3 Qf6 30. Ra3 h4 31. Rf3 Qe7 32. Ra1 Rfc8 33. Qd2 Rb4 34. Qe2 Rbb8 35. c3 f6 36. Qc2 Rf8 37. Qa4 Rf7

38. Qa5 Qd8 39. Ra3 Kf8 40. Qa4 Ke7 41.Re3 Qc8 42. Rb3 Rxb3 43. Qxb3 Rf8 44. Na5 Kf7 45. Qb6 Qd8 46. Re1 Kg6 47. Ra1 Nce6 48. Qxa6 Nf4 49. Kh2 Rf7 50. b4 Qb8 51. Nb7 f5 52. gxf5+ Nxf5 53. exf5+ Rxf5 54. Nxd6 Rf6 55. Ne4 Nxd5 56. Nxf6 e4+ 57. Kg1 e3 58. Bxd5 exf2+ 59. Kf1 1-0

Back to School Films!

Come see a (new) preview of Chess Movie at the 92nd Street Y on Thursday Oct 21 at 7:30 pm. It's part of the Back to School Film series and only costs $12.

This month's Story Leads to Action is a Back-to-School celebration of movies and movements dedicated to education, growth, hope and community resilience - featuring excerpts and scenes from three films-in-progress each one uniquely exploring the possibility, fierce promise and politics of educating the next generation of global citizens. More here.


Chess Movie (working title)

Director: Katie Dellamaggiore

In 10 years, Intermediate School 318 has built the best junior high chess program in the nation, despite its consistently high level of student poverty. This year, 318 has its strongest team ever, but in an unexpected twist of fate, the school is also dealt a severe budget cut and all after-school activities, including chess, are losing funding.


Mariachi High

Director: Ilana Trachtman

Mariachi High is a documentary film, supported in part by Latino Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts, that will take viewers on a transformative and spirited journey into the dreams and dramas of Mexican American teenage-hood, through the soulful and vibrant lens of a competitive mariachi band. High school has never sounded so good.


Our School

Director: Mona Nicora

Our School follows three Roma children—Alin, Beniamin and Dana—as they move from a dead-end segregated school into a mainstream Romanian school. The film is an elegy about hope and squandered opportunities, as well as a meditation on what it truly means—and what it truly takes—to give a real chance to a whole generation of children.



Speaking in Tongues

Director: Marcia Jarmel & Ken Schneider

At a time when 31 states have passed "English Only" laws, four pioneering families put their children in public schools where, from the first day of kindergarten, their teachers speak mostly Chinese or Spanish. Speaking in Tongues follows four diverse kids on a journey to become bilingual. This charming story will challenge you to rethink the skills that Americans need in the 21st century.

I invent the "one round a day" schedule

a sculpture on the beach in Spain

So I want to play some chess, and because it's a holiday weekend, I get both Saturday and Sunday off (the Chess in the Schools tournament is on Monday). The Marshall is having a 4 round, 2 day under 2300 tournament (30/90 g/30), so I decide to play, and in the middle of round 1, I come up with the great idea to take byes in round 2 and 4. It's so much more pleasant that way-- playing becomes a fun part of my weekend and not a exhausting, nerve-wrecking giant monster that eats my only non-work time.

It also helped that my opponent made one very bad move right at the end of my opening knowledge and I was immediately and easily winning.

Ben Altman-Desole  1750 --Elizabeth Vicary 2100
Marshall October U2300 rd 1

1. d4 d5 
2. c4 c6 
3. Nf3 Nf6 
4. Nc3 dxc4 
5. a4 Bf5 
6. Ne5 Nbd7 
7. Nxc4 Qc7 
8. g3 e5 
9. dxe5 Nxe5 
10. Bf4 Nfd7
11. Bg2

I know this opening from teaching it to my students; I've played the Slav in 4-5 games so far, but never this line.

Vaughn gets lucky

Vaughn is black against Brittanie in the above position, and it looks like he's losing a pawn because of his misplaced Ba5 after 13. Qa4. But he's a lucky kid, and after
13. Qa4 Bb6
14. Qxc6 he finds Bd7!
15. Qb7 Bb5! (D)

with ....Rb8 after white moves the rook. :)