I'm back!

I've decided to try blogging again! I got a bit busy there, but spring break is starting, nationals is almost upon us, and I'm hoping to make a bit more time for myself soon. (more about that later!)

 First of all, the only bracket I could ever love, from the census department!

A fun article about IS 318, Brooklyn Castle, and me!

Nationals... can I say I hate supernationals? Mostly because I hate enormous crowds of people and waiting in line for food.

We have a uphill battle in the K-8. Canyon Vista has a 2 1900s, an 1800, 2 1700s, and Masterman has a 2000, a 1900, and 2 1800s. We have 2 1900s and 6 1700s. The nice thing is that if we lose, my good friends Greg or Mike win.

I'm a little more optimistic about the K-6, where we have 2 1600s and 6 1500s. I'm not too sure who our main competition is, but my sixth graders are pretty good.

We're also competing in the high school under 1600, the k-9 under 1250, and we have teams in the under 1000 and under 750, but I think those lower sections are all rigged and unwinnable anyway. I strongly believe the USCF should be checking the rating history of all winners, team and individual, in these under sections. Some very fishy things go on.

more soon!

rare chess books for sale

The estate of the late Fred Snitzer has donated some very old and valuable books to IS 318, and we are looking to sell them. Titles include:

• Jaenisch's Chess Preceptor: A New Analysis of the Openings of Games (1847)
• A Treatise on the Game of Chess Containing a Regular System of Attack and Defense J. H. Sarratt (1822)
• A New Treatise on the Game of Chess J. H. Sarratt (1821)
• Studies of Chess; containing Caissa, A Poem by Sir William Jones A Systematic Introduction to the Game and the Whole Analysis of Chess composed by Mr. A. D. Philador (two volumes) 1803
• A Selection of Fifty Games from Those Played by the Automaton Chess player (1820)
• The Incomparable Game of Chess J. S. Bingham (1820)
• Practical Chess Grammar W. S. Kenny (1818)
• A Selection of Games of Chess Played at the Westminister Chess Club between Mnsr. L. C de la Bourdonnais and an English Amateur of First Rate Skill W. Lewis (18350
• Paul Morphy the Chess Champion (1859)
• Encyclopedia des Echecs A. Alexander (1837) 

I believe all the above are first editions and in great shape. (I inspected 4-5, not all) The oldest ones have removable plastic covers to protect them. There are also better known titles like

• Capablanca's My Chess Career
• Reti's Masters of the Chessboard
• Nimzowitsch's My System

also all first editions.
There are also complete sets of Chess Life and America Chess Bulletin, carefully preserved and dating back to the early 1900s. There are also some of Fedorowicz's old scoresheets from the 1970s!

You can view photos and photocopies of the books and their title pages here, as well as online  (AbeBooks) estimates of their value.

We'd also be grateful if anyone who knows something about chess books would be able to value them, and the estate is potentially willing to pay for a valuation.

 

All proceeds from the sale will go to supporting the IS 318 chess team.  

usate warm up

I played two rated games today to warm up for next weekend. My team is USATE is Matan Prilleltensky, Matheu Jefferson, Charley McMillan, and me. Anyone got a great idea for a name?

You might think this is wimpy, but I like to play just a couple games a day, instead of torturing myself with 12 hours of chess. baby steps.

I saw a Brooklyn Castle poster on the J train on my way to the tournament, which I figured was auspicious. I haven't played a tournament since last summer, and only a couple in the last few years, so I was mentally prepared for mediocrity.

(30) Bonin,Jay - Spiegel,Elizabeth [E09] g/75
1.d4 d5
2.Nf3 Nf6
3.c4 c6
4.Nbd2

I've played Jay maybe 20 times, and I think I'm 0-20. He's played this against me before, but I'd forgotten and had no idea what to do. Of course, I wanted to play 4...Bf5, but I was worried about 4...Bf5 5.Qb3 Qb6 6.Qxb6 axb6 7.cxd5 cxd5, which the engine says is ok, but I thought would torturous and Jay would grind me down.

Later, at lunch, Matan told me I can just play 5...Qc7, and his Nd2 prevents Bf4 ? Rc1/ any annoying attacks with the knight.

4...e6  I play the semi-slav, and I was trying to console myself that ii would be a bit like that, but it really isn't. For one thing, I can't take on c4 and play b5-b4 hitting the Nc3.

5.Qc2 Be7   I thought it would be worse on d6 because of e4: 5...Bd6 6.e4 dxe4 7.Nxe4 Nxe4 8.Qxe4 Nd7 9.Bd3 Nf6 10.Qh4

6.g3 0-0
7.Bg2
At this point I was starting to panic. How am I going to generate any play or develop my bishop?  I thought it would be hard to play e5, and even if I did, it would weaken the long diagonal and his Bg2 somehow win the game easily. I should just calm down and play b6 and Bb7.
7...b5?!

I was expecting 8. b3, when I was planning to take with the b pawn and play Ba6. I figured at least I'd have the b file?! But Jay immediately played

8.c5 Nbd7
9.0-0
the computer wants to play ...a5 here, gaining a little space, but I was already feeling desperate and decided I had to open the position now, while I was still behind in development...
 9... e5?
10.dxe5   Taking with the knight is even better: 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Nd7 12.Nf3 and both captures lose: 12...Nxc5 13.Be3 Na4 14.b3 Nb6 15.Qxc6 wins a pawn, while 12...Bxc5 13.Ng5 g6 14.e6 is even worse
10...Ng4
11.Nb3 Ngxe5
12.Nfd4 Bb7
13.e4 dxe4 I rejected 13...Nf6 because of 14. f4 Nc4 15. e5 Nd7, but that's ok for me.
14.Qxe4 Re8
15.Qc2 Qc7 I had thought he was threatening Nxb5, but I can just play Ba6 and I'm winning an exchange.
16.Bf4 Rad8
17.Rfe1 Bf8
18.Qc3 g6
19.Na5

So for a while I've been worse, but defending. I have used a ridiculous amount of time, and only have 7 minutes left when I suddenly see a ray of hope...
19...b4!
20.Qxb4 Bxc5
21.Qxb7 Qxa5

 
Amazing, I have three threats: Bxd4, Rb8 trapping the queen, and Nf3+! I can hardly believe my good fortune and tug on my hat with excitement.
22.Nb3 
I immediately, arrogantly, played 22...Nf3+? which loses two pieces for a rook. I spent the next six moves in deluded paradise, thinking I was up the exchange. It wasn't until move 28, when I realized something unexpected had happened, countingwise.
   I should have played 22...Bxf2+! 23.Kxf2?  (23.Kf1 Qb6 24.Qxb6 Bxb6 and I'm up a pawn but his bishops are very strong) 23...Nd3+ 24.Kg1 Rxe1+ 25.Rxe1 Qxe1+ 26. Bf1 Qf2+ 27. Kh1 Qxf1#.  23.Bxf3 Rxe1+ 24.Kg2 Qb4 25.Nxc5 Qxb7 26.Nxb7 Rxa1 27.Nxd8 Rxa2 28.Bxc6 Nb6 29.Be5 Kf8 and I lost in a few moves. Not such an accurate game, but I felt I came up with a few ideas and made it a fight. I need to learn the opening, manage my time better, calculate more accurately, and have a braver attitude.

Netx round, I was paired with a 1650.


Spiegel,Elizabeth - Grasso? [B51] g/75 ChessPub Guide

1.e4 c5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bb5 d6
4.0-0 Bd7
5.Re1 g6
6.c3 Bg7
7.d4

my favorite opening: the Bb5 sicilian

The Bb5 Sicilian is like gold against anyone under 2000. He's already played it somewhat weirdly, combining a few different development schemes. Usually, they play 5....Nf6 and 6...a6, and then on 7. Bf1 Bg4. His next move struck me as just bad:

7... e5  My first instinct was to play d5, trade the light squared bishops, and enjoy my space advanatge and better bishop, but I also thought it might be hard to get at him.
 8.dxc5 dxc5
9.Be3 Qb6
10.Na3 a6
11.Nc4

I've won several games with this idea.

11...Qc7
12.Nd6+ Ke7
13.Bxc5 b6

14.Ba3 Kd8
15.Bxc6 Qxc6
16.Nxf7+ Kc7
17.Nxh8 Bxh8
18.Qd5 Be6
19.Bd6+ 

1-0 hurray!

In other news, my video of Greg playing Samuel Sevian has over 100,000 views!

IS 318 visits Jane Street Capital, part 2

Our host, Jane Street CEO Sandor Lehoczky, explains the basics of finance to IS 318 chess team students.

We watch traders in action.

Sandor explains why they play bughouse every day at Jane Street: bughouse teaches players to evaluate many complex pieces of information simultaneously, make quick and on-going judgments about which factors are the most important, and requires teamwork and flexible but accurate thinking.

At 4, when the markets close, we take a walk around lower Manhattan and climb on some sculptures.

 

We return for pizza and bughouse.

 

Anthony plays against Sandor; Ariel watches.

 

Alexis and Danny beat everyone.

 

On the ride home, everyone decided to work really hard in math class and become stock traders when they grow up. The highlight of the trip for me was overhearing one kid say to his friend, "I wish today would last forever."

Huge thanks to Sandor and everyone at Jane Street for an incredibly fun and educational day.

You can see more photos here.

eyelids

two kids playing blitz in my room:
Daniel: Can you turn your eyelids inside out?
Anthony: Why would I want to do something that dumb?
Daniel: Well, if you ever do, I can tell you, don't do it in a train station.

Amateur to IM (Jonathan Hawkins)

Mongoose Press sends me their books, very kindly, sometimes. Most of the time I look at them and think they are ok but ignore them, because I'm really not studying chess. I received Amateur to IM a couple months ago and put it on my bookshelf.

Yesterday, the last day of school before break, I was looking through my classroom library for books to take home and read over Christmas vacation. (Last summer, I did enormous amounts of prep work, and it got me through the whole fall planningwise, so I was thinking to do that again.)

I opened Amateur to IM and immediately got sucked in. I was so absorbed that I didn't notice during the holiday party when my homeroom put half a tube of Mentos in a 2 liter bottle of Sprite. It exploded/sprayed the contents around the room, and while many sets/desks/chairs are now coated in a fine sugar syrup-resin, it was undeniably impressive/hilarious. Amateur to IM is a surprisingly enjoyable book that concentrates on a few endgames and explains them really well. You can literally feel your understanding of chess growing as you read-- I learned 4 new things I'm excited about from one chapter yesterday. I'm hoping to finish the book over break and use it in class in the spring.

I bought Jonathan/us a food dehydrator for Christmas.
My USATE: Matan Prilleltensky, Isaac Barayev, Matheu Jefferson, me.
Happy birthday Greg!

pictures of current and former students, a crazy parent story

Eldridge



Chris

Jayvon

Azeez

Isaac

Eldridge

I have a crazy parent story for you. Lennin (1200) comes back after round two in the reserve section and says "My opponent's parent tried to cheat." I frequently hear that opponents try to cheat, but parents is unusual, so I get him to tell me the whole story. He explained that his opponent had played badly and not really tried to win. After the game, his opponent's mother approached Lennin and offered him $20 to say her son had won. Lennin said no, so the mother offered $25, then $30, then $40. Lennin: "I really wanted to take it, but I thought you might be mad."

Just as Lennin is telling me this, my former student and now TD Kenneth Martin comes in to tell me that Lennin's opponent's mother is saying that the result of the game, which was correctly recorded as a win for Lennin, was incorrect, and her son had won. I explained to Kenneth what Lennin had just told me, and Kenneth offered that he had watched the entire game as the TD for the section and had seen Lennin checkmate his opponent.

I took this to Shaun Smith. Shaun confronted the woman, who denied it.


crazy, right? Apparently it was her son's birthday, and he is at his peak rating of 1184, so she was trying to buy him a few extra peak rating points.

Rochelle!

Brooklyn Castle superstar Rochelle Ballantyne wins a full scholarship to Stanford!!!

grade nationals 2012

I took today off to recover from the weekend. We didn't have a team room (CIS used to get it for us) so I analyzed in my pretty small (esp once I've stolen 2 extra chairs from students rooms) hotel room all weekend. I shouldn't complain-- in many ways I prefer it to a team room-- it's not freezing cold, strangers don't bother you, there isn't some other coach with a booming voice analyzing right next to you, I can drink endless cups of tea, etc.

I mostly worked with the 6th and 7th graders and I learned a lot about the new kids. One thing that stood out is how big of a difference in learning curve exists between an incoming 6th grader who is 1300 and started playing chess one year ago and a 6th grader with the same rating who started three years ago.

I only took pictures the first day though...  they started looking all the same to me and I felt discouraged.

We won the 8th, came second in 7th, and tied for 3rd in 6th.

There was a Brookstone at JFK where an employee was flying little planes around the hallway, and it looked too awesome to pass up and on sale for $25. So I played with it happily for an hour at the start of round one, then I said goodbye, gave it to a kid to try, and it was broken within 10 minutes.

Watching Mubassar intently preparing with my laptop before round 7, I thought: Why haven't I borrowed the laptop cart every day, install Chessbase, Mega2013, and chesspublishing databases, and an engine, and had the top kids make a tree of all their opening lines and make game files for every variation and spend all their time looking at GM games in their lines? They would be totally into it, and I wouldn't have to do anything except install the programs and explain what to do/what the final product should look like. I'm very happy to have had that realization.

I am happy Elizabeth Warren has been appointed to the banking commission.

supercool:

back to normal

I talked to a lot of media people in the last month, and it was fun, but I'm happy life is getting back to normal.  The truth is I mostly hate talking to reporters and being on camera. I did one interview I liked, on the website creativity post.

Brooklyn Castle is getting lots of amazing press, and Katie and Pobo will be on The Daily Show on Thursday.

In other news, I'm enjoying my hurrication. Nothing bad happened to me, and I got a week off work, so good. I'm trying to eat less sugar.  I enjoyed this Times article about our sea wall options.

I'm looking forward to grade nationals at the end of the month. Things look pretty good for us from the pre-entries, but it's early days still. I need to make our final list with Galvin next week.

I finished a new version of the opening book. I'm pretty excited to have completed that long-term, guilt-inducing, much dreaded project. The next project is systematizing opening teaching units, so I have all the teaching games and examples and whatever neatly stored in uniform files in google drive for when my laptop breaks.

nothing interesting is happening, but I like it. :)