FOTK CC Update
Issue 2, Volume 1
February 4, 2011
Two Great Events: Brain Freeze scholastic and the 2011 Cardinal Open th
The2011 Brainfreeze scholastic was held January 15 in Reynoldsburg and featured 145 players in 5 sections. This was the 7th time this tournament has been held, and each year it has been a great success. New Song Community Church has allowed us to use their facilities each year, and youth from the church sell food items to the masses of players, parents and coaches. Thanks New Song! Individual winners in the rated sections were: Christopher Russell (Open), Arvind Kumar (Reserve), and Kayin Derden (Elementary). Team winners in the rated sections wereGranville Chess Club (Open), Dragon Chess Club (Reserve), and Ecole Kenwood (Elementary). Thanks to everyone who helped to make this annual event a success once again. In the unrated sections, Nathaniel Reedus took the 4‐6 grade section, while Devonshire won the team award. In the K‐3 section, Ethan Chung had a perfect score, while Dragon Chess Club took the team award. January 28‐30 saw the 2011 edition of the Cardinal Open, organized for the second year in a row by Grant Neilley and held at the Concourse Hotel near Port Columbus. This year’s tournament featured 1 GM, 1 IM and several master‐level players in a field of 164 (a record for the Cardinal?) Winners were: Goran Vojinovic (Open), Igor Mitin (U2050),John Ahlborg (U1850), Michael Martin – on tie‐breaks (U1550), and John Ragner – on tie‐breaks (U1250). I have to say, this year’s turn‐out surpassed everyone’s expectations, and is a testament to how well Grant runs his events. I think players appreciate having sets provided, as well as his excellent job of getting the word out early with details about the tournament. In fact, one couple flew all the way from Washington (state) to play in the Cardinal this year, after a good experience in last year’s event. If Grant can continue to organize such a great event, can we anticipate the Cardinal Open reaching the 200 player mark? I know of several players from the Columbus area who didn’t play this year, so it just might happen… Be sure to watch the Ohio Chess Bulletin for a more lengthy report. It’s been a very busy month for Grant (and his family), but with tax season upon us, his work has just begun. If you don’t see Grant as often between now and April 15th, don’t be surprised. Maybe we can talk him into directing something for us in May. Upcoming Events
Feb 6th, North Market Superbowl Swiss, info @ http://www.centralchessc
lub.com/ March 25‐27, 12th Pittsburg Open info @ http://main.uschess.org/i
ndex.php?option=com_w
rapper&Itemid=199 FOTK CC @ Easton Panera Bread: Fridays, 6‐10 p.m. For information, go to: http://www.neilley.com/c
hess/ or contact Grant Neilley @ 614‐418‐1775 office / 614‐314‐1102 cell ARE YOU A TD?? Talk to Grant about organizing rated play on Friday nights for our players! REMINDER: Panera has been very gracious about us holding our club meetings in their establishment. Please show your gratitude by doing the following: buy something while you are here; don’t take up more space than is necessary; be courteous to other customers. **The “FOTK CC Update” is written and/or edited by Evan Shelton. If you have ideas or suggestions, please feel free to offer them to: [email protected]. TheBibliophile, by E. Shelton This month I’d like to recommend “My Great Predecessors: Volume 2” [MGP: vol. 2], by Garry Kasparov. While this book is a few years old, the analysis is superb and worth the effort of working through. “MGP: Vol. 2” covers world champions Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov and Tal and offers a look into foundational years of the modern game of chess. These four men held the world champion title from 1935 through 1963 (Botvinnik holding it 3 separate times!), and the development of the game from the pre‐war era to the “space age” was amazing, both on and off the board. While space prevents me from going into too much detail about the contents of this book, let it suffice to say that Kasparov has used his own amazing chess analysis, as well as that of others, and then checked much of it with the latest [at the time of his writing] computer software to determine just how “great” these predecessors were. The fact that these men were able to find the best moves, over the board, without the aid of computer software proves their greatness! For the beginner, the games give a nice introduction to top level chess and opening theory. For the intermediate player, looking to improve, the books offer analysis which can be helpful in developing opening, middle‐game and endgame skills. And for the advanced player, it can offer variations which may have fallen out of favor, but which still pack a punch. The stories surrounding the games and matches, the perspectives of the players’ contemporaries, and their contributions to chess away from the board were, for me, really interesting. If you choose to read this book, and its companion volumes, I suggest you go slowly. Read what you need from them. Absorb it. Process it. Enjoy it. There’s no prize for reading it cover‐to‐cover as fast as possible. I give this book 5/5 Pawns. [I’ll cover other volumes in the future.] Unfortunately, you can’t buy this book at Wholesalechess.com, but it IS available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and USCF Sales. Have a book you’d like to suggest? Let me know! Next month: Jeremy Silman’s Endgame Course PlayerProfile:Evan
Shelton
[My birthday is in February, so I figured I could be a bit narcissistic and feature myself this month…] I learned to play chess from my father around the age of eight. I didn’t start really studying chess until I was in my late 20s but I would have to say that it wasn’t until about 5 or 6 years ago that I really decided to take the game seriously and improve. My strategy to do so has been multi‐faceted. First of all, I try to play almost every day, even if it’s just a couple of 5 minute games on Playchess.com (handle: EEShelton). Next, I spend time studying grandmaster games. Finally, I utilize training software from ChessBase and Convetka for openings, middle‐games and tactics. My favorite chess “accomplishments” are “playing up” and winning the U1400 section at the 2009 Cardinal Open, breaking 1500 ELO in 2010, and teaching my son, Sam, to play by the age of 5 – even though he won’t play much anymore. The two players I find to be the most interesting are Fischer and Korchnoi, while I am amazed by the games of Kasparov and Tal. I don’t get to play in as many tournaments as I’d like, so playing on Friday nights is something I look forward to. Luckily, my girlfriend, Beth, is amazing and never complains that “date night” usually means a quick dinner, then reading while I play, or that a rare weekend getaway involves a tournament. Thanks, Babe! Over the next few weeks I will be contacting FOTK members with questions for our next Player Profile.