FROM NBCC PRESIDENT NORMAN BURTNESS
Norman Burtness, President
New Britain Chess Club
newbritainchessclub@gmail.com
www.newbritainchessclub.com
President's Message
Our 2018-2019 membership years comes to a close. We finish the year with 101 members, the 3rd time in the last 5 years we have broken the 100 mark!
The NBCC officers officially start their terms, with Norman Burtness, President; Suhas Kodali, Vice President; Mario Guevara-Rodriguez, Secretary; and David Herscovici, Treasurer.
Following his election last June, Laurent Lafosse was unable to fulfill the duties as Treasurer due to a change in work commitments, and David Herscovici was appointed to take his place.
I again want to thank Gert Hilhorst for his work for the last 4+ years as treasurer, taking over admirably after the passing of long-time treasurer Andris Strazdins.
On a personal note, I had the pleasure of seeing Danny Rozovsky last weekend when he was in town. He has graduated from Berkeley with a degree in math, and has started working for Universal Tennis, where he is designing a Tennis Rating software to replace the current ranking system. Danny was responsible for getting me back into playing chess seriously after a 30 yrs absence when as a 2237-rated 9th grader, he came to my chess club at school and promptly destroyed me. We then played regularly and he showed me a whole new world of chess strategy I had never seen before.
54th NBCC Summer Open Report
Congratulations to Mark Bourque for edging out Joe Hricko on tie-breaks to take home the 1st place trophy.
Kyle Triplett won the U1619 section and Ethan Shemo went 5-0 in the U919 section to take 1st place.
It was nice to see Gaetano Bompastore at the Open. It was just a year ago coming home from this event that he had his terrible accident. He is still in a wheel chair, but was in good spirits.
We all wish you, Gaetano, the best for your continued recovery.
NBCC Quick Chess Championships Results
The 2-week Quick Chess Championships finished on Tuesday. The winners are:
Open section: 1st: Nelson Castaneda, 2nd: Joe Bihlmeyer, 1st U2000: Joe Hricko
U1700 section: 1st: Kyle Triplett, 2nd: Mahesh Mahabaleshwar, 1st U1200 and 1st U1000:
four-way tie (all under 1000): Phiron Hin, Shritan Vijay, Sai Ganesh Senguttuvan and Adam Miller
Thanks to David Herscovici for ably directing his 1st tournament as Chief Tournament director.
Complete results can be found on the crosstable. USCF Crosstable - NBCC Quick Chess Championships
Sat. Nov. 16, 2019
Yankee Peddler Open
$160-1st, $80-2nd. Guaranteed.
3 Round Swiss, G/60;d5 Affects both quick and regular rating. Round Times: 10:30, 1:30, 3:45. Entry Fees: $35 Cash Only On-site Only: 9:45 am - 10:10 am. No Advance Entry. One Section. Accelerated Pairings. Wheelchair Accessible. USCF TLASite: Mill Brook Place, 1267 Main St., Coventry, CT 06238 Across street from Bidwell Tavern is our stone building at rear of parking lot
GOING BACK IN TIME by Bob Cyr
Today, the 2019-2020 club season begins. Let us put our best efforts to help our incoming club officers: Norman Burtness, president; Suhas Kodali, vice president; Mario Guevara-Rodriguez, secretary ; David Herscovici, treasurer.
Like Norman said, we thank Gert Hilhorst for serving as our club treasurer for four years, after the passing of longtime treasurer Andris Strazdins, who was treasurer for forty-two years. Gert did WONDERS for our club as treasurer. Excellent job, Gert!
I will continue to serve as club historian.
Tony Yablonski is now officially the longest-standing member at 57 years. Joe Mansigian is also officially a lifetime member of the club, only one of two in our organization. We thank Joe for continuing to make updates to the club website and for his many years of service as club president after the Strazdins era.
Best of luck to our club officers.
Thank you for supporting the club. Let us break the all-time membership record of 119 set back in 1973. It is possible. Promotion of the club is key for this historic achievement to be broken. One of the promising things that I see in our club lately are the newest tournament directing staff: Michael Smith, Mario Guevara-Rodriguez, Suhas Kodali, David Herscovici, and Kyle Triplett.
And we can't forget our instructors Joe Bihlmeyer, Nelson Castaneda, Suhas Kodali, Will Torress, Richard Bauer, and Derek Meredith for their contributions. Wow, our club is blessed with this overwhelming support! Keep up the outstanding work!
Yours in chess and time,
Robert Cyr
NBCC Historian
Lifetime NBCC Member
USCF Local Tournament Director
Connecticut's FM Kapil Chandran achieved an IM norm at the US Masters held in Greenboro, NC. Kapil scored 5 out of 9 and beat GM Kamil Dragun (2614) in the process.
The top scholastic player from Connecticut, 16-year-old IM Hans Niemann, scored 5.5 out of 9 missing a GM norm on half a point. Hans beat GM Hrant Melkumyan (2661) and was in a third-place tie for the U2500 (fide) prize. Final Standings.
WELCOME OUR NEWEST CHESS CLUB
HAMDEN CHESS CLUB (USCF ID A6054128)
ROD GROFF
PLAY MORE CHESS ACADEMY
1890 DIXWELL AVE SUITE 101, HAMDEN, CT, 06514.
email: HamdenChessClub@PlayMoreChess.com
Web Site: https://PlayMoreChess.com
Casual Play, USCF Rated Events, Unrated Events, Blitz Events, Bughouse, Sets Available, Clocks Available, Chess Items for Sale, Classes Offered, Chess Camps, Private Lessons Offered, Under Age 18 Welcome, Beginners Welcome, Refreshments.
GAME OF THE WEEK by Alan Lasser
I went to see Pawn Sacrifice and it’s a sad movie, the emphasis is on Fischer's madness, hoping to explain sympathetically the disturbing evolution of his personality. I thought the movie overplays the insanity during his championship years. The man we see in the movie is unlikely to be the writer of My 60 Memorable Games.
As for the chess in the movie, there are still a few mistakes. Fischer opens Shakhmatny, the old Russian chess magazine, and the first moves he puts on the board are a4 and a5. The clocks are set at 3:30 for speed chess. There were no live broadcasts of the match, Americans watched PBS to see Shelby Lyman relay the moves on a demo board. Although it makes absolutely no difference in the telling of the story, the leads are truly miscast, bearing scant semblance to the people who inspired them. The exception is Boris Spassky, they actually found an actor who looks like Boris. The portrayal of the KGB is pretty much right on.
The good news is that the movie does not say that chess causes mental illness.
In all of my recorded chess career, I have never had a fortress position. As I watched this game unfold on the internet, I thought perhaps the passed pawns on the board would give someone winning chances, but the grandmasters split the point. The computer agrees that weakening the fortress and advancing the pawns is wrong.
GM Deep Sengupta-GM David Howell
10/6/15
2015 Pokerstars International
draw
1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bb5 a6
4.Ba4 Nf6
5.O-O Be7
6.d3 b5
7.Bb3 d6
8.a3 O-O
9.Nc3 Be6
10.Nd5 Na5
11.Nxf6+ Bxf6
12.Bxe6 fxe6
13.b4 Nc6
14.c3 a5
15.Be3 Qd7
16.a4 Rfb8
17.axb5 Rxb5
18.bxa5 Rbxa5
19.Rxa5 Nxa5
20.Qc2 Nc6
21.Rb1 Qc8
22.g3 Qa6
23.Kg2 Kf7
24.h4 h6
25.g4 Ke8
26.g5 hxg5
27.hxg5 Be7
28.Rh1 Kd7 The Black king adopts a fortress posture before his queen even comes off.
29.Rh7 Qc8
30.d4 Qg8
31.Rh3 exd4
32.cxd4 Qf7
33.Qc4 Ra5? +4.99/24
33...Rb8 +0.79/23 34.Bd2 Rf8 35.d5 exd5 36.exd5 Ne5 37.Nxe5+ dxe5 38.f3 Qf5 39.Qa4+ Kc8 40.Qe4 Kd8 41.Rh7 Bc5 42.Rh8 Qxe4 43.Rxf8+ Bxf8 Stockfish brushes aside 33...Rb8 34.Bd2 Rf8 by pinning the knight and threatening d5, 35.Qa4 Bd8 36.Be3 Ke7 37.Qc6 +6.46
33...Bd8 34.Rh8 Ne7 35.Qb5+ Kc8 36.Nh4 d5 37.Nf3 Ng6 38.Ne5 + 1.48 Stockfish
34.Bd2 Ra3
35.d5? +1.71/24
35.Qb5 +5.00/26 35...Rxf3 36.Rxf3 Qh5 37.Rg3 Qg6 38.Rg4 Qh5 39.f3 d5 40.exd5 exd5 41.Qxd5+ Bd6 42.Qf5+ Kd8 43.Bf4 Ne7 44.Qf8+ Qe8 45.Qxe8+ Kxe8 46.Be5 Nf5 47.Re4 Kf7 48.d5 g6 49.f4 Ne7 50.Rd4 Ke8 51.Rd3 Kd7 52.Kg1 Nf5 53.Rb3 Bc5+ 54.Kh1 35.Qb5 threatens 36.d5 winning a piece
35…Nd8
36.Qb5+ Kc8
37.Bc1?! +1.33/23
37.Be3 +1.80/22 37...Qg6 38.Qb4 Ra1 39.Rh8 Kd7 40.Bd4 Ra8 41.Qb5+ Kc8 42.dxe6 Qxe4 43.Qd7+ Kb7 44.Kg3 Qxe6 45.Rxd8 Qxd7 46.Rxd7 Re8 47.Bxg7 Kc8 48.Rxe7 Rxe7 49.Bf6 Re8 50.Nd4 c5 51.Nf5
37.Qb4 Ra8 38.Qc4 g6 39.Be3 Bf8 40.Rh8 Qg7 41.Bd4 e5 42.Bb6 Rb8 43.Bxc7 Qxc7 44.Qa6+ +2.36 Stockfish
37...Ra8?! +2.19/24
37...Ra7 +1.33/23 38.Rh8 exd5 39.Qxd5 Qxd5 40.exd5 Kd7 41.Rg8 c6 42.dxc6+ Nxc6 43.Rxg7 d5 44.Rh7 Ra8 45.Kg3 Ke6 46.Be3 Rb8 47.Kh3 Ra8
37...Ra1 38.Be3 exd5 39.exd5 Qf5 40.Qc4 Nf7 41.Qd4 Ra2 42.Qxg7 +1.65 Stockfish
38.Rh8 exd5
39.exd5 Qf5
40.Kg3 Ra1?! +3.13/24
40...Rb8 +2.33/22 41.Qe8 Qd7 42.Qg6 Rb4 43.Bf4 c6 44.dxc6 Qxc6 45.Qxg7 Qe4 46.Rh4 Rb7 47.Be3 Qd5 48.Rh8 Qf5 49.Qa1 Kc7 50.Qc3+ Kd7 51.Qc4 Rc7 52.Qg8 Kc8 53.Qe8 Qe4 54.Rh4 Qc6 55.Qh5 Rb7 Stockfish evaluates 40...Rb8 as +4.17 after 41.Qc4 Kd7 42.Be3 c5 43.Bd2 Kc7 44.Ba5 Kb7 45.Qb5 Ka7 46.Qa4
40...Ra7 41.Qe8 Qd7 42.Qg8 Ra4 43.Rh4 Rxh4 44.Nxh4 +2.82 Stockfish
41.Qe8? +1.72/27
41.Be3 +3.13/24 41...Ra3 42.Qe8 Qd7 43.Qf7 Ra4 44.Nd4 Bxg5 45.Qxd7+ Kxd7 46.Bxg5 Nf7 47.Rf8 Rxd4 48.Rxf7+ Kc8 49.Rf5 Kd7 50.Be3 Rd1 51.Rg5 Ke8
41…Qd7
42.Bb2 Rd1?! +2.24/23
42...Ra2 +1.72/26 43.Bxg7 Qxe8 44.Rxe8 Kd7 45.Rh8 Ra5 46.Rh7 Ke8 47.Bh6 Rxd5 48.g6 Ne6 49.Kg4 c5 50.g7 Nxg7 51.Bxg7 Kf7 52.Bd4+ Ke6 53.Be3 Rd1 54.Ng5+ Bxg5 55.Kxg5 Rg1+ 56.Kf4 Kd5 57.Rc7 Rb1 42...Ra2 43.Qd7 Kd7 44.Bg7 Ra5 45.Rh7 Ke8 46.Bb2 Rd5 47.g6 Ne6 46.g7 Ng7 49.Bg7 +2.75 Stockfish
42...Rb1 43.Qxd7+ Kxd7 44.Bxg7 Rb5 45.Rh7 Ke8 46.Bc3 Rxd5 47.g6 Ne6 48.g7 Nxg7 49.Bxg7 +2.29 Stockfish
43.Bxg7?! +1.45/26
43.Qf7 +2.24/23 43...Rd3 44.g6 Kb7 45.Qf4 Rxd5 46.Bxg7 Qe6 47.Qg4
43…Qxe8
44.Rxe8 Kd7
45.Rg8? +0.20/25
45.Rh8 +1.46/25 45...Nf7 46.Rh5 Rxd5 47.Kg4 c5 48.g6 Rxh5 49.Kxh5 Nd8 50.Bb2 Ne6 51.g7 Nxg7+ 52.Bxg7 Ke6 53.Kg6 d5 54.Ne5
45…Rxd5
46.g6 Ne6
47.Bb2 Rb5
48.g7 Rxb2
49.Rd8+ Bxd8
50.g8=Q Rb3
51.Qf7+ Be7
52.Kg2 Rb4
53.Qf5 c6
54.Nd2?! -0.30/25
54.Ne1 0.00/24 54...Rf4 55.Qa5 Bd8 56.Qh5 Rh4 57.Qf5 Rh5 58.Qf7+ Be7 59.Nd3 Rd5 60.Nb4 Re5 61.Nd3 Rg5+ 62.Kf1 54.Ne1 Rf4 55.Qa5 Bd8 56.Qh5 Rd4 57.Qh7 Be7 58.Kf1 Rd1 59.Qc2 Rd4 +0.11 Stockfish
54...Rf4
54...d5 55.Nf3 Kd6 56.Qe5+ Kd7 57.Qf5 = Stockfish 54...d5 55.Nf3 d4 56.Ne5 Kd6 57.f4 d3 58.Nd3 +3.44 Stockfish
54...c5 55.Ne4 Rb8 56.Nc3 Rf8 57.Qh3 Bf6 58.Nd5 Be5 59.Qg4 c4 60.Nb6+ Kc6 61.Nxc4 Nf4+ 62.Kf1 Rh8 63.Ke1 Kc5 64.Ne3 Rb8 +1.15 Stockfish, Black takes a big risk to break the fortress and advance either pawn.
55.Qa5 Bd8
55...d5 56.Qa7+ Nc7 57.Nf3 Bf6 58.Qb7 Bc3 59.Qb8 Rg4+ 60.Kf1 Rf4 61.Kg2 = Stockfish
56.Qa6 Rg4+
57.Kf1 Rb4
58.Qa3 Rd4
59.Nf3 Rd1+
60.Ke2 Rd5
61.Qa7+ Bc7
62.Qa4 Rf5
63.Qh4 Rf7
64.Qh3 Ke7
64...c5 65.Ng5 Rf6 66.Ne4 Rf4 67.Nc3 Ba5 68.Qh7+ Kc6 69.Qh1+ Kd7 70.Nd5 +1.15 Stockfish
64...d5 65.Nd4 Re7 66.Kd1 Bd6 67.Nf5 Rf7 68.Qh5 Nd8 69.Qg4 Rf6 70.Ng7+ Ne6 71.f4 c5 72.Kc2 c4 73.Nxe6 Rxe6 74.Qf5 d4 75.Qb5+ Ke7 76.f5 Re5 77.Qb7+ Kf6 78.Qc6 Ke7 79.f6+ Ke6 80.f7 Re2+ 81.Kd1 Rf2 +0.44 Stockfish
65.Qh4+ Kd7
66.Qh3 Ke7
67.Qh4+ ½-½
COVENTRY CHESS CLUB by Rob Roy
NOV. 16 2019 YANKEE PEDDLER OPEN
3SS, G/60 d5. Mill Brook Place, 1267 Main St. (Rt 31), Coventry, CT 06238. EF: $35 Cash Only Onsite Only. $$GTD: $160-80. Reg.: 9:45 am - 10:10 am. Rds.: 10:30, 1:30, 3:45. INFO: ConnecticutChess@Gmail.com Dir: One Section. Accel.Pairings. https://ConnecticutChess.blogspot.com W. USCF TLA
DEC. 14 2019 HOLIDAY PARTY OPEN
3SS, G/60 d5. Mill Brook Place, 1267 Main St. (Rt 31), Coventry, CT 06238. EF: $35 Cash Only Onsite Only. $$GTD: $160-80. Reg.: 9:45 am - 10:10 am. Rds.: 10:30, 1:30, 3:45. INFO: ConnecticutChess@Gmail.com Dir: One Section. Accel.Pairings. https://ConnecticutChess.blogspot.com W. USCF TLA
COVENTRY CHESS CLUB 2020 CALENDAR
Mill Brook Place, 1267 Main St. (Rt 31)
JAN 18 2020 GREATER HARTFORD OPEN
FEB 22 2020 EASTERN CONNECTICUT OPEN
MAR 21 2020 CONSTITUTION STATE OPEN
APR 18 2020 MILL BROOK PARK OPEN
May thru August - No Tournaments
SEP 26 2020 CONNECTICUT HARVEST OPEN
OCT 17 2020 CHARTER OAK OPEN
NOV 14 2020 CONNECTICUT YANKEE OPEN
DEC 12 2020 NUTMEG STATE OPEN
PAST ISSUES OF CONNECTICUT CHESS MAGAZINE
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CHESS COLUMNS FROM THE PAST by Rob Roy
1977 - 2000, Rob Roy wrote 1,300 Waterbury Sunday Republican chess columns. The column helped his Waterbury Chess Club to become very successful.
Clerks at the newspaper office were the ones who re-typed hard-copy into the newspaper system, they made many typos with chess notation. All future editions of Connecticut Chess Magazine will feature a different column.
