Results of 2008
Stamnov wins December Double Blitz
December Double Blitz -- By Andrea Rosen
Aleksandar Stamnov
Ronald Washington
Eric Rosen
FM Aleksandar Stamnov won undisputed first place scoring 10.5/12. Ron Washington and Eric Rosen tied for second with 8.0/12 each.
We were happy to welcome Tim Donnahue, Dimitri Sergatskov, Sam Schmakel, and Richard Lewis--all first time players at Evanston Chess. Hope you enjoyed the day and will come again.
Six rounds,
Two games per round
1 Stamnov, A 2207 10½
2 Washington, R 1931 8
3 Rosen, E 1863 8
4 Donnahue, T 1751 7½
5 Pullin, M 1942 7
6 Braswell, I 2012 6½
7 Jutovsky, M 1852 6
8 Sergatskov, D nnnn 5½
9 Schmakel, S 1791 5
10 Leroy, D 1643 5
11 Engelen, M 1629 5
12 Lewis, R 1341 4½
13 Karalis, P 1231 4½
14 Wishner, M 1295 2
15 Potratz, B 1230 0
Posted by Tom Dec 27, 2008
Game From NU v EC Match
Matt Pullin
Matt Pullin has annotated his game against Andrew Solomon. As always, well worth your time. This one has some good examples of handling the opposition. Look on the left under Games or click Pullin-Solomon. Thanks Matt!
Posted by Tom Dec 18, 2008
Nothwestern 3.5 -- Evanston Chess 2.5
Board 2: Glenn Panner vs James Smallwood
More Photographs (We have all six boards now.)
Youtube by Andrea Rosen
Two chess clubs in one suburb? A team match was inevitable. Northwestern
University Chess Club president Jim Smallwood contacted Evanston Chess Club
to set something up, and six boards' worth of players faced off on Tuesday,
December 2 at NU's Norris Center for one unrated round of G/55, delay 5.
The
competition was tough, the games ran long - one move took 35 minutes - and
NU prevailed with a score of 3.5 to 2.5. Even so, it's a coup for our ECC
regulars and friends to play that well against a team that's undefeated in
the Chicago Industrial Chess League.
Evanston Chess Northwester University Eric Rosen 2109 W 1-0 B Ankur Bakshi 2047 Glenn Panner 2105 B 0-1 W James Smallwood 1909 Matt Pullin 2008 W ½-½ B Andrew Solomon 1837 Mark Jutovsky 1927 B 1-0 W Garrett Ullom 1831 Jiri Kabelac 1757 W 0-1 B Ben Wang 1777 Daniel Leroy 1558 B 0-1 W Seva Rodnyasnsky 1731
Thanks to all the players, we appreciate your skill and dedication to the game. Games will be posted soon.
Photographs by Adrea Rosen and Carley Lake.
Posted by Maret Dec 4, 2008
Pasalic Awarded IM Title
IM Mehmed Pasalic in his recent simul at Evanston Chess.
Mehmed Pasalic has been awarded his International Master title by FIDE. All the players at Evanston Chess offer him our sincere congratulations. Thanks too to Sevan Muradian of North American Chess who gave us the news.
Posted by Tom Dec 2, 2008
Four Tie for First in Evanston November Rapid
Isaac Braswell
Bill Brock
James Smallwood
Saagar Gupta
Isaac Braswell, Bill Brock, James Smallwood and Saagar Gupta scored four wins and one loss each. Brock lost in the second round to Josh Fazekas; but then he won the rest of his games including his fifth round game against Smallwood. Gupta also lost in the third round, his opponent was Smallwood. Braswell lost in the fourth round to Smallwood, and Smallwood lost in the fith round to Brock.
It was a hard fought competition with no draws on the top boards and only two in all fifty-three games. Crosstable
Josh Fazekas (in blue) vs Bill Brock and Isaac Braswell (in white) vs Dan Leroy. James Wei in lower right.
Kevin McAuley
Posted by Tom Nov 16, 2008
Evanston October Sixty Draws Thirty-Five Players
Sonya Vohra, Michal Goliszek, Yakov Lazebnik and Aleksandar Stamnov watch (left to right). Paul Gafni plays Arnulfo Benesa (foreground). Mark Jutovsky plays Conrad Oberhaus (background). Third round of the October Sixty.
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| Mark Jutovsky |
Michal Goliszek |
Aleksandar Stamnov |
Stamnov, Jutovsky and Goliszek Tie for First in 1600+ Section
FM Aleksandar Stamnov and Mark Jutovsky drew in the first round and then went on to beat all their opponents. Michal Goliszek took a half point bye in the first round and then won two. All three finished with 2.5 out of 3. Crosstable
Adele Padgett
Padgett Sweeps CDEF Section
Adele Padgett swept the lower section going undefeated in three rounds. Michael Matek and Haoyang Yu tied for second with 2.5 points each. Crosstable
Some of you may have noticed that Padgett also won the D Section of the 17th Midwest Class this month. It seems she has had a successful October. Well done Padgett!
At thirty-five players, we didn't just beat our old record of twenty-six, we smashed it. We had far too many for our usual tournament room, so we threw everyone out of the skittles room and converted it into another tournament room. Wow!
It was hectic getting started, but then the day went very well indeed. What a great day for chess in Evanston! Our thanks to everyone for their help and patience.
Posted by Tom Oct 26, 2008
Illinois Chess Association has New Domain Name
If you have tried recently to log into the ICA at their old URL, http://ilchess.org/, you were undoubtably shocked to see an advertising page instead of the usual blue-green home page. Obviously, somebody slipped.
The good news is that ICA is up and working as well as ever at http://il-chess.org/. Our links over on the right have been updated and you can still find our tournaments listed on their Events page.
Posted by Tom Oct 22, 2008
Karklins, 93, wins Expert Section of Midwest Class
Evanston Chess congratulates Eric Karklins, 93 years young, on winning the expert section of the October 2008 Midwest Class Championships. Karklins tied with Kevin Fyr and Robert Loncarevic, all three scored four points in five games.
Well done Mr. Karklins, you give us all hope.
Crosstable
Photograph
Posted by Tom Oct 15, 2008
How do You Rate?
There were 93,707 players with regular ratings in the USCF's 2007 rating report. The median player was rated 657. More than 70% were rated below 1000.
For a the complete analysis take a look at the attached Histogram.
Posted by Tom Oct 7, 2008
Schach Bundesliga 2008-2009 Season Begins
Sixteen German Cities compete in a round robin team tournament that runs from October 2008 through April 2009. Top level GM's Anand, Ivanchuck, Carlson, and more play for the various teams. The games are web cast live on http://www.schachbundesliga.de/
Posted by Tom Oct 3, 2008
Pasalic Scores 10-1-1 in Simul
IM Elect Mehmed Pasalic scored ten wins, one draw, and one loss last night while playing twelve members of Evanston Chess. The entire simul took two hours giving IM Pasalic less than fifteen seconds per move. His feat was quite impressive when you consider that his oponents ranged from mid-range club through expert levels.
Matt Pullin scored the only win and Mark Jutovsky escaped with a hard fough draw. The remaining players were Robert Ballmer, Chris Christmas, Michal Goliszek, Tim Grassel, Dan Leroy, Dan Leuthner, Michael Matek, Bruce Potratz, Tom Sprandel and Michael Wishner,
Great fun was had by all! Our thanks to IM Pasalc.
Pasalic standing, seated front to back: Pullin, Jutovsky, Goliszek, Leroy, Matek and Wishner
Potography by Maret Thorpe
Posted by Tom Sept 24, 2008
Edmond Bunton
Charles Whipple
Bunton and Whipple win September BiLevel
Edmund Bunton scored 3.5 out of 4 for uncontested first place
in the BAEM section of the BiLevel. Jiri Kabelac scored 3.0
for second place.
Charles Whipple won clear first in the CDEF section with 3.5 out of 4; while Tony Christian scored 3.0 for second.
The two section format worked well. Swiss pairings in a small tournament can give some drastic mismatches in the first round. The two section format minimizes that and gives the players one more game against well matched competitors.
Crosstable
BiLevel Tournament -- September 2008
National Master Arnulfo Benesa playing Conrad Oberhaus. Charles Whipple vs Victoria Bian. Also shown is William Deer.
Posted by Tom Sept 21, 2008
David Franklin
Franklin wins August Blitz
David Franklin won a clear first Tuesday night with 5.0 out of 6. Mark Jutovsky came in second with 4.5, while Eric Rosen and Michael Auger tied for third with 4.0 each.
The G/3 +d3 format continues to work well. Your reporter likes the way it puts a bit more emphasis on endgames. Also, we had twenty-five minutes after six rounds for analysis and skittles. Crosstable
Posted by Tom Aug 19, 2008
Isaac Braswell
Matt Pullin
Chad Beasley
Braswell, Pullin & Beasley win Evanston Sixty
Isaac Braswell, Matt Pullin and Chad Beasley all scored 3.0/3.0 to tie for first. It would have been great to see Braswell and Pullin play for the win.
Congratulations to Chad Beasley for a fine performance in his first USCF rated tournament; we look forward to seeing more of his games.
The tournament format was three rounds Game/60 and we had a huge turnout. We used accelerated pairings, but still needed more rounds. Next time we will consider splitting the field into two or more sections. Crosstable
Posted by Tom Aug 9, 2008
Jon Burgess
Burgess and Rosen win July Blitz
Jon Burgess and Eric Rosen each scored 5.5 out of 6 to tie for first in the July Blitz. Ilan Meerovich had sole possesion of third place with 4.0. Crosstable
Eric Rosen
We departed from the traditional five minute sudden death format to try three minutes with a three second delay. This format eliminates the "inufficient winning chances" rules which can be controversial. The players seemed happy, tell us how you feel about it.
Posted by Tom Aug 6, 2008
Michael Auger
Auger wins Evanston Rapid
Michael Auger went five out of five to take a clear first place. Eric Rosen and Robby Hecht tied for second with four out of five each. Crosstable
Arnulfo Benesa
NM Arnulfo Benesa made his first appearance in tournament play since his recent illness. All of us at Evanston Chess wish him a continued recovery.
You might like to visit Mr. Benesa's personal website and see his oil paintings of chess masters.
The tournament was played with a game 29 time control, affecting Quick ratings only. The format continues to be popular, allowing something more thoughtful than blitz, yet still quite quick.
Posted by Tom July 13, 2008
Jordan Cohen
Parnaby & Cohen win Evanston Slo Mo
Mark Parnaby and Jordan Cohen tied for first with 2.5/3.0 each. Parnaby upset A player Mark Jutovsky in the first round and Cohen upset Expert player Fred Allsbrook in the third. Crosstable
The tournament was played with a game 90 time control, our slowest to date. Turnout was good, with fournteen players, but most took at least one bye.
We want to keep some of these longer time controls in our tournament mix, but scheduling multi day events is a challenge.
Posted by Tom June 9, 2008
Mack Smith Wins Evanston Economy Open
Mack (Milton) Smith won three games and drew one for uncontested first place. Congratulations Mack! Crosstable
The tournament, which had had only ten advance entries, drew twenty-six players. The playing room had just enough space, nobody was turned away. Maret Thorpe, chief TD, said that she would have moved additional tournament boards into the skittles room had more people entered. "We are in no danger of having to turn people away", said Maret.
Posted by Tom May 18, 2008
Alexander Stamnov
Alexander Stamnov Wins the Evanston Quick
FM Alexander Stamnov went 5-0 in the Evanston Quick, demonstrating his master's skills to defeat several strong club players. The Game/29 format remains popular. You can play five reasonably well thought out games in a day and not worry about your regular rating.
Posted by Tom March 16, 2008
Mack Smith Wins Evanston Economy Open
Mack (Milton) Smith won three games and drew one for uncontested first place. Congratulations Mack! Cross Table
The tournament, which had had only ten advance entries, drew twenty-six players. The playing room had just enough space, nobody was turned away. Maret Thorpe, chief TD, said that she would have moved additional tournament boards into the skittles room had more people entered. "We are in no danger of having to turn people away", said Maret.
Posted by Tom May 18, 2008
Bill Brock
No Clear Winner in Evanston Abbreviated
Bill Brock, Ranadip Bose and Dan Leroy all shared the honors in yesterday's 3SS G/40
Evanston Abbreviated. With
only three rounds and twenty entries there was no clear winner.
Ranadip Bose
Brock went undefeated, but had a bye in the first round. Bose (unrated) had a great tournament with two wins and a draw. Bose played on his school's chess team in India, but had never been rated. He will be now. Leroy also scored 2.5 with an upset victory over Milton Smith in the first round.
Dan Leroy
The "accelerated" pairing system was used. It reduces the number of games with large rating point differences, but with twenty entries and only three rounds, it wasn't quite enough to give us a clear winner. It would have been fun to have one more "last" round.
Ron Washington
Evanston Chess was happy to welcome Ron Washington, legendary North Avenue Beach Expert, to his first rated game since the 2006 US Open. Ron suffered a second round loss to Matt Pullin, a rising A player, but otherwise went undefeated. Ron seemed to enjoy the day anyway and we hope he'll return.
Posted by Tom April 20, 2008
Alexander Stamnov
Alexander Stamnov Wins the Evanston Quick
FM Alexander Stamnov went 5-0 in the Evanston Quick, demonstrating his master's skills to defeat several strong club players. The Game/29 format remains popular. You can play five reasonably well thought out games in a day and not worry about your regular rating.
Posted by Tom March 16, 2008
Matt Pullin
Matt Pullin wins the Evanston Bi-Level
Matt went 3-0 in the Adult Open section of our February 2008 tournament. We'll have one of his games up soon.
Brad Rosen and Chad Hirsch drew the final game and tied for first in the Over/Under section.
Congratulations to all!
Posted by Tom Feb 20, 2008
Mark Jutovsky
Jutovsky Sweeps EEO5
Mark Jutovsky continued his fine performances with another 4-0 sweep. We're hoping to have one of his games soon.
Cyrill Oseledets, Paul Duncan, and Noah Liberman tied for second with 3-1 scores. Changqi Li, father of Linda Li, racked up his first ever USCF points winning one and drawing one. I guess that proves it's more fun to play than to hang around in the skittles room!
The full crosstable is availabel on the USCF.
Posted by Tom Jan 26, 2008