July 15, 2001

Hi CalChess Scholastic Community:

A reminder that the entry w/o a late fee for the July 21st Weibel Scholastic Quads is Wednesday, July 18. An application can be downloaded from: http://www.kirshnerisms.com/SummerQuads01.html

These quads will have a chess bazaar. Jay Blem from National Games and Chess will be up from Southern California to sell all kinds of chess goodies (equipment & books). I will have the VAGABOND CHESS & CHECKERS SET (that is the carry bag with shoulder strap, heavy weighted tournament chess & checker pieces & board) for $40 & with the BHB clock for $80. Kathy Mac Lennan will have her Chess Mom and Dad mugs, her Chess Mom T-shirts and her carry bags available as well. Of course, a snack bar will again be available. So even if you are not intending to play, come by and get some food & check out the chess stuff.

I hope everyone had an opportunity to read the Summer 2001 copy of School Mates.  There was a great article, written by our CalChess Journal editor Frisco del Rosario on Doug Shaker's very successful Sojourner Truth (For Girls Only) Tournament last January. A few photographs by Kevin Batangan, a chess and photography student of Richard Shorman and an instructor for <http://www.SuccessChess.org>Success Chess School accompany the article.

I have obtained a bit more info on seven year old Steven Zierk's accomplishments at the World Open. He tied with two adult players for first place in the under 1400 section getting 7 1/2 points via 6 wins and 3 draws (no losses). He played 8 adults and one boy in his late teens. He split an $11,000 pot. That means he walked home with $3666.67. Not bad for a seven year old--probably just about equal to what his Dad spent to get him to the tournament. :0) When Micah, my son won money in adult tournaments--he started at about 9 or 10--I insisted he buy a trophy with the cash. That tells you how little he won. You can sure buy a lot of trophies with Steven's winnings. 

Steven wasn't alone last month in bringing a touch of glory to Northern California. Jacob Green, of Stockton, competed in Ohio at the Columbus Open Grand Prix last month. His mother Joanne--who has been expanding chess in Stockton & is teaching chess classes for kids at San Joaquin Delta College this summer told me that he played his heart out. Just about
everyone he was paired with was hundreds of points above his rating, yet he won his division. He also got the upset award and came home to Northern California $205 richer.

On another note, Jacob, last year, conceived of a Club for Kids in Stockton. Well, the 14 year old finally showed his Mom he was serious when he went and obtained his TD certificate. So, she has started a new chess club
for kids in the Greater Stockton Area. "The club," she reports, "is
not intended to take the place of teams in the schools, but rather, is offered to give kids a place to play, and to learn, the game of chess."

The volunteerism of the Green-Smiles family is simply one example of why scholastic chess is experience such dramatic growth in Northern California and the rest of the country.

I have not received a report from yesterday's Berkeley Chess School Quads. As soon as I do, I'll pass the news on.

Have any other scholastic chess news?--please send it to me at CalChessScholastics@kirshnerisms.com. 

Alan
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July 8, 2001

Hi Northern California Scholastic Community + friends in other parts of the world--
A reminder that the Berkeley Chess School Quads are coming on July 14 (Saturday). You can download an application in pdf format from:
http://www.kirshnerisms.com/Tournaments.html

While you are there you might want to check out the new look of the http://KidChess.go.cc page. I have also placed the photographs of recent tournaments at its own site: http://www.kirshnerisms.com/photographs.html

You can get there from Kid Chess. I posted the photographs that Richard Shorman & I took at the Hayward Library Scholastic Tournament on Friday, July 6. The results are also posted. I might note, that despite the tournament being on a Friday this year, we still had 80 players. The tournament is one of the few (if not the only) tournament that is open to all scholastic players without a charge. The library provided enough medals that I was able to give all those that tied for third, second and first medals. All players received certificates.

I received this exciting tidbit from Ken Thorne:
Dr. Kirshner,

June 9th and 10th I led a project at my school, Cesar
Chavez Middle School in Hayward, where we banded
volunteers, students and staff together to among a
host of other things, build three concrete chess
tables outside my classroom where the Chess club
meets on Thursday afternoons. 

As the designer of the tables exclaimed, "when the big
one hits , the only thing left will be cockroaches and
these tables."

The students are excited for Chess Club to resume in
September so that they can play once again on the
tables that they built.

Thank you for all you do. Regards, Kurt Thorne

With this kind of an incentive I expect you had better watch out for Cesar Chavez Middle School at the States next year. They may end Hopkins Junior High School's dominance of the Junior High section. Actually, that may end in any case. Fremont Unified has redistricted the Weibel Elementary students away from Hopkins and a good number of them will be moving to private schools in the Fall--ugly.

While I mentioned that the States will be in Monterey on April 6 & 7 in my last newsletter, I forgot to mention that the National Elementary School Championships will be in Portland, Oregon from April 26 through April 28. I hope Northern California will have a decent showing this year. So few of our players have attend any of the Nationals in the last few years.

One young man who has been making a name for himself in the national championship sections is Steven Zierk from Blossom Hill. He tied for second at this year's Super Nationals in K-3. Well, this seven year old is proving his
mettle once again as I write this. He is competing at the World Open and after 8 rounds he is tied for first in the under 1400 class--and that is with adults. Last year, I noted that he would likely follow in the footsteps of our recent greats--Jordy Mont-Reynaud & Vinay Bhat. Now, I think he may break their record of reaching Master by 10 1/2.

Earlier I wrote of the Berkeley Quads. I just learned that Kris Mac Lennan's mother (Kris is one of our top youth players and the scholastic representative to the CalChess Board) will be selling her coffee/tea mugs and tote bags at that tournament Saturday. I love them. Here is some further info on Kathy's project:

She has "Proud Chess Mom" mugs and tote bags and "Proud
Chess Dad" mugs. The mugs are 15 oz. flared cafe ceramic, microwave safe,
and are $14. The shoulder tote bags are made of 100% cotton and are $20.
The designs are printed on both sides of all her products. She will be
selling these at the next two Weibel Chess Quads as well. For more information, as well as how to order through the mail, go to her website at
www.geocities.com/proudchessmom.

Well, I think that is all I have for now--I'll keep you posted as soon as I receive more information on scholastics in Northern California.

Alan
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May 20, 2001

To the CalChess Scholastic Community and other interested (+ a few uninterested) parties:

Sorry for the delay in getting out my newsletter. Need I say that I have been busy with many other endeavors. This has not prevented me from posting photographs from the recent tournaments (CalChess States, Weibel Grade Level K-3, California Grade Level). You can view these from the links at http://KidChess.go.cc.

I would like to thank all of you who have sent me such beautiful thank you notes for keeping you updated. Your appreciation energizes my batteries.

Before I go any further, I want to remind everyone of the Charlotte Woods Quads in Danville next Saturday (May 26). Dr. Dennis Alfaro did a beautiful job with his first venture last year and I know next week will be even more efficient and exciting. You can go to the tournament listings from the above mentioned site or http://www.kirshnerisms.com/Tournaments.html

From this page you can download applications for Charlotte Woods and all the summer tournaments--and, we have a full schedule including my three Weibel Summer Quads.

At http://KidChess.go.cc you will also find a link to other summer programs in Berkeley, Fremont, Santa Clara, Cupertino, Stockton and Atherton. Mountain Lake Chess Camps has a week sleep in program outside of Sacramento.

I just posted the June Top 50 US Chess Federation age group players in Northern California. The USCF has expanded the list to Top 100. I did update the girls lists with the top 100, but decided to hold the open lists at 50 until I get a little more time to examine the lists carefully. Please forgive me if I left off your name. California is divided into two states and I am not always clear on who lives in Northern California--nor, do I remember all the names of scholastic players. :0) If I accidentally omitted your name, just drop me an e-mail and you can be sure it will appear in a day or so.

I have also updated our CalChess State Champions in both the individual and school team categories.

I still have nothing new to announce on the 2002 States. Organizers are still working on Monterey and Stockton in order to place a bid. I will, as always, get news to you as soon as I learn anything.

For a number of years I have bemoaned the lack of 8 and Under players on the USCF Top 50 list from Northern California, but that has changed. We had an explosion of new names this month on the 8 and Under Top 50 List. . William Connick (1263) is at 11. Ankita Roy (1171) is at 30. Alan Hwang (1153) at 33. Willie Wang (1134) at 37. Tatsuro Yamamura (1115) at 45. Davis Xu (1105) at 48 and Tau Jeng (1101) at 49. Ten and Under saw the addition of Ben Laufer (1383) at 28. Nicolas Yap (1599) is 43 on the 12 and Under list. Ankita Roy (8 years old at a rating of 1171) was added to the Girl's 13 and Under as was Kate Yaropolov (12 years old and 1087) at 32 and 50 place. Congratulations to all the newcomers and kudos to those of you from Northern California who continue to remain on these lists.

Northern California had a few players at Super Nationals II in Kansas City last month--very few. Steven Zierk seems to have placed the highest of our players in any of the championship divisions, taking eighth in the K-3 Open. A CalChess player whom I do not know but I understand is from the Peninsula, Robert Hsu, gets kudos for winning all seven games and tying for first in the K-3 U800 Division. Certainly, I will look forward to remembering his name as I search through future tournament results.

I have posted the results from the Weibel Grade Level Tournament, Kindergarten through Third Grade (April 7). We had 170 players. A very respectable number considering it was limited only to Primary School players. I must admit that the tournament went off too smoothly. I had too much help and people were standing around looking for something to do. No, I am not complaining. Rounds went off on time and we had loads of skittle areas to get away from the few rain drops that fell. Massive trophies were awarded to the top place finishers (check out the photos) and the trophies went down to tenth place with awards to any ties. All participants received special chess medals. I want to thank those who attended and most of all my adult and youth helpers.

The California Grade Level in Stockton on May 5 and 6, did not run quite as smoothly. This was not the fault of the North Stockton Rotary Club or the Chief TD John McCumiskey. The Stockton Unified School District pulled the tournament site from them at the last moment and they had to switch the meet to Lodi. Because of logistic problems, including waiting for people to locate the new site, the tournament was late getting started--one and a half hours late. About 250 players contested the 13 divisions. If ties occurred for first place, a blitz play-off for the top trophy occurred. The results are posted at my website, but here is the information from John Mc Cumiskey on the play-offs: "In Grade 7, Timothy Ma won the playoff; in Grade 11, the 4-way playoff ended up with the final standings of: 1st Place, Anthony Nguyen; 2nd Place, Kris MacLennan; 3rd Place, Mario Ramos; 4th Place, Peter Pascoal." Once again a big thank you to the North Stockton Rotary Club and their President, Dr. Bill Mc Donald, their tournament organizers Floyd Barnes and Scot Mc Bian, and all the rest of the Rotarians for their work and support for chess in Stockton and Northern California.

I can't resist wasting your time to tell you about one frightening incident, from my perspective, at this Cal Grade Level. Saturday seemed like an ideal day for me to volunteer my time in Stockton. My youngest son was scheduled to run that evening in a California High School Meet of Champions in Sacramento. As I was ready to leave to drive up to Sacramento I realized I had lent my Swiss Army knife with my keys attached to a woman to cut some tape earlier in the day. She apparently had left to do some shopping at Costco. Dr. Mc Donald popped me in his car and off we drove to Costco and found my keys. I got to my son's mile run with a few minutes to spare and no speeding ticket.

I received the results of the annual match between Argonaut in Saratoga and Blossom Hill in Los Gatos. Here they are--BLOSSOM HILL + DAVES (11.5) vs ARGONAUT (30.5)
ROUND 1
-------
W1. Steven Zierk (2nd) 1235Ac 1234 1-0 David Chock (5th)
1071
W2. Cory McDowell (3rd) 1239Ac 1138/8 0-1 Aaron Garg (4th)
1127


B3. Iris Kokish (D:5th) 1052Ac 946 1-0 Brian Tsai (4th)
885
B4. Ali Hashemian (5th) 1215Ac 796/15 1-0 Alison Wu (5th)
871


W5. Craig Wilmer (5th) 815/18 0-1 Jason Chang (4th)
870
W6. Mark Kokish (D:4th) 947Ac 782/22 1-0 Nathan Wang (5th)
822?


B7. Ryan McGee (4th) 1137Ac 750 1-0 Julianne Freeman
(5th) 770
B8. Jamie Eldredge (4th) 759/16 0-1 Eugene Tseng (5th)
779


W9. Amir Hashemian (3rd) 982Ac 903/10 0-1 Jessie Young (6th)
733
W10 Naseem Raad (5th) 917/6 0-1 Vincent Sheu (5th)
639


B11 Trey Miller (D:4th?) 936Ac unr 1-0 Michael Wu (5th)
645/11
B12 Chars Wagener (3rd) 760Ac 790/8 0-1 Sally Freeman (4th)
635


W13 Jan Van Bruggen (3rd) 834/8 0-1 Steven McLellan (4th)
613
W14 Charles Sun (3rd) 850Ac 734/5 0.5-0.5 Marvin Shu (5th)
915/5


B15 Lana Frankle (2nd) 788Ac 779 0-1 Steven Chang (3rd)
1007/5
B16 Rik Basu (2nd) 613/4 1-0 Chris Rea (4th)
660/11


W17 Taig McNulty (2nd) 695Ac 332/4 0-1 Nickesh Viswanathan
(6th) 611
W18 Campbell Brooks (1st) 717Ac 713/5 0-1 Tejas Mulye (4th)
589/14

B19 Tyler Shultz (4th) 767Ac 744/5 0-1 Dustin Chen (5th)
556/14
B20 Erik Eastland (3rd) unr 0-1 Rolland Wu (3rd)
1064/5


W21 Neema Akbarzadeh (1st) unr 0-1 Joseph Stevens (3rd)
770/5
<round 1 total:> 7.5-13.5
------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------

ROUND 2
-------
B1. Steven Zierk (2nd) 1235Ac 1234 1-0 Aaron Garg (4th)
1127
B2. Cory McDowell (3rd) 1239Ac 1138/8 0-1 David Chock (5th)
1071


W3. Iris Kokish (D:5th) 1052Ac 946 1-0 Alison Wu (5th)
871
W4. Ali Hashemian (5th) 1215Ac 796/15 0-1 Brian Tsai (4th)
885


B5. Craig Wilmer (5th) 815/18 0-1 Nathan Wang (5th)
822?
B6. Mark Kokish (D:4th) 947Ac 782/22 0.5-0.5 Jason Chang (4th)
870


W7. Ryan McGee (4th) 1137Ac 750 0.5-0.5 Eugene Tseng (5th)
779
W8. Jamie Eldredge (4th) 759/16 0-1 Julianne Freeman
(5th) 770


B9. Amir Hashemian (3rd) 982Ac 903/10 0-1 Vincent Sheu (5th)
639
B10 Naseem Raad (5th) 917/6 0-1 Jessie Young (6th)
733


W11 Trey Miller (D:4th?) 936Ac unr 0-1 Sally Freeman (4th)
635
W12 Chars Wagener (3rd) 760Ac 790/8 0-1 Michael Wu (5th)
645/11


B13 Jan Van Bruggen (3rd) 834/8 0-1 Marvin Shu (5th)
915/5
B14 Charles Sun (3rd) 850Ac 734/5 1-0 Steven McLellan (4th)
613


W15 Lana Frankle (2nd) 788Ac 779 0-1 Chris Rea (4th)
660/11
W16 Rik Basu (2nd) 613/4 0-1 Steven Chang (3rd)
1007/5

B17 Taig McNulty (2nd) 695Ac 332/4 0-1 Tejas Mulye (4th)
589/14
B18 Campbell Brooks (1st) 717Ac 713/5 0-1 Nickesh Viswanathan
(6th) 611


W19 Tyler Shultz (4th) 767Ac 744/5 0-1 Rolland Wu (3rd)
1064/5
W20 Erik Eastland (3rd) unr 0-1 Dustin Chen (5th)
556/14


B21 Neema Akbarzadeh (1st) unr 0-1 Alex Liu (5th)
457
<round 2 total:> 4-17
<overall total:> 11.5-30.5

Thank you Jon Frankle and Stayton Chock for your results.

My usual disclaimer: Please forgive me if you received this newsletter a few times. I keep a few lists.
Removal: If you believe you have received this newsletter in error or wish to be removed from my mailing list, please reply and write remove in the subject heading.

Thank you,
Alan

February 25, 2001

Grand Master Maurice Ashley at Chess Fess 2001

Chuck Windsor retired from his job as a hospital administrator a few years ago and decided to volunteer to teach chess at his grandchildren's elementary school. In three years he has expanded his volunteer efforts to eight schools in Oakland and San Leandro. To avoid having his students have to play each other at the various tournaments they attend the name "Windsor East Bay Chess Club" was born. Last December he received an unexpected Christmas gift from his son-in-law, Larry Hill--Grand Master Maurice Ashley. Larry had made arrangements to bring the first U.S. International Grand Master of African descent to the Bay Area from Brooklyn, New York to celebrate Black History Month. An Oakland Councilman made arrangements for the auditorium at the PeopleSoft Center for Science and Environmental Education at the Knowland Park Zoo. GM Ashley was to meet with the Windsor Club on Friday night, February 23 and on Saturday, February 24 from 10 AM to 3 PM, the "Chess Fess" would be open to the public. Chuck Windsor was thrilled when Dr. Collette McGruder, educator, expert on cognitive learning, and Region XI Women's Chess Champion asked him if she could come up from Los Angeles, at her own expense, to participate in the festivities.

I had the pleasure of attending the event and was pleased to validate my impressions of GM Maurice Ashley as a dynamic person who relates beautifully to children and adults alike. I told my Weibel students that I felt he was the best spokesman for chess in the United States. Now, that I have met him, listened to him and watched him, I would expand that statement to all the English-speaking world.

I received in this morning's e-mail a summary with impressions of the event + a copy of the blindfold game that Grand Master Ashley played against the Windsor East Bay Club players. Henry Vinerts, expert chess player, retired engineer, champion badminton player and Weibel chess instructor is the author:

Here is a quickie about today's show at the Zoo, mainly about the blindfold game. If the rest is of any interest, use it as you wish to let the rest of the chess community in on the current happenings. As I understood, cable TV channel 38 will have a report at 7 P.M. next Saturday; channel 27 may have one tonight, but I did not catch the time. My report comes as an attached file in plain ASCII.
Cheers,
Henry

The Lion in the Oakland Zoo

(A short report on "Chess Fess 2001" or Maurice Ashley's visit
with Chuck Windsor's chess kids in Oakland on February 24th,
2001.)

It was about 10 A.M. on a rainy day in the Knowland Park Zoo in Oakland. Chuck Windsor had brought a number of "scholars," I would guess, from kindergarten to 7th grade, who attend his chess school in Oakland. Maurice Ashley had come all the way across the country
to show the kids some grandmaster chess. Of course, the parents and the coaches, the photographers, and even some chess dignitaries, like Dr. Colette McGruder and Dr. Alan Kirshner, were there to provide the audience for the contests of the young scholars against Maurice.

It was a bit of late start, because of a slight "technical
difficulty," according to Larry Hill, the M.C. The laptop that was
going to show on a projected screen GM Ashley's blindfold game
against a selected team of Windsor's chess school did not survive
a drop test, but a second one was substituted in due time and we
could start following the game on a program by Hoyle. By sleight
of hand, Chuck managed to get the white pieces for the kids, and
the computer then showed that the black pieces were to be handled
by a lyon. And the Lyon had to sit blindfolded on a chair and wait
for moves from the kids, who were allowed to consult among
themselves.

A deal was struck at the beginning that, if GM Ashley did not win
in 35 moves, the kids could claim a draw, or else they would need
to go only 10 more moves within which Mr. Ashley would have to
checkmate them, or he would have to resign the game.

This is how the game went:

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Bf5 4.Bf4 e6 5.e3 Bb4 6.Qd2 Ne4
7.Qd1 Nxc3 8.Qd2 Nxa2 9.c3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Bd6 11.Be2 0-0
12.Bd3 Bxd3 13.Qxd3 Bxf4 14.exf4 Nd7 15.0-0 c6 16.Ng5 Nf6
17,f5 exf5 18.Qxf5 Re8 19.Rfe1 Qa5 20.Rxe8+ Rxe8 21.Rf1 Qxc3
22.h3 a5 23.Rb1 b5 24.Kh2 a4 25.Qf4 h6 26.Nf3 a3 27.Rc1 Qb2
28.Rxc6 a2 29.Rxf6 (long think here) gxf6 30.Qg3+ Kh8 31.Nh4
Qc1 32.Qg4 a1=Q 33.Nf5 Rg8 34.Kg3 Rxg4 35.hxg4,

and the yell "Draw!" was heard by all. Well, a grandmaster also knows how to
entice the opponent into false hopes of winning... After a bit of
discussion and voting, the Windsor kids decided to forgo the draw
and gamble on hanging in for 10 more moves. A bird in hand is
worth...? Anyway, it went on:

35. ...Qac3+ 36.f3 Q3e1+ 37.Kh3
Qf4 38.Ng3, and, I believe, GM Ashley decided to let the new Queen do the honors, Qexg3++.

After lunch the Lyon took on 20 players, simultananeously, graciously granting colors according to individual wishes. As some games finished early, he let more opponents into the contest. Nevertheless, after about 2 hours the score stood at 26 for GM Ashley, 0 for all the hopefuls. There were a few tears of defeat. I noticed one contestant innocently castling long with king to b8 and rook to c8, only to have Mr. Ashley pick up the illegality on his third passing. Hardly anyone resigned earlier than one move before checkmate. Anyway, as the games went, no one even came close to a draw.

There was not much time left for questions and answers, but the main question about whether we could expect Grandmaster Ashley to return again next year was answered affirmatively. That is great, because it is a blessing to kids and adults alike to be able to observe and to be inspired by masters in any constructive endeavor.

Henry

A few photographs taken by yours truly--Alan--follow. You can view enlargements of each by clicking on the small image.

2001 Sacramento Elementary School Championship
by John P McCumiskey

James R. Cowan Fundamental School hosted the 2001 Sacramento Elementary School Championship and January High School Scholastic on January 27. Tournament Director John McCumiskey reported that participants came from as far away as Pacific Grove, Merced, and Biggs.

With 173 players in four sections, the turnout was the largest ever for a chess tournament held in Sacramento. The largest section was Grades 4-6 with 77 players.

Volunteers from Cowan ran concessions during the event to raise money for the Cowan Chess Club. John Denton, a retired Disney artist, personal drew caricatures and donated the proceeds to the Cowan Chess Club.

Many thanks to the tournament staff of Steve Bickford, Chuck Coleman, Don Copeland, and Cain and Debbie Garrett. The next scholastic event will be May 19th. Check the Sacramento City Chess Club website at http://www.lanset.com/jmclmc/default.htm in March for details.

Trophy Winners, Grades K-3
1st Place Jacob Hall, 5.0 points
2nd Place Graham McDaniel, 4.0 points
3rd Place Louis DePello, 4.0 points
4th Place Anna DePello, 4.0 points
5th Place Yuki Siegrist, 3.5 points
6th Place Karl Kummerle, 3.5 points
7th Place Ricky Bunch, 3.5 points
8th Place Vikram Kudva, 3.5 points
9th Place Riley Brian, 3.5 points
10th Place Matthew Bower, 3.5 points
11th Place Brandon Brown, 3.0 points
12th Place Chinmai Raman, 3.0 points

1st Place Team, North Davis Elementary, 13.5 points
2nd Place Team, Cowan Fundamental School, 11 points
3rd Place Team, Cesar Chavez Elementary, 8 points

Trophy Winners, Grades 4-6
1st Place Dachi Siegrist, 4.5 points
2nd Place Tyler Wilken, 4.5 points
3rd Place Tyler Woodruff, 4.5 points
4th Place Shiloh Rainwater, 4.5 points
5th Place Jeremy Tempkin, 4.0 points
6th Place Anyon Harrington, 4.0 points
7th Place Rebecca Chao, 4.0 points
8th Place Niles Tanner, 4.0 points
9th Place Brandon Zeman, 4.0 points
10th Place Chris Bannister, 4.0 points
11th Place Brent Walton, 4.0 points
12th Place Pamela Saeturn, 4.0 points
13th Place Ashley Bixler, 4.0 points
14th Place Tyler Riggs, 4.0 points
15th Place Chris Prochaska, 3.5 points
16th Place Kyle Baxter, 3.5 points
17th Place Kevin Mani, 3.0 points
Siegrist won a four-way playoff.

1st Place Team, Biggs Elementary School, 16 points
2nd Place Team, Cowan Fundamental School, 13.5 points
3rd Place Team, North Davis Elementary, 12.5 points

Trophy Winners, Grades 7-8
1st Place David Rivera, 5.0 points
2nd Place Stephan Goupille, 5.0 points
3rd Place Chris Saeturn, 4.0 points
4th Place T C Bradford, 4.0 points
5th Place Jorge Arellano, 4.0 points
6th Place Luke Thornton, 4.0 points
7th Place Christopher Mendieta, 4.0 points
8th Place Connor Rath, 4.0 points
9th Place Ben Baltazar, 3.5 points
10th Place Brian Page, 3.0 points
11th Place Sylvia Gutierrez, 3.0 points
12th Place Donald Singleton, 3.0 points
Rivera won a playoff with Goupille.

1st Place Team, Biggs Middle School, 17 points
2nd Place Team, Arden Middle School, 8 points
3rd Place Team, Arcade Middle School, 6.5 points

Trophy winners, Grades 9-12
1st Place Eduardo Corona, 4.5 points
2nd Place Erin Harrington, 4.0 points
3rd Place Benjamin Tejes, 4.0 points
4th Place William Terry, 4.0 points
5th Place John Van, 4.0 points
6th Place Joshua Prochaska-Saglio, 4.0 pts
7th Place Michael Kennedy, 3.5 points
8th Place Peter Pascoal, 3.0 points
9th Place Nicholas Robinson, 3.0 points
10th Place Nikhil Chand, 3.0 points
11th Place Monica Ceballos, 3.0 points
12th Place Nai Saeturn, 3.0 points

1st Place Team, Biggs High School, 14 points
2nd Place Team, Luther Burbank, 13 points
3rd Place Team, New Hope Charter School, 10 points

From Stockton

Scot C. McBrian" <scmcbrian@caltel>

We just finished the SUSD grades 7-12 tournament. Hopefully Don Lindsley can email the results to you. The Children's Home is having an Invitational for grades 7 to 12. It is not open because we can't handle over 90 kids. Jenny Lind Elementary is hosting an Open Regional Invitational on Saturday, March 24, grades K to 8. This is open but I will cut registration at 140 unless I can get a TD to show up with a little more experience than my own... So please publicize this and have them email me... pretty please... It is our first in the hills with Calaveras Unified's support. We are about 25 miles East of Stockton up in the foothills. No entry fees. I'll try to get someone in the district to get the flyer on a web page. None of these is USCF rated but they will lead to that goal. The Rotary is sponsoring these events. Thanks. Stay in touch.

Success Succeeds Against Berkeley
By Alan M. Kirshner, Ph.D. (This article was written for publication in the CalChess Journal)

On Sunday, February 4, the Seventh Annual Knights vs. Bishops Competition occurred at the Hillside School in Berkeley. For the first five years of this match, the Weibel Elementary School (the Knights) fought the Berkeley Chess School Bishops. Both teams usually selected their 30 + best players and each played an opponent as white and black with 45 minute time controls. The first two matches went to Weibel and then Berkeley won three in a row. Since the Berkeley Bishops draws from over 90 elementary schools, last year I decided to add a few players from my Wisdom Chess Club also in Fremont. That match, held at Weibel, contested 34 boards with a run away victory for the Knights.

The previous three years I joked in my articles in this journal that Bishops seemed stronger in theses open end games. Berkeley kept coming back from a first round defeat to win in the second round and take the match by a coupler of points. Elizabeth Shaughnessy, the Director of the Berkeley Chess School reduced the number of players to 25. I am not sure if that was to open up the diagonals on her home board. Well, I was a bit disappointed as this year I had expanded my program to eight schools and that meant many fine players would be denied the chance to compete. Actually, only three of the Success Chess School (as I have named the program) groups participated: Weibel, Wisdom and Argonaut Elementary School.

Both Elizabeth and I run a pre-tournament to select our teams and their board positions. I am constantly amazed at the placement of my players determined by the invitational tournament. The Knights have had low rated (some 500 points lower) players at the top boards for the last two years. Yet, they have accorded themselves quite well. I know that if our players would attend adult tournaments as a number of the Bishops do, they would have corresponding ratings.

The Knights entered the first round with their usual exuberance. We pulled 4 points ahead. During half time, I tried to keep their enthusiasm going. Elizabeth has a wonderful way of motivating her players during the break. I know that a few years ago she threatened to leave her players in Fremont. I am sure the threat of leaving Berkeley children in Fremont spurred her team on to a win. This year, the famous Irish gift of gap must have arisen (Elizabeth Shaughnessy is a native of Ireland and former Irish Women’s Chess Champion). She spent over half an hour with her players. I tried to rev mine up. I ran out of words and jokes in five minutes. My players wanted to start their clocks, but we had not set a time to begin round two. I am sure Elizabeth, despite the fears of some of my parents, was not intentionally trying to weaken the Knights ability to jump over her children. I do know, as she let it slip to me later, that one thing she told her players was that if they didn’t come back for a win, I would broadcast their loss all over the internet, embarrassing them all. Well, who am I to make her a liar?

The final round went for the Bishops, but they could not stop our Knights from mating enough of their Kings to irk out a victory 26 to 24. Therefore, in the seventh year of the competition, the Knights, now from Success Chess School, are one match up. The Berkeley Chess School Bishops will be plotting their revenge for next year. However, in 2002, we meet on the Weibel turf and I think the Knights do better on turf then Bishops. *
*RESULTS:

Board #(first name is Berkeley Bishops & second name is Success Knights)

#1 Daichi Siegrist (1532) v Kyle Hui (786) 2-0

#2 Ewelina Krubnik (1311) v Mihir Pendse (915) 1-1

#3 Gabe Gordon (1094) v Kimberly Anonuevo (777) 2-0

#4 Kevin Walters (1028) v Sharon Tseung (1073) 1/2-1 1/2

#5 Brian Aller (920) v Kevin Hwa (846) 2-0

#6 Ahmad Moghadam (1009) v Eric Wei (905) 1-1

#7 Aviv Adler (869) v Tau Jeng (851) 2-0

#8 Corey Chang (111) v Ryan Ko (1012) 2-0

#9 Jiaao Chen (829) v Charles Fang (1099) 1/2 - 1 1/2

#10 Emilia Krubnik (690) v Brian Tsui (922) 0-2

#11 Philip Jouriles (1103) v Edward Chien (1147) 1-1

#12 Jake Holtz (364/7) v David Chock (977) 0-2

#13 Vincent Andrade (762) v Wesley Rou 1/2 v 1 1/2

#14 Robert Connick (942) v Tommy Liu (832) 1 1/2 - 1/2

#15 Mahnoosh Moghadam (690) v Alvin Cheng (835) 1-1

#16 Andrew Yun (757) v Samuel Shih (672) 1-1

#17 William Connick (906) v Rahul Subramaniam (995) 0-2

#18 Yuki Siegrist (717) v Daniel Tien (1053) 0-2

#19 Steven Lee (719) v Aaron Garg (804) 0-2

#20 Taylor Jang (693) v Derek Lin (803) 0-2

#21 Noah Zachary (996) v Brian Chao (864) 1-1

#22 Saya Wallace (602) V Brian Lin (818) 0-2

#23 Jamie Irvine (882) v Dylan McCarty (562) 2-0

#24 Bei He (New) v Alison Wu (819) 2-0

#25 Joey Shemuel (700) v Teddy Hanson (644) 0-2

A few photographs from the match:

Corey Chang (Bishops)	Kimberly Anonuevo (Knights)
Mahnoosh Moghadam (Bishops)	Ryno Ko (Knights)
Mihir Pendse (Knights)	BrBBBBrian Chao (Knights)

The Young People's Tournament, February 19, 2001

PARTIAL RESULTS:

Kindergarten through Third Grade (30 players)

Overall winners were--

1st William Connick (935) 5-0

2nd Yuki Siegrist (733) 4-1

3rd Emilia Krubnik (703) 4-1

1st Third Grade Alvin Cheng (825) 4-1

1st Second Grade Dustin Rudiger (839) 3.5-1.5

1st First Grade Connor Carrejo (355) 3-2

1st Kindergarten Sid Akkiraju (Unr) 3-2

A Kirshner photograph of the winners minus Sid Akkiraku:

Fourth Through Sixth Grade (27 players)

Overall

1st Ahmad Moghadam (979) 4.5-.5

2nd Kevin Walters (1105) 4-1

3rd Brian Aller (893) 4-1

1st Sixth Grade Lucien Kahn (856) 4-1

1st Fifth Grade Carrie Ho (881) 3-2

1st Fourth Grade Corey Chang (1062) 4-1

Photograph of the winner by Shorman:

Seventh through Twelfth Grade ( 21 players)

The Overall Winners

1st Benjamin Tejes (1421) 5-0

2nd Aaron Wilkowski (1249) 4-1

3rd Tyson Mao (1207) 4-1

1st Twelfth Grade Jason Hanlon (895) 3-2

1st Eleventh Grade Glen Gee (1150) 3-2

1st 8th Grade Justin Kreibich (916) 3-2

1st 7th Grade Keith Schwarz (790) 3-2

Photograph of HS & Jr. HS winners by Kirshner.

Steven Zierk Makes Under-8 Top 50 List

Congratulations to Steven Zierk. The USCF finally rated most of his games and the 7 year old becomes Northern California's newest addition to the Top 50 lists. He is number 14 with an 1130 rating on the 8 and Under List--a great beginning.

I'll see most of you at the State Championships next weekend and until next months newsletter, I remain

Alan

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