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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Catching Up/Chess Femme News!

It's been a hectic weekend.  I'm still working on the family tree I intend as a gift for a friend on November 17th - I keep running into new family members and have spent an inordinate amount of time running down dead-ends in an attempt to push branches of the tree back further in time.  Anyway, bear with me! 

I was outside most of yesterday when I wasn't working on the aforesaid family tree, cleaning up the mess that the Great Midwest Cyclone of 2010 left behind, plus putting the front lawn to sleep for the winter (although I need to do one final weed/feed).  Wouldn't you know it, just a few hours after I toiled to have a pristine lawn, leaf free, the winds picked up out of the northwest as a cold front blew through, plunging the temperatures below freezing overnight, and today there is a new crop of leaves all over my front yard.  Sigh.

Today I concentrated on cleaning up the disaster area that is my backyard, but first I had to cook because the ladies of the investment club had our meeting today and in honor of the Holiday Halloween I hosted breakfast.  I have to say it turned out well.  The breakfast casserole I made took longer to cook than anticipated because of the fresh mushrooms I included at the spur of the moment in the recipe (they added liquid that had to bake off), so while it was taking extra time to finish in the oven we feasted on toast, bacon, sausages, and fresh fruit along with fresh OJ and coffee.  Eventually the casserole was done and it was pronounced delicious.  Well, what can go wrong with eggs, bread, milk, cheese, mushrooms and red and green diced peppers?  The prep took longer than I thought it would (it always does) and I had to bake it longer than usual but, really, a very easy recipe.  As a special treat we had pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  Yum!  I think, however, the house is going to smell like maple bacon for the next week!

As you know, the SPICE Cup is currently happening at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.  Right now, the young GM Wesley So from the Philippines is in first place in the SPICE Cup A Group, with 7.0 points after 3 rounds (a win scores 3 points, a draw one point, and zero for a loss).  In the B Group, IM Irina Krush is trying for an elusive GM norm.  Currently, she is in shared 7-9th places with GM Ben Finegold and rising talent Darwin Yang with 1.0.  The SPICE Cup is being covered at several on-line chess news websites, including GM Susan Polgar's own blog (for most current reports), Chessdom, The Week in Chess, etc.

The Cap d'Agde Masters (Trophee) concluded today, won by GM Vassily Ivanchuk, who seems to just improve with age, like a fine wine :)  GM Judit Polgar was the only chess femme to survive the preliminary rounds and make it into the finals, but Ivanchuk defeated her in both of their games in the quarter-finals and she was out of the tournament.  Well, if she had to lose to anyone, I'm glad it was someone of Ivanchuk's calibre and character.  In the final round, Ivanchuk faced off against USA's own GM Hikaru Nakamura who is a wiz at this kind of speed chess, and Ivanchuk took the title convincingly.  Well done!  And kudos to Nakamura.  I would like to see him in more prestigious events like this one but, really, HN, please ditch the unshaved look.  It's just gross, yechy!  I particularly thought it well done of the organizers to bring in the highest rated female player in the world (Polgar) and other highly rated female players to add some spice and new blood to the event.  Thank you! 

The World  Youth Chess Championshps has also concluded, and the USA Team won three medals (boys won the medals).  Here are the results for the USA Team:

SNoNameRtgFED1234567891011Pts.Rk.Group
56Kumar Aravind0USA1011½110½017,018Open U08
62Liang Awonder0USA11½10½011118,09Open U08
87Praveen Balakrishnan0USA110101011107,021Open U08
104Taghizadeh Rayan0USA½1½½½1101107,022Open U08
1Sevian Samuel2105USA1111½10011½8,06Open U10
16FMHe Tommy O1830USA101111101007,015Open U10
19Xiong Jeffrey1824USA111½011111½9,02Open U10
24Panchanatham Vignesh1803USA01111½0111½8,09Open U10
43Chiang Jonathan1714USA½101½10101½6,537Open U10
153Wheeler Cameron0USA111½1½011108,05Open U10
5Troff Kayden W2216USA1111½11101½9,02Open U12
12Williams Justus D2155USA101½111½01½7,514Open U12
14Wu Christopher2138USA011½011½0005,088Open U12
20Colas Joshua2068USA½11011100106,534Open U12
24Chandran Kapil2058USA1½1½½0111017,517Open U12
31Viswanadha Kesav2017USA½011½010½004,5109Open U12
79Lin Dachey1805USA01001011½½½5,586Open U12
120Beilin Allan0USA0½½½½½½½½½½5,0104Open U12
25Adelberg David2201USA1½1011½00½05,558Open U14
46Shetty Atulya2092USA1100½1½10005,072Open U14
26FMZierk Steven C2391USA1111½½½11119,51Open U18
58Haskel Jeffrey2229USA0101½0101004,580Open U18
4WFMWang Annie0USA1110½1½110½7,56Girls U08
34Joanna Liu0USA1011½1½001½6,522Girls U08
54Nguyen Emily0USA101111001½17,59Girls U08
64Ramesh Kaavya0USA011011011½06,524Girls U08
41Devina Devagharan0USA½1½10½0½0½½5,060Girls U10
79Palakollu Samritha0USA111½00½½1005,546Girls U10
90Singh Reva0USA101011½00015,548Girls U10
107Zlotchevsky Nicole0USA101½½01½1016,530Girls U10
29WCMChiang Sarah1864USA1011100011½6,523Girls U14
79WCMMunoz Claudia0USA1½½½01001½05,057Girls U14
95Regam Jessica0USA½10101½0½004,571Girls U14
46Matlin Anna1923USA101010½1½016,035Girls U16
37Datta Anjali2025USA01½0½0½½1105,048Girls U18
9Hua Margaret1943USA1101½½110½17,510Girls U12
59WFMLiao Simone1673USA1010½0111005,549Girls U12
62Oreshko Mariya1651USA01010110½116,537Girls U12
82Dong Alice0USA0½10½½010115,569Girls U12
113Virkud Apurva0USA0½½½01010115,571Girls U12

Wisconsin's Awonder Liang had a fine tournament (I think), finishing strong and moving up to 9th place from his start place of 62nd.  All of the boys in the U8 Open section had outstanding results.  USA took home two silver medals and one gold for the performance by FM Steven Zierk (9.5/11).

In the hotly-contested Girls U-18 Section, my girl Narmin Kazimova, who broke out strong, sustained the race all the way to the end, even with higher-rated Cori Deysi breathing down her neck around the final turn!  Azerbaijan is celebrating tonight for Narmin's victory!  Hooray!  I am so happy to see Narmin have what I hope is a sustained break-out performance, fulfilling the promise I saw in her a few years ago at the Women's European Chess Championship.

Here are the top final standings for the Girls U-18:

Final Ranking after 11 Rounds

Rk.NameFEDRtgPts. TB1 
1WIMKazimova Narmin NizamiAZE22609,022146
2WGMCori T DeysiPER23689,021847
3WIMHoang Thi Nhu YVIE22148,022065
4WIMHavlikova KristynaCZE23188,021629
5CMBhakti KulkarniIND22948,021544
6Stetsko LanitaBLR21487,521908
7WIMTsatsalashvili KetiGEO22667,521668
8WIMVo Thi Kim PhungVIE21477,048,0
9Rakhmangulova AnastasiyaUKR21537,048,0
10WFMKulon KlaudiaPOL21967,046,0
11WFMHejazipour MitraIRI22397,042,0
12WFMEfroimski MarselISR22447,042,0
13WIMEric JovanaSRB22187,040,5

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