1st Metropolitan Chess International

This L.A. organizer brought in a big gun in GM Mickey Adams (he's so cute with the English nose of his!)  Adams is fresh off his win at the British Chess Championships.  GM Loek Van Wely has been appearing in a lot of U.S. tournaments.  Is he now a GM for hire?  If so, good for him, and Mickey Adams, too!  It's a way to make a living but he still has to play damn good chess.  All too often in these big U.S. events 6,7,8,9 or even 10 players tie for first place and the upshot is that hardly anyone takes home a decent paycheck! 

Note: This event was also called the 1st Metropolitan FIDE Invitational
1st Metropolitan International (Los Angeles USA)
Wed 17th Aug 2011 - Sun 21st Aug 2011

1st Metropolitan Int (9 Rds Swiss Indiv TC:90m:30m+30spm(1))

1st Metropolitan Int Los Angeles USA Wed 17th Aug 2011 - Sun 21st Aug 2011 Leading Final Round 9 Standings:
Rk	Name	FED	Rtg	Pts
1	Michael Adams	ENG	2715	7.5
2	Loek Van Wely	NED	2683	6.5
3	Timur Gareev	UZB	2613	6.5
6	Robert Ruck	HUN	2569	6.5
7	Dejan Bojkov	BUL	2544	6.5
8	Mesgen Amanov	TKM	2544	6.5
16	Conrad Holt	USA	2438	6.5

The ladies who played in the event finished below 50%:

45

Alisa Melekhina

USA

2263

3.5

61

Lorena Zepeda

ESA

2187

3.5

74

Amanda Mateer

USA

2096

3.5

32

Tatev Abrahamyan

USA

2343

3

77

Sonia Zepeda

ESA

2068

3

1st Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational

The second half of the 1st Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational took place this past weekend, November 20-21, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.  This was the first of what the Metropolitan Chess Club of Los Angeles hopes will be a continuing series of norm invitationals held every two months or so.  It is an ambitious undertaking, and I wish them luck.  Thanks much to the sponsors who supported this tournament:   www.chess.com, LawyerFy, Fashion Business, Inc, Betty Bottom, Hippie Chips, Jason's Wine and Spirits, and Chess Lecture.

We need more events designed to provide American players with opportunities to earn norms.  Two organizers of norm tournaments that come to mind are the American Chess Association in Illinois and SPICE at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas.

The lone female in this inaugural event, Tatev Abrahamyan, did not earn a norm.  To do so, she needed 6.0/9 but, alas, her final score was 3.5/9.  Not a good result.  I believe Abrahamyan is a much better player than her results in this tournament show - and I don't think she wasn't aiming for draws.  In 9 games she had 4 losses.  The games have been submitted to The Week in Chess and will probably be published shortly.  TWIC is great at producing reports shortly after information is submitted on a tournament. 

Two players came close to earning those coveted norms but -- You can find the final cross-table at chess.com's coverage of this tournament along with a summary of the final action and some games to play through. 

The games were viewable on chess.com throughout the tournament through the live chess function, and the last round of the tournament was broadcast on www.chess.com/tv with GM Melikset Khachiyan. For - I assume - members, you can watch the playback via the on demand function.

The games will be available on the Southern California Chess Federation home page, www.scchess.com.

Good luck for the next norm event, and here's hoping more chess femmes are invited to play in future events, and that there are many more Invitationals in Metropolitan Chess Club's future.

1st Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational

Half-time report.  Er, sorry - football on the brain.  Did you HEAR the game the Badgers put on - oh, never mind.  We scored over 80 fricking points, har!  Oh - back to chess--

Check out the half-way there report at chess.com.  There are a couple of games to play through, some photographs, and of course, a cross-table, along with a description of some of the action through the mid-way point.  The tournament concludes this coming weekend.

Tatev Abrahamyan has 2.0/5 and has a real uphill battle to score a norm.  Here's the cross-table:

1st Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational

A norm event, being held November 12-14 and 20-21, 2010.  WFM Tatev Abrahamyan, two-time winner of the Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award for her performances at U.S. Women's Chess Championships, is vying for an IM norm.  Ankit Gupta sent me several photographs of R1 action.  Thanks!

IM Enrico Sevillano

Konstantin Kavutskiy

Roman Yanovsky



WFM Tatev Abrahamyan




















First round results:

Tatev Abrahamyan (1) - Konstantin Kavutskiy (0)
Ankit Gupta (0) - Zhanibek Amanov (1)
Enrico Sevillano (1/2) - Joel Banawa (1/2)
Timothy Taylor (0) - Roman Yankovsky (1)

Round 2 results:

Kretchetov - Amanov 1/2
Yankovsky - Sevillano 1/2
Banawa - Gupta 1/2
Kavutskiy - Taylor 1-0
Manukyan - Abrahamyan 1/2

1st Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational

The Metropolitan Chess Club in downtown Los Angeles will be holding a 9-RR FIDE Invitational over November 12th – 14th and 20th – 21st. The tournament is being sponsored by www.chess.com, LawyerFy, and Fashion Business, Inc.

The tournament is being directed by Michael Belcher and Hal Bogner is acting as the international FIDE arbiter. The event will be category 4 FIDE with a respectable FIDE average of 2334 between the 10 players. The norm seekers need 6.0 out of 9.0 to get an International Master norm.

The venue will be the California Market Center, located at 110 East Ninth Street, Los Angeles CA 90079. The time control for the main event will be 40/90 + G/30 with 30 second increment. All games will be relayed live on www.chess.com.

The first round is at 7:00 PM on the 12th of November. For the rest of the rounds, the round times are at 11:00 AM and 4:30 PM on the 13th, 14th, 20th, and 21st of November. Spectators are encouraged and welcome to come. Parking will be validated if you are leaving after 7:00 PM on weekend days. Upon arrival, ask for the chess tournament at the main desk in the lobby and you will be directed to the proper floor.

WFM Tatev Abrahamyan will be vying for an IM norm. She is the winner of two Goddesschess Fighting Chess Awards for her performances in U.S. Women's Chess Championship. Go Tatev!

More information about the tournament can be found at chess . com.