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:
| SNo | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pts. | Rk. | Group | |
| 56 | Kumar Aravind | 0 | USA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 7,0 | 18 | Open U08 | |
| 62 | Liang Awonder | 0 | USA | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8,0 | 9 | Open U08 | |
| 87 | Praveen Balakrishnan | 0 | USA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7,0 | 21 | Open U08 | |
| 104 | Taghizadeh Rayan | 0 | USA | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7,0 | 22 | Open U08 | |
| 1 | Sevian Samuel | 2105 | USA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 8,0 | 6 | Open U10 | |
| 16 | FM | He Tommy O | 1830 | USA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7,0 | 15 | Open U10 |
| 19 | Xiong Jeffrey | 1824 | USA | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 9,0 | 2 | Open U10 | |
| 24 | Panchanatham Vignesh | 1803 | USA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 8,0 | 9 | Open U10 | |
| 43 | Chiang Jonathan | 1714 | USA | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 6,5 | 37 | Open U10 | |
| 153 | Wheeler Cameron | 0 | USA | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8,0 | 5 | Open U10 | |
| 5 | Troff Kayden W | 2216 | USA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 9,0 | 2 | Open U12 | |
| 12 | Williams Justus D | 2155 | USA | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 7,5 | 14 | Open U12 | |
| 14 | Wu Christopher | 2138 | USA | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5,0 | 88 | Open U12 | |
| 20 | Colas Joshua | 2068 | USA | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6,5 | 34 | Open U12 | |
| 24 | Chandran Kapil | 2058 | USA | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7,5 | 17 | Open U12 | |
| 31 | Viswanadha Kesav | 2017 | USA | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 4,5 | 109 | Open U12 | |
| 79 | Lin Dachey | 1805 | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5,5 | 86 | Open U12 | |
| 120 | Beilin Allan | 0 | USA | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5,0 | 104 | Open U12 | |
| 25 | Adelberg David | 2201 | USA | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 5,5 | 58 | Open U14 | |
| 46 | Shetty Atulya | 2092 | USA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5,0 | 72 | Open U14 | |
| 26 | FM | Zierk Steven C | 2391 | USA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9,5 | 1 | Open U18 |
| 58 | Haskel Jeffrey | 2229 | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4,5 | 80 | Open U18 | |
| 4 | WFM | Wang Annie | 0 | USA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 7,5 | 6 | Girls U08 |
| 34 | Joanna Liu | 0 | USA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 6,5 | 22 | Girls U08 | |
| 54 | Nguyen Emily | 0 | USA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 7,5 | 9 | Girls U08 | |
| 64 | Ramesh Kaavya | 0 | USA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 6,5 | 24 | Girls U08 | |
| 41 | Devina Devagharan | 0 | USA | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 5,0 | 60 | Girls U10 | |
| 79 | Palakollu Samritha | 0 | USA | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5,5 | 46 | Girls U10 | |
| 90 | Singh Reva | 0 | USA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5,5 | 48 | Girls U10 | |
| 107 | Zlotchevsky Nicole | 0 | USA | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6,5 | 30 | Girls U10 | |
| 29 | WCM | Chiang Sarah | 1864 | USA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 6,5 | 23 | Girls U14 |
| 79 | WCM | Munoz Claudia | 0 | USA | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 5,0 | 57 | Girls U14 |
| 95 | Regam Jessica | 0 | USA | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 4,5 | 71 | Girls U14 | |
| 46 | Matlin Anna | 1923 | USA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 6,0 | 35 | Girls U16 | |
| 37 | Datta Anjali | 2025 | USA | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5,0 | 48 | Girls U18 | |
| 9 | Hua Margaret | 1943 | USA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 7,5 | 10 | Girls U12 | |
| 59 | WFM | Liao Simone | 1673 | USA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5,5 | 49 | Girls U12 |
| 62 | Oreshko Mariya | 1651 | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6,5 | 37 | Girls U12 | |
| 82 | Dong Alice | 0 | USA | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5,5 | 69 | Girls U12 | |
| 113 | Virkud Apurva | 0 | USA | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5,5 | 71 | Girls 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. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | ||
| 1 | WIM | Kazimova Narmin Nizami | AZE | 2260 | 9,0 | 22146 | |
| 2 | WGM | Cori T Deysi | PER | 2368 | 9,0 | 21847 | |
| 3 | WIM | Hoang Thi Nhu Y | VIE | 2214 | 8,0 | 22065 | |
| 4 | WIM | Havlikova Kristyna | CZE | 2318 | 8,0 | 21629 | |
| 5 | CM | Bhakti Kulkarni | IND | 2294 | 8,0 | 21544 | |
| 6 | Stetsko Lanita | BLR | 2148 | 7,5 | 21908 | ||
| 7 | WIM | Tsatsalashvili Keti | GEO | 2266 | 7,5 | 21668 | |
| 8 | WIM | Vo Thi Kim Phung | VIE | 2147 | 7,0 | 48,0 | |
| 9 | Rakhmangulova Anastasiya | UKR | 2153 | 7,0 | 48,0 | ||
| 10 | WFM | Kulon Klaudia | POL | 2196 | 7,0 | 46,0 | |
| 11 | WFM | Hejazipour Mitra | IRI | 2239 | 7,0 | 42,0 | |
| 12 | WFM | Efroimski Marsel | ISR | 2244 | 7,0 | 42,0 | |
| 13 | WIM | Eric Jovana | SRB | 2218 | 7,0 | 40,5 |
