Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIV

Update - the final results/standings are in from Round 4!  USCF ratings changes will be posted later tonight, probably:

Winners/top finishers in the Open and Reserve Sections and results/rankings for the ladies:

OPEN SECTION (46)

No. Name St Rate Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Score

1. Santarius, Erik (1)........... WI 2381 W30 W29 W5 D3 3.5
2. Sawalani, Navin (5)........... WI 2249 D19 W14 W11 W10 3.5
14. Ulrich, Rachel J (29)......... WI 1721 W41 L2 D12 W37 2.5 (Rachel wins $100 from Goddesschess)
25. Rajendra, Anupama (35)........ WI 1611 W43 L18 L19 W38 2.0 (Anupama wins $80 from Goddesschess)
43. Karimikonda, Teja (46)........ WI 1242 L25 W41 L30 L22 1.0 (Teja wins $40 from Goddesschess)

RESERVE SECTION (36)

1. MacLeish, Brian (3)........... WI 1568 W29 W25 D3 W10 3.5
2. Shefsky, Michael W (1)........ WI 1586 L14 W26 W30 W12 3.0
3. Kaczmarek, Daniel (7)......... WI 1467 W17 W23 D1 D6 3.0
4. Wright, Gary M (9)............ WI 1395 W30 L11 W27 W16 3.0
5. Reese Sr, Gregory (11)........ WI 1383 L23 W27 W28 W18 3.0
6. Andersson, Mitchel (13)....... WI 1358 W37 W24 D11 D3 3.0
7. Pahl, Sandra R (14)........... WI 1342 L11 W28 W20 W13 3.0
8. Ulrich, Susanna G (18)........ WI 1279 L25 W17 W21 W14 3.0  
9. Loomer, Xavier Mar (21)....... WI 1182 L21 W36 W24 W23 3.0
10. McVicker, Marqis (37)......... WI nnnn W20 W15 W13 L1 3.0 (an excellent tournament for Marqis)
15. Huang, Alena (15)............. WI 1335 L13 L10 W35 W31 2.0
18. Murali, Anjana (22)........... WI 1169 -H- D22 W25 L5 2.0
20. Huang, Sabrina (27)........... WI 914 L10 W35 L7 W29 2.0
31. Wanek, Ellen A (28)........... WI 906 L26 W37 L14 L15 1.0
33. Ulrich, Anne E (36)........... WI 182 -N- -N- -N- W37 1.03
4. Murali, Ananya (30)........... WI 753 -H- L19 L29 L22 0.5
35. Newton, Jan L (33)............ WI 579 L28 L20 L15 -N- 0.0
37. Foat, Patricia J (35)......... WI 350 L6 L31 L32 L33 0.0

Rachel Ulrich in the Open and Sandra Pahl in the Reserve also win paid entry to Hales Corners Chess Challenge XV, should they choose to play in that event (April, 2012!)

Southwest Chess Club blog entry and photos.

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIV

I'm here, about to start R2.  I lost my first game (as expected) - player was rated 1033 to my 579, eek!

I gave him a battle but in the end he got me, aaaaaahhhhhhh.....

Now I've got to run and see who I'm paired against.  Ellen Wanek is here - more later.

Update 1:55 p.m.
Well, I went down in flames to Sabrina Huang in 22 minutes - and I had the white pieces.  Going downhill fast - my head hurts!  Ouch!

On a positive note, there are 12 female players out of 80, for an excellent participation rate of about 15%!  I'm absolutely delighted.  There are three femmes playing in the Open, including Rachel Ulrich who I believe has a 1728 rating.  She won her first game and in game 2 has the black pieces against a player rated above 2200, so she's going to have her work cut out for her!  All the rest of us femmes are playing in the Reserve.

Today I met Pat Foat, who has 2 sons who play chess and she learned to play so she could play while they're playing! This is Pat's first rated tournament.  She also plays casually at the Southwest Chess Club and at a chess club in Waukesha.  Each of her sons belongs to his "own" club!

Ellen Wanek teaches chess to kids in Sheboygan-area schools.  She's got a rating in the 900s, she wasn't exactly sure.  She won game 2 against Pat.  I'm not sure, but I expect I may be paired with Pat for R3.

I'm about spent - it's amazing that I can spend a day stomping around the Met and never get exhausted (until I fall over when my legs give out, that is) and yet playing two chess games since 10 a.m. has sapped my brain!  Round 3 begins at 3:30.  I must try to play better! 

I have taken only a few pictures.  I should wrap this up now and go track down some of the other femmes and ask if I can take their photos...

Update: 
It's now 5:31 and I am home.  I left at the end of R3, which did not last very long.  I was horribly pathetic in my last game and I feel awful, actually, that I did not give more of a game to Alena Huang.  I lasted 8 lousy moves.  Eight!  Someone just take me out and shoot me now, please.  Yeah yeah, she's rated 1300 something, but I give Shira (who at her peak was over 1700) better games than I gave Alena H. today. Sorry, Alena. 

I was too tired to stick around after I finished R3 to try and get pics of some of the female players and in no shape to wait until the conclusion of R4, which doesn't begin until 6 p.m., to hand out prize checks to the winners!  Maybe next Challenge -  but I won't play in that one, I'll just hang around making a pest of myself with my camera and asking stupid questions, darlings!  LOL!  We'll see.  Right now, my head hurts and I'm dehydrated.  Wine, I need wine...

Unfortunately the one photo that I did take was blurry - it's of Ellen Wanek and Marquis McVicker (I hope I have his name right).  He's a senior in high school and a scholastic player; and he won his first two games in the Reserve Section where I played.  He has a scholastic rating (which I don't know) but he does not have a USCF rating. Today he joined USCF in order to play in the HCCC XIV and he will now get a USCF rating, which I expect will be very respectable!  He's a cool, collected young man, and very charming.  I hope he continues to play in USCF-rated events.

Pat Foat's son, Dustin, took this photo of four of us chess femmes before the start of R2 - unfortunately also a little blurry:

On the left is Ellen Wanek and me (Ellen is pointing at me and I was making a face), and across from us are Sabrina Huang, who was my opponent in R2, and in front of her is Pat Foat. 

I was able to meet/greet some other female players and some parents of some of the younger players.  Tom Fogec (one of the TDs) insisted in spotting me out by introducing me to both Open and Reserve Sections, and I think I stayed red for the rest of the tournament.  He told me that he'd also done that at the last Challenge I attended (Challenge XII) - I must have blanked the memory out of my mind...

So, in retrospect, my first game was probably my best - at least I lasted 28 moves until I was mated, ach!  That was also my longest game, time wise.  Time issues are definitely not a problem with my play at its current level...

I am pleased to report that I did manage to write down each and every move that I made as well as the moves of my challengers.  Now, I'll admit it's not all in official notation and I may have muffed some of them and put our pieces in impossible squares - although some of the easy stuff like pawn from e2 to e4 I did absolutely 100% correct!  Life Master Sheldon G., who was available throughout the Tournament in the Skittles Room to go over games with the players afterwards, was present and saw some of my R3 game and I think I nearly gave him a stroke, poor man.  Alas, Life Master, I have not improved one iota from the woman who hung a knight a year ago...

Soooo - here's some news from the Southwest Chess Club's blog:

In the Open, going into R4:

25. Ulrich, Rachel J (29)......... WI 1721 W39 L4 D19 A31 1.5
37. Rajendra, Anupama (35)........ WI 1611 W41 L21 L11 A32 1.0
41. Karimikonda, Teja (46)........ WI 1242 L37 W39 L20 A35 1.0

Honorary Mention to Anne Ulrich, who did not officially play in the Tournament but consented to be a - I'm not sure I've got the term right - table player?.  Tom F. explained to me that this is a person who agrees to play another player who otherwise would be left without a game because of an odd number of players.

In the Reserve, going into R4:

1. McVicker, Marqis (37)......... WI nnnn W28 W23 W8 A2 3.0
12. Pahl, Sandra R (14)........... WI 1342 L3 W27 W28 A8 2.0
14. Ulrich, Susanna G (18)........ WI 1279 L21 W24 W30 A10 2.0
16. Murali, Anjana (22)........... WI 1169 -H- D32 W21 A11 2.0
23. Huang, Alena (15)............. WI 1335 L8 L1 W34 A29 1.0
28. Huang, Sabrina (27)........... WI 914 L1 W34 L12 A22 1.0
29. Wanek, Ellen A (28)........... WI 906 L19 W36 L10 A23 1.0
33. Murali, Ananya (30)........... WI 753 -H- L17 L22 A32 0.5
34. Newton, Jan L (33)............ WI 579 L27 L28 L23 -N- 0.0
36. Foat, Patricia J (35)......... WI 350 L5 L29 L31 A37 0.0
37. Ulrich, Anne E (36)........... WI 182 -N- -N- -N- A36 0.0

P.S. Here's a pic I tried to take of myself after I got home, just to show that I am actually still alive and it is not the Ghost of Jan Newton writing this:

My Xena, Princess Warrior figure is chastising me above my head (she's riding the black elephant - a potent chess symbol).  Well, at least my outfit was nice!

Personal Stuff - You Can Skip This, Darlings...

THANK YOU, LUCILLE! 

Lucille and I are related through the Makuski line on my mom's side of the family tree.  She sent me an email yesterday that I didn't get to read until this morning.  HOLY GODDESS!  It has information that I did not have before, including the name of the parents of one Josef Jablonski, whom I had not been able to trace back beyond his stating on old census records that he came to America in 1871 from Poland.  The information includes the names of his parents, which did not previously have!  It also has contact information to a descendant of one of Josef's children, but it's from 2004.  I will try and follow-up.

So - tonight I'm going to be working on family tree stuff because Christmas is looming -- it will be here sooner than I think!  I've got to get the major family lines firmed up and printed, and then add photographs, obituaries and histories to round things out.  A major undertaking.

Tomorrow it's C-DAY!  The Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIV is upon me. EEEK EEEK EEEK!

LOL!  Seriously, darlings, I'm not ready for prime-time but I have to tell you, I had some of the most interesting chess conversations today that I've ever had in life.  What's more, on the one that took place coming home tonight from the office, half the bus listened in on it and had input!

I'm not kidding you!  Damn, this is one time I wish I had one of those fancy-pants cellphones where I could have recorded what happened, it was just so much fun.

As you know, I'm a relatively new member of the CCR (Crazy Cougars Rock).  But we don't restrict ourselves to cougars.  I'm the oldest at 60; "Thelma" (not her real name, it has to do with a long involved conversation we had about "Thelma and Louise" and - well, the less said about that, the better) is our newest member, and she can't be more than 25.  She's ridden the bus with one or more of us, off and on, for some years -- you know how you get to recognize regulars along your route, morning and night -- but it was only during the last week or so that she started sitting with JJ, A, D and others in the morning, and joining JJ, A, D and I on the evening ride home.  We're non-discriminatory.  We have male members, too, but they mostly sit and laugh riotously at whatever we say :)

Anyway, tonight we were minus two of our regulars.  I sat down next to JJ and next stop, Thelma got on.  The conversation went along, and at one point JJ asked me what I was doing tomorrow.  I said tomorrow's the tournament.  She knew what that meant, but Thelma didn't, and when JJ explained that tomorrow I was going to be playing in a CHESS TOURNAMENT (and that's just how she said it, in ALL CAPS), Thelma was not only duly impressed, it seemed most everyone else on the now crowded bus was, too!  I mean, darlings, it was just one of those priceless moments when all eyes are on YOU in a GOOD way and you feel like a GENIUS!  Me and my 579 ELO!

Oh Goddess, it was priceless! 

When I modestly (ahem) declaimed that I was a very poor player who would have her butt whipped tomorrow by 10 year olds, advice started pouring in!  The lady standing next to my seat told me about a 9 hour event she'd played in, and thought she'd die but she did okay!  And the young dude sitting in front of us (who had been laughing at our conversation earlier, well, we are pretty funny broads, if I do say so myself, although he was trying hard not to show it, his shoulders were shaking; and when I declared to the bus in general that the New Middle Age was between 60 and 80, and after 80 I intended to be an Old Bitch, he just couldn't hold it in anymore) - he had some words of advice.  Good advice, actually, hmmm...

Thelma, who has never played a game of chess - gasp! - wanted a lesson then and there.  JJ, whose significant other sounds like a very competent and competitive chessplayer, who gets into staring-at-the-board-matches-for-long-stretches-of-time with one of his brothers, explained to Thelma and everyone else who was within shouting range (she's rather LOUD, if you know what I mean) with air drawings how some of the pieces move, and I filled in here and there with timely narrative. 

I had so many "good luck" and "you beat their little 'bleeps' off tomorrow" yelled to me as people exited the bus (JJ and I don't get off until near the end of the route) that I was getting hoarse shouting back at ya'll.  THANK YOU.  I doubt any of you read this blog - but here's to you, darlings, just in case :)

Thelma wants lessons.  How we can manage that on the bus...

Speaking of which, today I gave my very first chess lesson to a fellow employee, who wants to learn how to play so that she can teach her son, who is three and absolutely precious.  We had a very productive lunch hour lesson.  I explained and showed her the basic moves of each of the pieces, I explained the "j'doube" rule, I explained what "shah mat" (checkmate in English) actually means and where the original term came from, and gave her just a little bit of the ancient tradition of The Royal Game. For our second 30 minutes I "tested" her on what the pieces were and what their moves were (she did very well!), and showed her basic situations of how a king can harried by the other pieces. 

By Goddess, I think she's got it.  But you know what, it's so easy to teach someone who is eager to learn.  So I'm still feeling like a GENIUS. 

I am hoping that some of the Chess Magic that happened in my life today will carry-over to tomorrow, and give me a draw!  That's all I want, just ONE DRAW!

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIV!

Hola darlings!  Well, I resigned in another game tonight that I'm playing with Shira Evans Sanford over at redhotpawn.com.  She made a move I didn't anticipate and I decided to resign instead of make another move or two with my hopelessly outgunned king.  I will never learn, it seems.  Oh well.  The other game is still going on; I probably just grabbed a poisoned pawn.  LOL!  Such is my chessplaying career.

This Saturday is the day!  After due consideration, knowing my limitations as a player and the limits of my endurance, I have arranged to play in only the first three games, so I will not have to play that killer 6 p.m. round.  Thank Goddess! 

Today is the last day to pre-register for the discounted price - here's the form - fill it out and send it in!  Hope to see you there, especially a lot of chess femmes.  Come introduce yourselves - I'm really not fierce at all, I just look mean :)  Pay no attention to those prior murder convictions, they were all reversed on appeal, darlings (and none of the victims were females).

In the herstory of the Hales Corners Challenges, the best turnouts were HCC IX...04/2009 (56+51=107)AMANOV,YOUNG,SANTARIUS,KOHLENBERG tied for first in the Open; and HCC XIII..04/2011 (57+48=105)STAMNOV,MENON,BREIDER,RAGHAVAN tied for first in the Open.

It would make me (and our sponsors) very happy to see a great turnout.  I am very encouraged, tonight, by going through the list of pre-registered players - there are 7 that I count (not including me) in the Reserve section despite there not being any Goddesschess prizes up for grabs other than paid entry for the top finishing female player for the next HCC.  In the Open, things aren't looking so good for pre-registration of female players - but I'm not familiar with some of the names -- maybe I'm missing a couple?  Sure hope so!

Hales Corners Challenge XIV

USCF Grand Prix Points: 10. October 22, 2011.

4SS, G/60. 2 Sections: Open & Reserve (under 1600).
Wyndham Milwaukee Airport Hotel—4747 S. Howell Avenue—Milwaukee— 414-481-8000 (mention Southwest Chess Club for $69 room rate) (near airport). EF: $35-

Open, $25-Reserve, both $5 more after 10/19. Comp EF for USCF 2200+, contact TD for details. $$ Open=1st-$325 (guaranteed), 2nd-$175 (guaranteed),
A-$100, B & Below-$75; $$ Reserve =1st-$100, 2nd-$75, D-$50, E & Below- $40.

Reg: 8:30-9:30, Rds: 10-1-3:30-6. Entries/Questions to Tom Fogec—5671 Garland Lane— Greendale, WI 53129; tfogec@wi.rr.com 414-405-4207 (cell)

Goddesschess prizes for top-scoring women:

Open Section: Each victory earns $40; each draw earns $20, plus top-scoring female wins free entry to Hales Corners Challenge XV (April 21, 2012).

Reserve Section: Top-scoring female wins free entry to Hales Corners Challenge XV (April 21, 2012).

Pre-Registered Players, as of October 19th:

OPEN SECTION

No. Name St Rate
1 Santarius, Erik WI 2381
2 Betaneli, Alex WI 2314
3 Sawalani, Navin WI 2249
4 Williams, William WI 2200
5 Waller, Matthew WI 2163
6 Smail, Benedict A WI 2125
7 Becker, Allen J WI 2000
8 Jing, Aaron WI 2000
9 Hoffman, Guy G WI 1905
10 Mhaskar, Rohan WI 1875
11 Thomas, Tyler Stev WI 1857
12 Reese, Jr, Gregory WI 1842
13 Bruch, Robert M WI 1837
14 Grochowski, Andrew WI 1836
15 Sun, Abe IL 1814
16 Coons, James Jay WI 1754
17 Ulrich, Rachel J WI 1721
18 Franek, Martin Joh IL 1715
19 Sagunsky, David L WI 1698
20 Cai, Yuanqi WI 1620
21 Hernandez, Joseph WI 1603
22 Myaskovsky, Dmitry WI 1599
23 Corcoran, Benjamin WI 1586
24 Campbell, John Ser WI 1579
25 Thomas, Ryan Andre WI 1517
26 Shelobolin, Filipp WI 1325
27 Shi, Qingde WI 1317
28 Karimikonda, Teja WI 1242


RESERVE SECTION

No. Name St Rate
1 Shefsky, Michael W WI 1586
2 Dreuth, Adam Willi WI 1572
3 MacLeish, Brian WI 1568
4 Padilla, Rudy R IL 1509
5 Etzel, Steven W WI 1504
6 Kaczmarek, Daniel WI 1467
7 Wright, Gary M WI 1395
8 Reese, Sr., Greg WI 1383
9 Ballweg, Tim Donal WI 1373
10 Pahl, Sandra R WI 1342
11 Huang, Alena WI 1335 12 Holmes, Russ WI 1302
13 Ulrich, Susanna G WI 1279
14 Loomer, Xavier Mar WI 1182
15 Murali, Anjana WI 1169
16 Venkat, Abhyudhaya WI 1062
17 Hobson, Jonathan J WI 1033
18 Hall, Jay Roy WI 1006
19 Huang, Sabrina WI 914
20 Wanek, Ellen A WI 906
21 Shi, Stephen WI 823
22 Murali, Ananya WI 753
23 Mehta, Moulik WI 672
24 Newton, Jan L WI 579 (here I am, wooowooo!)
25 Burgin, W H WI 458
26 Windsor, Charles B WI     

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIV!

Hola darlings! Well, I did it. I printed the registration form tonight and filled it out. I'll mail it from the office tomorrow with my check and be officially registered for the OCTOBER 22, 2011 HALES CORNERS CHESS CHALLENGE XIV (Reserve Section)!

I will take my trusty little Acer notebook with me and blog in between rounds. Are you ready to see the world's worst chess games? Hell, I'm not ready but, so it goes...

The first round starts at 10:00 a.m. and I'll be playing four games in one day if I don't collapse before the last round, which starts at 6:00 p.m. I remember how much Challenge XII exhausted me - and then we came home and made a big steak dinner for Shira and Crispin who where staying with me that weekend! LOL! We had a blast. Shira (then Shira Evans, now Shira Evans Sanford) played in the Open and won 2 games, lost 2 games (but not without a fight) and Crispin hunt about all day, poor man, taking photographs and cheering us on and doing mysterious stuff on an Ipad thingy. Personally, I think he works for M5. I played in the Reserve and lost to 6 month olds (well, okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but just a little one). For my troubles I earned a USCF rating of 579.

I survived Challenge XII, I figure I can survive Challenge XIV because I won't have guests and I won't be cooking a big dinner when I get home :)

ONWARD AND UPWARD, CHESS FEMME (me)! 600 OR BUST!

Southwest Chess Club Action!

Upcoming events!

Colored Leaves Rattle-the-Pawns Blitz III

September 22 (1-night only)

10-Round (Round-Robin) in One or more Sections (depending on number of players). Game/5 minutes.USCF Quick-Rated*. EF: $5.

TD is Becker; ATD is Grochowski

*(does not affect "regular" rating)

 

Our next club event:

Rustling Fiery Leaves Swiss:

September 29 & October 6, 13 & 20
4-Round Swiss in Two Sections (Open and Under 1600).
Game/100 minutes.

USCF Rated. EF: $5. (One ½-Point Bye Available for any round (except round four) if
requested at least 2-days prior to round). TD is Grochowski; ATD is Fogec.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Club location:  Hales Corners Village Hall/Police Station, located at 5635 South New Berlin Road, Hales Corners, Wisconsin, in the downstairs Community Room. Club open at 6 PM, Tournament Games at 7 PM.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

And don't forget the Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIV on October 22, 2011!  Paid entry for last year's female winners of the Open and Reserve sections.  Goddesschess prizes for females in the Open: $40 per win and $20 per draw.  Female winners of the Open and Reserve will receive paid entry for the next Hales Corners Chess Challege should they should to play. 

More information on the HCCC XIV!  Worth 10 USCF Grand Prix points!

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIV

It will be here before you know it!  I am once again thinking about playing - I just don't know if I can stand the 4-games-in-one-day format!  It's a real grind - exhausting, especially when I have no realistic chance of drawing a game (I don't even think about winning a game!)  But I'm stubbornly hopeful, anyway, LOL! 

If I do play, I'll be solo this time around, no Shira and Crispin to cheer me on.  They're now happily married, living in LA, and have taken the Computer Labs for Kids program in a new direction - a mobile lab that visits all around LA and environs, teaching kids how to use computers.  The latest news is fantastic!   The Pasadena Host Lions Club gave $5,537 to Computer Labs For Kids, Inc. This gift will enable the purchase of ten (10) iPad computers to be used in the mobile lab.

Here's the new banner for the event from Mr. Don.  Particulars for Challenge XIV can be found at the Southwest Chess Club's website. 

Goddesschess prizes:  Paid entry to Challenge XV for the top female finishers in the Open and Reserve Sections, should they choose to play in that event.  In addition, in the Open Section only, a win by a female player is worth $40 and a draw is worth $20.  We deposit money with the Southwest Chess Club in advance to cover expected outlays so femmes collect their winnings at the conclusion of the tournament, no waiting for a check in the mail! 

We would love to see more femmes than ever come out to support this fantastic local tournament.