Pix from Sunday Game/50 11/11/2018

On Sunday, I photographed the players during the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Pix from Saturday Game/50 11/10/2018

During Saturday's tournament, I snapped these photos at the Marshall Chess Club.

Presentation by Jim Egerton Tomorrow

Jim Egerton, author of Business on the Board, presents "How Chess Can Improve Your Financial Thinking."

Thanks to KWR International, there are a limited amount of complimentary tickets for the event.

E-mail premierchess64@gmail.com for your chance to attend!

Marshall Sunday Game/50 11/11/2018

On Sunday, I finished with a score of 3-1-0 in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Three: Budapest Gambit, Fajarowicz Variation

Mustafa Atakay (USCF 2009) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 11/11/2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4 4.a3 b6 5.Nf3 Bb7 6.Nbd2 Nc5 7.b4 Ne6 8.Bb2 a5 9.Qb3 axb4 10.axb4 Nc6 11.c5 Rxa1+ 12.Bxa1 Qa8 13.Bb2 bxc5

14.b5 Ncd4 15.Nxd4 Nxd4 16.Bxd4 cxd4 17.f3 Bc5 18.Qd3 O-O 19.g3 Re8 20.Bg2 Rxe5 21.Nc4 Re8 22.O-O Qa2 23.Re1 Bd5, White resigns.

Marshall Saturday Game/50 11/10/2018

On Saturday, I won this game in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Two: Sicilian Defense, King's Indian Attack

Jim West (USCF 2200) - Aston Roberts (USCF 1560), Marshall Chess Club 11/10/2018

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d3 a6 4.g3 Qc7 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.a4 Nf6 7.c3 d5 8.Nbd2 Bd6 9.Qc2 O-O 10.O-O Qe7 11.Re1 e5

12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Nc4 Qe6 14.Ng5 Qf6 15.Bxd5 Bc7 16.Bg2 Bf5 17.Ne4 Qe7 18.Be3 Bxe4 19.dxe4 Rad8 20.Rad1 f6 21.Rxd8 Rxd8 22.Rd1 Kf7 23.Rxd8 Nxd8 24.Qd2 Ne6 25.Bh3 Ng5 26.Qd5+ Ke8 27.Qg8+ Qf8

28.Qxf8+ Kxf8 29.Bxc5+ Kf7 30.Bg2 Ne6 31.Nd6+ Kg8 32.Nxb7 Nxc5 33.Nxc5 a5 34.Bf1 Kf7 35.Bc4+ Ke7 36.Ne6 g5 37.Nxc7 Kd6 38.Nd5 Ke6 39.Ne3+ Kd6 40.Bg8 h5 41.Nc4+ Kc5 42.Nxa5 Kb6 43.b4 Ka7

44.h4 g4 45.Bf7 f5 46.exf5 e4 47.Bxh5 e3 48.fxe3 Ka8 49.Bxg4 Ka7 50.f6 Kb8 51.f7 Ka7 52.f8=Q Ka6 53.Be2+ Ka7 54.Qc5+ Kb8 55.Qe7 Ka8 56.Qb7#.

NJ All-Girls Chess Camp 2018 Today

Pix from Thursday Night Action 11/8/2018

Look at these pictures that I took during Thursday's tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Thursday Night Action 11/8/2018

On Thursday, I won this game in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round One: King's Indian Attack

Jim West (USCF 2200) - William O'Brien (USCF 1589), Marshall Chess Club 11/8/2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d3 d5 4.Nbd2 Nf6 5.g3 Be6 6.Bg2 h5 7.h4 dxe4 8.dxe4 Bc5 9.O-O Qd7 10.c3 O-O-O

11.b4 Bd6 12.Qa4 Kb8 13.Ng5 Ng4 14.Nxe6 fxe6 15.Nc4 Be7 16.b5 Nd4 17.cxd4 Qxd4 18.Bb2 Qc5 19.Ba3, Black resigns.

"Playboy" Nov.-Dec. 2018 Article on Chess

American Chess Masters, an Illustrated History:
A Gallery of Greatness and Madness - and a Millennial Master Who Just Might Break the Cycle

by Brin-Jonathan Butler
Illustrations by Nathan Gelgud

This November, an American will have a shot of becoming the undisputed world chess champion - the first such opportunity since Bobby Fischer captured the world's imagination in 1972.  Fabiano Caruana, 26 years old and currently the world's second-highest-rated player, will face 27-year-old Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, reigning world champion and the highest-rated player in history.  Caruana has the chance to step out from under the long, dark shadow cast by Fischer and other tormented geniuses of American chess.  Join us as we profile Caruana and five others, weaving a tale of prodigious talent and unchecked obsession.

Paul Morphy

The rise of chess in America begins in antebellum New Orleans.  Paul Morphy was born wealthy in 1837 and was already a spooky child prodigy by the age of nine.  He traveled across Europe and toured royal courts, leaving a trail of vanquished adversaries.  American media declared a state of "Morphy mania." In 1859, Morphy, then 22, returned home a hero - and suddenly announced his retirement.  He started a law practice but, according to legend, alienated his clients with obsessive rants about chess.  After the practice went under, Morphy wandered the streets of New Orleans, talking to himself in French and thwarting his family's attempts to commit him to a mental asylum.  Reports abound that Morphy was found dead in his bathtub surrounded by a circle of women's shoes - all of which gives "Morphy mania" a very different meaning.

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Wilhelm Steinitz

Born in Prague in 1836, Wilhelm Steinitz learned the game at 12 and by his mid-20s was known as "the Austrian Morphy."  Steinitz settled in New York in 1883, three years before he became the first undisputed world champion.  He would lose that title in 1894 to Emanuel Lasker, who was 32 years younger.  In his 60s, Steinitz suffered a complete mental collapse and was institutionalized in Moscow for 40 days.  During his confinement he incessantly challenged fellow patients to games of chess; by the time of his death, three years later, he was bragging about playing chess with God over an invisible telephone.

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Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer was only 13 when he played his famous "Game of the Century" at the Marshall Chess Club, displaying one of the most electifying queen sacrifices in history.  The ensuing years would see him go from America's cold war hero to a fugitive from justice: in 1992 he violated U.S. economic sanctions in order to compete in Yugoslavia.  Fischer became a Unabomber-like character who removed his dental work to foil suspected FBI surveillance and, following the 9/11 attacks, called in to a Philippines radio station to say: "This is all wonderful news.  It's time for the f***ing U.S. to get their heads kicked in."  Fischer died in 2008 at the age of 64 - poetically living a year for every square on a chessboard.

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Peter Winston

"Boy Genius" proclaimed the cover of the December 19, 1964 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.  The story's subject was first-grade mathematics prodigy Peter Winston, who at the time had not yet encountered a chessboard.  A decade later, at the U.S. Junior Championships, Winston tied for first place against future grandmaster Larry Christiansen.  Two years later, Winston was reportedly diagnosed as schizophrenic; the medication he was prescribed severely hampered his chess game.  In early 1978, without I.D., money or even a jacket, Winston wandered into one of the most notorious blizzards ever to strike New York.  Four decades later, his body has not been recovered.

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Josh Waitzkin

Back in 1988, New Yorker Josh Waitzkin was an 11-year-old chess phenomenon frequently touted as the next Bobby Fischer.  The top player for his age in America, he became one of two kids to earn a draw against world champion Garry Kasparov in an exhibition game. In his defense, Kasparov was simultaneously battling 58 other strong players.  Waitzkin did not become the next Fischer and abandoned competitive chess by the close of the 20th century.  However, Waitzkin's father wrote a book about their father-son journey into the chess world.  Searching for Bobby Fischer became a best-seller and then a critically acclaimed film.  Waitzkin would later find success in publishing and as a martial artist, winning a world title in tai chi push hands - and avoiding Fischer's dark legacy.

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Fabiano Caruana

At the age of four, Fabiano Caruana moved from Miami to Brooklyn and took up chess at his synagogue's after-school program, a mile away from where Fischer had learned the game in his mother's apartment.  Starting when he was five, Caruana dedicated his life to chess, becoming the youngest American grandmaster by the time he was 14.  For the first time since Fischer gained global attention, a U.S. grandmaster is fighting to  become the undisputed world chess champion.  Caruana, currently number two in the world and the top American grandmaster, will play for the game's most coveted prize against the reigning world champion, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, in a 12-game match in London in November.  Beyond the seven-figure purse and the world title, Caruana is perhaps also fighting to break free from the long shadow of Bobby Fischer and the rest of his tormented forebears.

Searching for Next Bobby Fischer

Pia Peterson searches for Fabiano Caruana.

Kopiecki - Zilbermintz, Queens CC 2018

Candidate master Lev Zilbermintz sends this game.

Round One: Philidor Counter Gambit

Ed Kopiecki (USCF 1993) - Lev Zilbermintz (USCF 2082), Queens Chess Club 9/7/2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.Bc4 b5 5.Bxb5+ c6 6.Be2 fxe4 7.Ng5 d5 8.dxe5 Bc5 9.e6 Qf6 10.O-O Bxe6 11.Bh5+ g6 12.Nxe6 Qxe6 

13.Bg4 Qf6 14.Bc8 Nd7 15.Bxd7+ Kxd7 16.Bd2 Ne7 17.Bc3 d4 18.b4 Bb6 19.a4 a6 20.Nd2 Qe6 21.Nb3 Nf5 22.a5 Ba7 23.g4 Qc4 24.Bb2 Nh4 25.Nd2 Qd5 

26.c4 dxc3 27.Nxe4 Bd4 28.Bxc3 Rhf8 29.Bxd4 Nf3+ 30.Kh1 Qxe4 31.Bc5+ Ke8 32.Bxf8 Kxf8 33.Qd6+ Kg8 34.Qg3 Rf8 35.Qg2 Qxb4, draw.

Funding for Ed Kopiecki

Ed Kopiecki [pictured] is a two-time champion of the Queens Chess Club.