I.S. 318 in "Brooklyn Daily Eagle"

The chess students at Intermediate School 318 are featured in an article from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Thursday Night Action 4/28/2011

In last night's game/30 Swiss tournament at the Marshall Chess Club, I drew this game.

Round Three: Budapest Gambit, Fajarowicz Variation

Allen Weiss (USCF 2252) - Jim West (USCF 2209), Marshall Chess Club 4/28/2011

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4 4.a3 Nc6 5.Nf3 a5 6.Be3 b6 7.Qd5 Nc5 8.Nc3 Bb7 9.Nb5 Na7 10.Qd1 Nxb5 11.cxb5 a4 12.Nd2 Be7 13.Bd4 O-O 14.e3 d6 15.exd6 Qxd6


16.Qg4 Bf6 17.Nc4 Qe7 18.Bxf6 Qxf6 19.Be2 Rad8 20.O-O Nd3 21.Bxd3 Rxd3 22.Rad1 Rfd8 23.Rxd3 Rxd3 24.Qe2 Rd8 25.Qc2 Qg5 26.f4 Qxb5


27.Ne5 Qd5 28.Nf3 Qd7 29.Ne5 Qd5 30.Nf3 Qd7 31.Ne5, draw.

"ChessUp" is Up Again

You may have noticed that the ChessUp diagrams are back again at my blog.

It turns out that the problem was an old credit card!

"ChessUp" is Down

Today I sent this e-mail to CHESSUP.NET@domainsbyproxy.com.

I am a chess blogger who has been using ChessUp for many years to generate diagrams at my blog. As of a few days ago, all the diagrams have gone blank. According to the Go Daddy website, the domain name for ChessUp expired on 4/23/2011. A sales and support representative at Go Daddy informed me when I called that the deadline for renewing the domain name is 6/2/2011 at a cost of $9.99. Speaking not only for myself but for the many other bloggers who use ChessUp diagrams, I ask that you please renew the ChessUp domain name. Thank you for your help.

NM Jim West

Review of "Endgame" by Sean Marsh

The April 2011 issue of Chess magazine has a book review by Sean Marsh of Frank Brady's Endgame.

Bobby Fischer's Quest for Privacy

Sunday's chess column in The Charlotte Observer discusses Bobby Fischer's ironic quest for privacy in a world of targeted consumers.

Marshall Chess Club Swiss 4/23/2011

On Saturday, in a game/60 Swiss tournament at the Marshall Chess Club, I finished with a score of 3-0-0 with a half-point bye in the first round.

Round Two: Philidor Counter Gambit

Jonathan Chan (USCF 1629) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 4/23/2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.exf5 e4 5.Ng5 Nf6 6.Bc4 d5 7.Bb5+ c6 8.Be2 Bxf5 9.f3 Bd6 10.Nc3 O-O 11.fxe4 Nxe4 12.Ngxe4 Bxe4 13.Nxe4 Qh4+ 14.g3 Qxe4 15.Rg1 Nd7 16.Qd3 Rae8


17.Qxe4 Rxe4 18.Rf1 Rxf1+ 19.Kxf1 Rxd4 20.Be3 Rb4 21.b3 a6 22.Bd2 Re4 23.Bd3 Re8 24.Be2 Nf6 25.Rd1 Ne4 26.Be1 g6 27.c4 Nf6 28.cxd5 Nxd5 29.Bc4 Re5 30.Bxd5+ Rxd5 31.Rxd5 cxd5 32.Bc3 Kf7 33.Ke2 Ke6 34.Ke3 h5 35.Bd4 g5 36.Kf3 g4+ 37.Ke3 b5


38.a4 bxa4 39.bxa4 Kd7 40.Kd3 Kc6 41.Kc3 Bc5 42.Kd3 Bxd4 43.Kxd4 a5 44.Kd3 Kc5 45.Kc3 d4+ 46.Kd3 Kd5 47.Kd2 Ke4 48.Ke2 d3+ 49.Kd2 Kd4 50.Kd1 Ke3 51.Ke1 d2+ 52.Kd1 Kd3 53.h3 gxh3 54.g4 h2 55.gxh5 h1=Q#.

Pix from Wednesday and Thursday Nights

Below are pictures that I took before the Wednesday night league at the Dean of Chess Academy and during the Thursday night action Swiss at the Marshall Chess Club.

Take a look at Joe Renna's photos of Dean Ippolito's world record event in Raritan on April 9th.





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Thursday Night Action 4/21/2011

Last night, I drew this game in a game/30 Swiss at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Three: Sicilian Defense, Grand Prix Attack

Joel Hernandez (USCF 2113) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 4/21/2011

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Bc4 e6 6.d3 Nf6 7.Bb3 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Nd4 11.Qf2 b5 12.Ne2 Nxb3 13.axb3 a5 14.Be3 Qc7


15.Nc3 b4 16.Ne2 d5 17.e5 d4 18.Bd2 Nd5 19.Ng3 Bh4 20.Qf3 Bxg3 21.Qxg3 Ne7 22.Qf3 Qc6 23.g4 Qxf3 24.Rxf3 Nc6 25.Kg2 Ra6 26.Rff1 Rfa8 27.Ra4 Kf8 28.Kf3 Ke7 29.Ke4 g6 30.f5 gxf5+ 31.gxf5 Rg8 32.f6+ Kd7 33.Raa1 Rg2


34.Rad1 Re2+ 35.Kf3 Rxe5 36.Rg1 Rf5+ 37.Ke2 Rxf6 38.Rg7 h5 39.Rf1 Rxf1 40.Kxf1 Nd8 41.Bg5 e5 42.Bxd8 Kxd8 43.Rxf7 a4 44.bxa4 Rxa4 45.b3 Ra2 46.Rf2 Ke7 47.Kg2 Ke6 48.Kg3 Ra8 49.Kh4 Rh8 50.Rg2 Kf6 51.Rg5 Ra8 52.Rg2 Rh8 53.Rg5, draw.

Harry Benson Photo Book on Fischer

Photojournalist Harry Benson [pictured] has created photo books on the Beatles, Robert Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan.

Benson's photo book on Bobby Fischer will be published in July 2011 to coincide with HBO's release of the documentary film Bobby Fischer Against the World.

Milk Dud

In this advertisement for organic milk, a girl says "Checkmate" after playing 1.Qh5+.

But her grandfather can simply capture the queen by 1...Nxh5. Even 1...g6 is good enough to delay the mate.

Ippolito World Record Event Recap

Mark and Donna of Chess.com recap IM Dean Ippolito's world record event in Raritan.

Lou Sturniolo reports on how the members of the Kenilworth Chess Club fared against Ippolito on April 9th.

Marshall April Under 2300, Day 2

On Sunday, I had a quick win in the final round of the under 2300 tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Four: Alekhine Defense

Jim West (USCF 2200) - Julian Wang (USCF 1622), Marshall Chess Club 4/17/2011

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Be3 Bf5 8.b3 g6 9.Rc1 Bg7 10.Nge2 O-O 11.Ng3 Bd7 12.Be2 e5 13.d5 Nb4 14.O-O Na6


15.Nge4 Nc8 16.c5 Qe7 17.Bxa6 bxa6 18.cxd6 Nxd6 19.Bc5, Black resigns.

Marshall April Under 2300, Day 1

On Saturday, I drew this game at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round One: Budapest Defense, Fajarowicz Variation

Aravind Kumar (USCF 1904) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 4/16/2011

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Nxd2 6.Nbxd2 Nc6 7.e3 Qe7 8.Be2 Nxe5 9.O-O Bxd2 10.Qxd2 d6 11.Nxe5 Qxe5 12.Qd4 O-O 13.Qxe5 dxe5 14.Rad1 Be6 15.b3 Rfd8


16.Rxd8+ Rxd8 17.Rd1 Rxd1+ 18.Bxd1 b6 19.Kf1 Kf8 20.Ke2 Ke7 21.Kd3 Bf5+ 22.Kc3 a5 23.Bc2 Be6 24.Bb1 h6 25.a3 f6 26.f3 Kd6 27.Bd3 g5 28.g4 Bf7 29.Bc2 h5 30.h3 h4 31.Bd3 Be6 32.Bc2 Bd7 33.Bd3 Bc6 34.Be4 Bd7 35.Bd3 Be8 36.Bc2 b5 37.b4 axb4+ 38.axb4 c5


39.bxc5+ Kxc5 40.cxb5 Bxb5 41.Bd3 Ba4 42.Bc2 Bxc2 43.Kxc2 Kd5 44.e4+ Kc4 45.Kd2 Kd4 46.Ke2 Kc4 47.Kd2 Kb4 48.Kc2 Kc4 49.Kd2 Kd4 50.Ke2 Kc3 51.Ke3, draw.

Peter Worthington's Review of "Endgame"

Canadian political columnist Peter Worthington [pictured] reviews Frank Brady's Endgame.

"BFATW" at Florida Film Festival

The documentary film Bobby Fischer Against the World is playing at the Florida Film Festival.

Here are reviews from the Orlando Sentinel and The Daily City.

Ippolito - Zilbermintz

On Saturday, candidate master Lev Zilbermintz drew this game against international master Dean Ippolito at the world record event in Raritan.

Ippolito's final score was 67 wins, 4 losses, and 20 draws, for a winning percentage of 84.6%.

King's Indian Defense

Dean Ippolito (USCF 2555) - Lev Zilbermintz (USCF 2091), World Record Event 4/9/2011

1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 d6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 Ne4 6.Nbd2 Nxd2 7.Qxd2 O-O 8.O-O Nc6 9.h3 f5 10.d5 Ne5


11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.f4 Bg7 13.Rb1 Bd7 14.b4 Rb8 15.Bb2 Bxb2 16.Rxb2 a6 17.Re1 e5 18.dxe6 Bxe6, draw.

Improvement for Black in Blank - West

At Contre Gambit Philidor, Frederic Fournier suggests an improvement for Black in my game against Richard Blank [pictured].

Ippolito Simul at "Chess Marks the Spot"

At his Chess Marks the Spot blog, Mark [pictured above with Donna] from Chess.com describes the sights and sounds of IM Dean Ippolito's simul in parts one and two.

Here are more photos that I took at the world record event in Raritan.

Westfield Quads 4/10/2011

Yesterday I drew this game at the quads in Westfield.

Round Two: Philidor Counter Gambit

Richard Blank (USCF 2101) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Westfield NJ 4/10/2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.Bc4 Nc6 5.Ng5 Nh6 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.Qxd8+ Nxd8 8.Nc3 Bd6 9.Nb5 Ke7 10.Nxd6 cxd6 11.c3 Nhf7 12.exf5 Bxf5 13.O-O Rc8 14.Bb3 h6 15.Nxf7 Nxf7


16.f4 Be6 17.fxe5 dxe5 18.Bc2 Rhd8 19.Be3 b6 20.Rad1 Rxd1 21.Rxd1 Rd8 22.Rxd8 Nxd8 23.a4 Nb7 24.Kf2 Nd6 25.a5 Nc4 26.axb6 axb6 27.Bc1 b5 28.Bd3 Nd6 29.Be3 Bd7 30.Bc5 Ke6 31.Bxd6 Kxd6


32.Ke3 Kc5 33.b4+ Kd5 34.g3 Be8 35.h4 g5 36.Kd2 gxh4 37.gxh4 Bd7 38.Ke3 Be8 39.Be2 Bd7 40.Bd3 Be8 41.Bf1 Bd7 42.Bd3, draw.

Ippolito Sets World Record Association Mark

On Saturday, IM Dean Ippolito played a simul in Raritan against 91 rated players, short of the Guinness world record of 135 but good enough to establish a new record with the World Record Association.

Dutch Defense

Dean Ippolito (USCF 2555) - Jim West (USCF 2200), World Record Event 4/9/2011

1.Nf3 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.d4 e6 6.O-O a5 7.Nc3 Bb4 8.Bd2 O-O


9.Rc1 Bxc3 10.Bxc3 Ne4 11.d5 Na6 12.Bd4 Nac5 13.Nd2 Nxd2 14.Qxd2 Qe7 15.Rfd1 d6 16.Bxc5 bxc5 17.dxe6 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Qxe6, draw.