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Chess Notes

Weekly chess column

Following her litigation with the US Chess Federation over e-mails and her resignation from its executive board, Susan Polgar found increasing opportunities for her broad chess education program at Webster College in Missouri. She moved close to the St. Louis Chess Club and the World Chess Hall of Fame, both of which are supported by philanthropist Rex Sinqefield. The St. Louis club hosts the annual US Chess Federation convention and the US Championships.

When Polgar moved from Texas Tech University, she left a managerial vacuum there. However, Texas Tech has hired Al Lawrence (formerly USCF executive director) as the new overseer of the chess program and Grandmaster Alex Onischuk as its coach. So Texas Tech will continue to be a strong center for collegiate chess activity.

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Susan’s programs have a substantial effect on US chess. This fact was pretty well established at the 113th US Open Championship, Aug. 4-12, in Vancouver, Wash. There, in a historic manner, the Webster team swept all three main titles: the Open, the Blitz, and the G/15.

Manuel Leon Hoyos of Webster won the US Open Championship after he tied for the lead in the final round by drawing with Yasser Seirawan. He won the playoff against Grandmaster Dmitry Gurevich of Chicago and John Bryant of California. Hoyos is the highest-rated player from Mexico and is the Mexican champion. The Webster team has a global touch. Andre Diamant, who won the Blitz Championship, is a 21-year-old grandmaster, the Brazilian champion in 2008 and 2009, arriving at Webster from the A Hebraica Chess Club in Sao Paulo. Rounding out the sweep was the Israeli, Vitaly Neimer, who tied Diamant for the Game/15 Championship. Neimer is a recent arrival to Webster.

The USCF has made substantial financial progress, according to Lawrence. After spending large sums on the Polgar litigation and moving most of its publications to the Internet, Lawrence says it has turned around its operation and reports a $250,000 profit for 2011-2012. The USCF applied for 501(c)(3) charitable status about 30 years ago and was turned down, receiving only a civic classification. This rejection resulted in the creation of the US Chess Trust, which has generally supported USCF events. The USCF is once against applying for charitable status and expects to get it this time, enabling it to receive tax-deductible contributions in the same manner as the trust.

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This month brings the World Olympiads, in which the United States has entered a team of Hikaru Nakamura, Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk, Varuzhan Akobian, and Ray Robson. The US Chess League also started this month.

Brevity: D. Navara v. T. Nyback (1997) 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Bc4 Nc6 8.f3 Qb6 9.Bb5 Nd7 10.Nd5 Qa5+ 11.b4 Nxb4 12.Bd2 Nxc2+ 13.Qxc2; 1-0

Winners: Boylston CC, Aug GP; 1st, Zongyuan Yuan 4-0, 2d-5th Michelle Chen, Amrit Gupta, Arthur Tang and Oliver Traldi, 3-1; Waltham Aug. G/40, 1st – 2d, Denys Shmelov and Steven Winer, 3-0, 3d, Ross Eldridge, 2.5-.5.


Coming Events: Wachusett CC, Larry Eldridge 80-Year Tribute, Sept. 12, 19, 26, Oct.3, 10
McKay Campus School, Room C159, Fitchburg State University, 67 Rindge Road, Fitchburg, mirling@aol.com; Sept. 21, Waltham CC, Day of Peace! Game/40. www.walthamchessclub.org.