This sounds like good news for the Weibel Chess community, but sadly I do not think it will come to pass.  I just received an e-mail that Salman Azhar sent to the CalChess Board expressing his intent to resign from the Board and no longer run Bay Area Chess or work at scholastic tournaments.  Since there was nothing in the e-mail that said it was confidential, I am willing to share his words with you. He said: “i will be stepping down from my calchess board position in the thanksgiving meeting - I am also stepping down from Bayareachess as well and donating money to fund my replacement.” (sic – typos are his)

First, let me tell you that I did not receive the e-mail through any CalChess Board member.  Years back, during a period like this when I was not on the CalChess Board, the President of CalChess at that time cried about how I was getting copies of their “private” e-mails.  The President was convinced a Board member was leaking e-mails to me and was a traitor to the cause.  I received them, as I always have, because CalChess Board members pass them on to their friends and colleagues who do the same.  Well, sooner or later they get passed on to me.

Second, it sounds like good news because if I believed it were true it would mean that the Weibel parents’ vote to not attend any events Salman ran would be moot.

Third, if I were a  Texas Hold’em betting man I would place everything all in that Salman Azhar will not resign.  I guess he could resign and then rescind it because someone says he is needed.  Then there is another scenario that the Board could refuse his resignation.  He could then say he would accept the wisdom of their decision and stay on. Salman, in my sincere opinion, is the kind of individual who wants people to beg him to remain on so he can feel needed.  I have heard him make such empty promises to resign/quit/leave before and none of them have come to pass. Translation, do not get your hopes up. 

He wrote in his letter to the CalChess Board: “Please forgive me if there were any shortcomings in my work.”  I am sure the three Weibel families, who filed charges against his “any” short comings, are smiling.  I am also sure that they are wondering why he never had the courage to contact them to ask their forgiveness for his verbal attacks on their families and the whole Weibel team.  He continues: “I tried my best to run quality events with the highest integrity.”  Need I say anything about his integrity to those of you who attended the CalChess Grade Level last year?  For any of you who are new this year to the Weibel Team and want an account of what occurred you can read one at the bottom of the following linked page (post #235943): http://www.uschess.org/forums/viewtopic.php&f=24&t=17126

When Dr. Azhar finally leaves the scholastic chess scene, I will happily to write an epitaph detailing and praising his positive contributions to our community.  At the time, I will follow the old adage “to not speak ill of the dead.” 

Lectures and stuff

GM-elect Enrico Sevillano will be at the Norcal House of Chess tonight, Friday 10/26 to give a lecture and do a Q&A from 6:00pm until 6:30pm.

On Monday 10/29, IM Elliot Winslow will be lecturing and giving a simul at the Let's Play Chess Club starting at 6pm.   http://www.chessthings.com/flyer.php

also a final reminder to please attend one or more the following tournaments this weekend - either the Build-A-Home Fundraiser scholastic chess tournament at Ted Castro's Norcal House of Chess Saturday morning (suitable for players U1500),  Albert Rich's Cupertino Quads Saturday afternoon (suitable for players U1100), and/or the US G/60 tournament on Sunday in Pleasanton (players over 1000), which also has a side event for players under 1000.  The Grade Levels tournament, which will be held at the same Pleasanton location as the US G/60 Nationals, is a little over 6 weeks away and by the end of October everyone should have some tournament experience.

Chess problem solving contest

The Let's Play Chess Club in Santa Clara is having a chess problem solving contest on Monday October 22.

The championship is free and runs from 7-9pm. 3 rounds, 15 total problems, each problem is graded on a 5 point scale (partial credit if you get close). Open to K-12 students. The winner will take home an atypically nice trophy!

LPCC is located at:

Resurrection Lutheran Church

2495 Cabrillo Avenue

Santa Clara, CA 

 http://chessthings.com/flyer.php

Norcal House of Chess activities for the rest of the month

I. FRIDAY KNIGHT MARATHON (2nd round) starts on 10-19-2012.

more info here:  http://norcalhouseofchess.com/?page_id=9

II. NHC SCHOLASTIC SWISS 10-21-2012

October 21st at NorCal House of Chess

U1500 4 rounds, G/4; U1000 & U500 sections, 5 rounds, G/30; Entry fee is $30.00 ($27.00 for NHC members). Starts at 10:15 a.m.

 

Under 1500, G/45, 4 rounds Round times: 10:15, 12:30, 2:15 & 4:00 pm. Under 1000 and Under 500, G/30, 5 rounds Round times: 10:15, 11:30, 1:30, 2:45 & 4:00 pm.Trophies for Top 5 winners of each section. Byes are available, if requested before rd. 3. Rounds can start early if both players agree.

http://norcalhouseofchess.com/?page_id=9

III. BUILD-A-HOME-SCHOLASTIC FUNDRAISER

On October 27th, 2012 join us at NorCal for an exciting fundraiser tournament, to help build homes in impoverished parts of Mexico! All proceeds go to the DOXA organization, a team headquartered in Seattle, WA that goes to Mexico to build homes for the needy. This is a great opportunity for kids to have fun playing chess and help build their USCF rating, while also donating to the people in need! More info about the organization DOXA at: http://doxaserves.org/. First game starts at 10:15 am! Tournament for scholastic players under 1500. Time contol: G/45, d5. One section, Under 1500. Trophies and medals will be awarded to winners and participants. $30, but $25 if you are an NHC member. Two 1/2 point byes can be issued if requested before the 2nd round.Round times: All games on 10/27. 10:15 am, 12:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 4:00 pm

TD/Contact: Vikram Ganesh.
Contact norcalhouseofchess@gmail.com

some terminology for new players

Every year I get hit with many of the same questions from parents who have kids who are new to chess.  So I thought I'd lay them out.  Sometimese these topics are not easily searchable.

What does Pxx (eg. P3 or P15) in the rating mean?  A P in the rating means "provisional".  The USCF gives you a provisional rating until you have played 25 rated games.  In layman's terms what this means is that the rating can rise or fall dramatically, until the person has played 25 rated games.  In some cases, players who have very high provisional ratings get the rating because they have played other provisional-rated players.  Also, a person who has played fewer than 4 rated games is still considered to be unrated, and as such, should be paired as an unrated.  This comes into play only in Quads tournaments, where pairings are based on one's rating.

How are ratings calculated?  this is a tough one to answer precisely.  The mathematical formula uses the Elo rating system which is the same system used to calculate ratings in other sports such as the BCS polls in college football.  Generally speaking you gain rating points by winning and lose rating points by losing, but you gain more points by beating someone much higher rated than you than if you beat someone with a lower rating.  And vice versa.

What's the difference between a Quad and a Swiss?  A Quad is a modified form of a round-robin.  4 players are put together in a group, and these 4 players play each other.  Usually, they are grouped based on their rating. A Swiss tournament is a format where the pairing is determined before a round starts.  Generally speaking, it is based on 1) how many points (wins, draws, losses) they have at the time, and 2) their rating.  What color they have played also is a factor at times but I'll explain that some other time.  The way the pairing would go is that all the players with a certain score is grouped, and then matched based on their rating.  So lets say that 6 players have 1 points after round 1.  The pairing for round 2 would go like this - the players are ordered by rating. Then Player 1 (the player with the highest rating) would play Player 4 (the player with the 4th highest rating).  Player 2 would play Player 5 and Player 3 would play Player 6.  As you can see, the group is divided in half and players from the top half play players from the bottom half.

So what does this mean from a practicial perspective?  It means that as you win, you generally play a higher-rated player, and if you lose, you play a lower-rated player.  Of course, upsets do occur frequently, so this may not be the case.  But generally speaking, we encourage players to play in more Swiss tournaments because it gives the player a chance to really test their ceiling if they are having a good tournament - something that probably doesn't happen in a Quads tournament.

There are a number of Swiss scholastic tournaments coming up - Norcal House of Chess has one on Sunday, and there is the G/30 and G/60 championships next Saturday and Sunday in Pleasanton.  Please try and make as many of these tournaments as possible.  This is good practice for our upcoming first required tournament, which is the Grade Level tournament in Pleasanton in December. Look at the blog on the right for more info.

What does G/30 and G/60 mean?  G/30 means "game in 30".   The number represents the number of minutes.  Each player gets 30 minutes for the game.  If the players are using a digital clock, the norm nowadays is that there is a delay of 5 seconds between each move.  This is so that the player can write their move down in those 5 seconds.  Sometimes you see a tournament listed as SD/1.  This means "sudden death in 1 hour".  The sudden death simply means that the game is over when the hour is over (in this case).

Can I take a bye in a Quad?  no, you cannot.  That would mess up the pairings, as someone would not have an opponent, which is not fair.  The pairings have already been pre-arranged at the beginning of the tournament.  If you child has a soccer game or dental appointment during the middle of a Quads tournament, don't sign up for the tournament.

What is a bye? Can I take a bye in a Swiss?  yes you may.  A bye means that you skip that round.  If the tournament director is notified ahead of time, usually the person gets a 1/2 point for that bye.  Sometimes the person will get 0 points depending on circumstances.   The good thing about Swiss tournaments is that if you have a need to skip a round, or even two rounds, because of a conflict, it is no problem - notify the tournament director in advance.

National Chess Day schedule for Weibel Quads

Here is the current schedule of events for Saturday October 13, National Chess Day.  As usual, please check in before 9:30am to ensure that you will be paired.

Tournament Times
U900 Schedule, in the MUR, G/30
Round Times:  10:15am, 11:30am, 1:00pm

900-1299 Schedule, in the Classrooms, G/45
Round Times 10:15am, 12:00pm, 02:00pm

1300+ Schedule, at Norcal House of Chess, .7 miles west of Weibel Elementary, G/75
Round Times: 10:15am, 01:00pm, 03:45pm

Simuls
Expert and World Youth attendee 12 year old Kevin Moy simul - 10:30am in the courtyard outside Rm 23
World Youth attendee 10 year old Joanna Liu simul - 12:30pm in the courtyard outside Rm 23

We are trying to collect money for both Kevin and Joanna to help defray their costs for going over to Europe to play in the World Youth tournament next month.  Please give generously.


Lecture, Demonstrations and/or going over games on the giant board (location TBD):
10:30am - NM Hayk Manvelyan
12:00pm - WFM Uyanga Byambaa
01:00pm - IM Ricardo de Guzman
02:00pm - Expert Frisco Del Rosario (author of First Book of Morphy)

Feel free to bring your games over for them to evaluate.  Games should be legible and complete.

In addition, these coaches will also be going over games throughout the day.  Over at the Norcal House of Chess where the 1300+ games are going on, IM-elect Ronald Cusi and Vikram Ganesh will be going over games, along with the head of Norcal House of Chess Ted Castro.

There may be last minute additions (another simul, a bookseller, etc) so stay tuned.

National Chess Day and Weibel Quads

October 13 is National Chess Day.  Since the Weibel Quads is going to be held on October 13, a couple of extra events and attractions will take place during this tournament.

First of all, the tournament itself - this year, the Quads is split up into two tournaments at two different locations, the U1300 version of the Quads which is at Weibel Elementary, and the 1300+ version of the Quads, which this year will be held nearby, less than a mile west on Grimmer at the new Norcal House of Chess.

Registration here and Advanced Entries here.

There will also be two simultaneous exhibitions given by the two players from Fremont who will be representing the USA at the World Youth tournament in Slovenia in November, Kevin Moy and Joanna Liu.  Both are former attendees of Weibel Elementary.  Also, numerous members of the Weibel coaching staff and Norcal House of Chess staff will be on hand to go over games with the children.  Among the members who will be present - IM Ricardo De Guzman, FM Ronald Cusi, WFM Uyanga Byambaa, and Expert Francisco Anchondo.  There may be other chess-related activites going on throughout the day, so stay tuned.

Norcal House of Chess activities and tournaments this weekend

I. SIMULTANEOUS EXHIBITION by youngest Chess Master in the US history.

This Friday (October 5), NorCal House of Chess will conduct a simultaneous exhibition by the youngest chess master in the US history, Samuel Sevian. He crossed 2200 rating at age 9! Interestingly, he did this impressive feat in our very own tournament, NHC Open couple of years ago. His current rating is 2446! He also has 2 IM norms and needs only one more to become an International Master. He will be joined by his dad, who is also a strong player. Before the simul, we will have a 30-minute segment for question/answer for both Sam and his dad Armen. Please come and join us. Seats are limited so please email us if you want to participate in this event.

Simultaneous exhibition $ 17.00 ($ 15.00 for NHC members).  We will start the event at 6:15 pm. Please come at our new location: 48002 Osgood Road, Fremont, CA 94539. For more info, please go to our website at www.norcalhouseofchess.com.

 

II. OCTOBERFEST (October 6 & 7, 2012) g/75 at NHC

5-SS, G/75, NorCal House of Chess 44802 Osgood Road, Fremont, CA 94539.

$$ 1,000 based on 50 fully paid entries in 3 sections. Class prizes/sections will be adjusted accordingly depending on the number of entrants.

 

SIDE EVENT: BLITZ TOURNAMENT

$ 15.00 entry fee

G/5; 5 rounds (2 games each)

80% of the total amount will be given away.

4:30-6:30 pm October 7 (Sunday)