Weibel Chess: October 2015

Sunday, October 18, 2015

International Master Emory Tate's Untimely Death

I have been wondering how to express my sorrow on the untimely death of one of our chess instructor's Emory Tate. A former instructor and friend, Frisco DelRosario, who was at the chess tournament yesterday, wrote on his Facebook page and it gave me an opportunity to let my words flow. Here is most of my eulogy:
"Emory was a great tactician, not just in chess but in humor. He called me every few nights in recent weeks as he felt lonely in his Newark apartment "staring at the blank walls." I listened to his stories that he interjected with humor while testing out his expansive vocabulary on me. Each time I had to beg his forgiveness to get back to work.   My biggest challenge right now is what to say, if anything, to his class and the other students at Weibel. I taught for 52 years before I retired three years ago, but they were adults or teenagers. I have never had to inform very young students about the death of someone. Just a day or two back Emory told me that the five board blindfold simul he did at our National Chess Day celebration was one of the hardest things he has done in a long time. He did an analysis the next day of a couple of the games from memory. With his permission I added one to a story I posted on our event. I had selected his drawn game. I told him I did not mention that he lost one game. He blasted me as he said that he felt that a chess player should never hide or be embarrassed by his loses. That was the Emory I knew for too short a time. Here is the drawn game and perhaps Emory's final annotation: WITH SOME DIFFICULTY I RECONSTRUCTED MY 5-BOARD SIMUL OF TODAY... CHESS DAY. OCT 10TH. IT IS BETTER WITH NOTES.. SO I WILL NOW ANNOTATE FROM MY VIEWPOINT. VIEWPOINT? I CANNOT SEE.
LOL
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4 Nf6 Ng5 (I decide to lunge in, I had no idea of the rating of my opponents or their knowledge of theory) d5 ed Na5 Bb5+ c6 dc bc (now I realized that I was a bit messed up, because black has played this at the highest grandmaster levels and holds well.. I knew that my opponent had skill and knowledge.) Deep breath. Now Qf3. I play a move which I do not understand, only to try for tactical confusion. Bb7 a calm response... showing that white is not really attacking, rather defending. Be2 (played after some thought.. maybe ba4, but the positional nature of such a move promises a very long game. With 5 simulatneous games and no eyesight, long positional struggles are my enemy. I must invite risk. h6 (not to dissapoint my young opponent puts me on my 'back foot". Ne4 Ne4 Qe4 ( I made a clean escape with an extra pawn... and I await tactics). Qf6 (an aggressive queen sally) d4! Top form move.   bd6 f4 (oops) I am losing control after my opponent shocks me with his next.. Better moves exist. In particular, Expert Francisco Anchondo (and his new dog) sugggest Bd2 with super-strong play. c5!! (breaking my strategy, and now the California heat is making me sweat, just a bit Qe3 cd4 (the famous Zwischenzug.. in between move.. I am in critical condition here on board one.) Bb5+ A Zwischenshach of my own!   bc6 Qe4! ( a move played to sew confusion!!! Most blindfold players would have a hard time seeing it. My opponent even stuttered (Qe4?) Yes. and the battle continued. Rc8 (A mature move) fe Qe5 Qe5 Be5Bc6 Nc6 (I feared Rc6 more but I was prepared to resist.. maybe even Kd1? I do not use computers, before or after, so I am not sure.) Bd2 AND I was happy to see the Queens disappear... I offered a draw with my last analysis running d3 c3 Nb4 (tactics) Na3 with approximate balance. Finally, had black decided to castle short.. I had Na3.. Knight on the rim, but holding on to life. Yes, I saw this. Draw agreed!"

While Emory remembered the blindfold games he played he could not recall the names of the players. I just learned that the individual he drew was one of the Weibel sixth grade players who transferred to our school from Cupertino this year--Rithwik Narendra, rating 1483. I predict that if he stays with chess for the next few years he will be another of our Weibel players to achieve the Chess Master title. I am sorry Emory won't be around to congratulate him.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

NATIONAL CHESS DAY AT WEIBEL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN FREMONT, CA: A RESOUNDING SUCCESS

Hundreds of children and adults attended Saturday’s, October 10, 2015, National Chess Day at Weibel Elementary School in Fremont, California, the mecca of scholastic chess in Northern California. While all the outdoor chess activities were free there was a small charge for the Weibel Ch
ess Quads, an annual Fall event for the last fifteen years. I made one change this year. I did not charge for any player who had never attended a U.S. Chess Federation tournament before. All they had to do was join the U.S.C.F. To be honest, I was disappointed that I did not have many takers. The Quads drew 180 players. About the same I have had for many years. This helped cover the cost of all the free events.

NorCal House of Chess, this year’s U.S.C.F. Chess Club of the year, helped out by supplying not only 15 tables for our stations, but also brought along two Grand Masters to analyze games—GM Sevillano and GM Oliver Barbosa. I
missed Ted Castro, the owner of the NorCal House of Chess. Ted was in Las Vegas attempting to win some money in the Millionaire Chess Competition. I owe a lot to Demetrius Goins, Director of the Shoreview Chess Club, who supplied the truck I used to haul equipment to and from the school. Two other Clubs set up stations, Hanley’s Chess Academy and Torres Chess and Music Academy. Hanley’s Chess Academy has recently made a presence in Northern California from their base in Southern California. Chris Torres, the owner of the Chess and Music Program, brought the Susan Polgar Foundation National Open for Boys and Girls to the Bay Area last year and will again this year. I have it from a reliable source that there might be some even bigger news from the Torres Chess and Music Academy for the chess world in a few months.

A few other chess celebrities were present. Jay Stalling, here from Southern California, set up a table to exhibit his Chess Academy program for scholastic players. His booth was crowded all day long. Hal Bogner, co-founder of Chess Magnet School, came by. NM Eric Schiller came to not only sell his numerous books, but to give a lesson on the Morra Gambit. Frisco Del Rosario, author of the First Book of Morphy and Capablanca, A Primer of Checkmate drew students to his usual inspiring presentation. IM Emory Tate played a blindfold simul against five individuals. I have added his commentary on a draw he received below. NM and FWM Uyanga Byambaa went over chess games and taught chess to beginners and advanced players during the day. She was not alone as other stations were staffed by some of our outstanding Northern California coaches and teachers.

Eswaran Ramalingam and his staff introduced XCELL Chess to t
he public for one of the first viewings. XCELL Chess is a new online all-encompassing chess program. This program when completed will provide about everything a chess student, a chess player, a chess parent, a chess coach and chess tournament director will need to improve their activities. I am excitedly awaiting its appearance because one of the things I have been missing is a program that works with my Mac computers that can also transmit information in real time to those participating in a tournament.

One of the most popular, if not the most popular activity, was the Chinese Chess booth. Two parents, Rob Chan and Mike Show, explained and taught Chinese Chess to a myriad of ethnic people who came by. One of my favorite tables, staffed by Rob’s Daughter Angela Chan, was Celtic Chess. I just loved seeing the Isle of Lewis Chessmen being played in a board with concentric circles. I wish I had had time to sit down and learn to play this early variation of chess. I used a DGT board to transmit the top board in our Quads to an outside audience as analysis of the game in progress was done. One of those analyzing the games was a former Weibel student Kevin Moy. Kevin, whose top rating was 2180, also did a simul that was open to twelve players. Chenyi Zhao, a current sixth grade student at Weibel whose top rating is 1917, played her first ever simul. Neither Kevin nor Chenyi lost a game. Chenyi defeated a National Master in her simul debut.

I could go on until I bore you totally with my thanks to those that made Saturday, October 10, 2015 an exciting National Chess Day in Northern California. I beg forgiveness for not mentioning everyone and all their contributions, but there are two more person who without their help this great event would not have taken place: Tigran Darbinyan, my trusted Assistant and Christy Lin, the parent coordinator and excellent mapmaker. Christy produced a site map of the day’s activities that was posted large at the site and was available to those who came by to help us celebrate.