News
Blaze Win Season Opener
- Details
- Created: 24 August 2010 24 August 2010
The Blaze, Chicago's chess team, won its season opener Monday night against the Seattle Sluggers. This is the team's third season playing in the U.S. Chess League, which has teams in 16 cities across the country, and is the first time it won its opening week match. GM Dmitry Gurevich made his team debut at Board 1, coming up with a clutch win to put the Blaze on top, with 2.5 points to 1.5 points. Go to the Blaze blog to read more about the match. Regular season play will continue for the next 9 weeks at the brand new North American Chess Association North Shore Chess Center, at 5500 W. Touhy, Suite A, Skokie. Spectators are welcome to come watch, or better yet, to participate in a G15 fundraising tournament held in conjunction with every Blaze match. Go the the official Blaze website for more information.
2010 World Amateur Chess Championship
- Details
- Written by Mark Parnaby Mark Parnaby
- Created: 28 April 2010 28 April 2010
Around 120 chess players gathered in the Holiday Inn Skokie for the 2010 World Amateur Chess Championship. As indicated by the name, only amateurs were eligible to participate--players with no FIDE rating (the great majority of the contestants) or a FIDE rating below 2000. A player's national rating also had to be commensurate with his/her amateur status.
Not surprisingly, most of the contestants were from the US, but the event had an international flair nonetheless, with countries from Canada and Colombia to Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia represented, among others. A number of languages could be heard, and some international players handed tiny replicas of their country's flags to their opponents.
25 Years Ago Today ...
- Details
- Created: 08 April 2010 08 April 2010
Check out this article in the New York Times, published April 8, 1985, about a hard-fought game played by Chicago GM Dmitry Gurevich (then a resident of Brooklyn) against an up-and-coming 15-year-old girl.
Jon Burgess wins Greater Peoria Open
- Details
- Created: 30 March 2010 30 March 2010
Over the weekend of 3/26 - 3/27 the Greater Peoria Open was held over 2 days. The tournament was attended by 32 players of all different ages and strengths. 1 Master myself and 2 Experts took part. The time control was Game in 2 hours with a 5 second delay which was interesting and produced many high quality games.
The tournament was 5 rounds and everyone played in one section. The organizer Wayne informed me that this was the 46th year the tournament had been run which is an amazing achievement in itself.
The tournament was held as usual at the Lakeview Museum in Peoria. The playing site is very nice and everyone is very friendly. I met many players down there who knew me. Peoria is also a nice place to stay at for the weekend.
Andrew D Hubbard wins the World Amateur Championship
- Details
- Created: 26 March 2010 26 March 2010
The world Amateur Championship finished last night at the Holiday Inn (Skokie). 124 players took part in the event. The event was restricted to people who were rated less than 2000 FIDE and also those who had no FIDE rating.
Up for grabs in the tournament was $3000 for first along with the FM title from FIDE and a 2200 FIDE rating automatically given. The highest female got the WFM title and a FIDE rating of 2050.
Also on offer were two scholarships to Texas Tech valued up to $36,000 for the top male and female participants, donated by Texas Tech.
After a grueling 9 rounds of play Andrew D Hubbard from IL appeared on top with 7.5/9. Six wins and three draws ensured a top place finish. Andrew gets the $3000 and the FM title along with a 2200 FIDE rating.
The top female was Yun Fan who takes the WFM title along with $1000 for being the top female.