LCCC Meeting in Spite of NCAA Basketball 2022 Final - Vince V Wins the 2022 Fischer Random Club Title

2022 Fischer Random Club Chess Champion Vince V., giving a chess lesson to an aspiring Grandmaster at our old location.

We will be at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Brighton MI at the Green Oak Shopping Center until they need tables for college basketball slappies.

[Ed. Note: Slappie - noun - A person who is an un-apologetic fan of a team or activity. Sentence: "He plays golf even in a cold rain because he is a golf slappie." Or, "He sure slaps it up for the fill in Team Name here."] 

Not positive, but I think the term started because you will see these types of folks 'high fiving' each other every time their team does anything positive. Wolverine football slappies actually pop Dom Perignon champaign corks, after high fiving for every 1st down. Spartan slappies, high five, then add to or change their tobacco chaw every time they see the Sparty mascot. But I digress.

Anyway, us chess slappies (we slap chess clock buttons) will start casual chess night at 4pm and run until 9pm or so. Stop on by!

Now a word about our 2022 Fischer Random Club Chess Champion Vince V. He used what is known in chess circles as the Swiss Gambit to win this tournament. That, and some fine chess playing. 

He took a bye in the first round getting him a half point. 

What this does, is it USUALLY gets you slightly lower ranked players for the rest of the rounds. You never have to play an undefeated player until the very last round, because you are not undefeated. Then, if you win that last round, you catapult over the top of the undefeated player by that sneaky half point.

 It works, unless there is another undefeated player that also won the last round, or you lose the last round. 

There wasn't and Vince didn't. Congratulations Vince!

Two Great Players You Never Heard Of - and LCCC Random 960 Final Monday!

 

LCCC will be back at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Brighton, MI this coming Monday March 21, 2022 from 4pm until 10pm. Stop by for some chess! There will be players available for a casual game.

But our Fischer Random 960 Tournament final round will also be played. Here are the final pairings. The first player listed is playing the White pieces;

Board 1 – Paul M – Vince V

Board 2 – Sam T – Pete B

Board 3 – Mike N – Ken T

Board 4 – Jeff S – AJ E

Board 5 – Jim G – Leo B

Board 6 – Frank F – Levi T

Board 7 – Mary B – Charlie S

Thank you to all the participants!

Now a little remembrance article. I like to call out great chess players that faded away from even most of even the most ardent chess players. And there are many of them. Here are just two.

About 188 years ago was the last match between two of the best players of their era – Louis de Bourdonnais of France and Alexander MacDonnell of Ireland. Their matches were a rivalry of styles and of countries. Each nation behind their guy completely.

In all, there were six individual matches over a span of less than 6 months in 1834. 85 games in all. MacDonnell has a variation of the King’s Gambit named after him as he introduced it in these matches.

Match 1: Louis de Bourdonnais 16      MacDonnell 5          Drawn 4

Match 2: Louis de Bourdonnais 4          MacDonnell 5         Drawn 0

Match 3: Louis de Bourdonnais 6        MacDonnell 5          Drawn  1

Match 4: Louis de Bourdonnais   8       MacDonnell 3          Drawn  7

Match 5: Louis de Bourdonnais   7        MacDonnell 4          Drawn  4

Match 6: Louis de Bourdonnais   4          MacDonnell 5          Drawn  0

The sixth match was not completed as MacDonnell was hospitalized with kidney disease and he died. How much the health of the frail MacDonnell played in his losses is open for debate. But both men were considered the two best at that time.

Many impartial chess experts said that MacDonnell was starting to turn the tide in their rivalry, even with his declining health. But posterity seems it was justifiable to heap most of the praise on de Bourdonnais, and that really cannot be argued with the results given.

MacDonnell was buried in London’s Kensal Green Cemetery. When Louis de Bourdonnais died penniless 6 years later in 1840, leading chess players made arrangements for him to be buried near his rival.

If you get a chance to, play over some of the games between them. Two men, the best at their craft at that time, playing mostly for the love of the game.

LCCC Meets This Monday - 960 Tournament Continues - And Meet the 14th Chess World Champion!

 

Come on by the Buffalo Wild Wings, in Brighton, Michigan for chess! Casual chess will still be played this Monday, March 7, starting at 4pm until approximately 10pm. However, we also have a Fischer Random 960 tournament going on! It will start at 6:30pm or earlier, if the players are there and want to get started. Or a little later if folks can’t make exactly at 6:30. Our club is very player friendly! Here are the pairings for Round 3. The player listed first is playing the White pieces:

Board 1: Mike N – Paul M

Board 2: Ken T – Levi T

Board 3: Sam T- AJ E

Board 4: Pete B – Jeff S

Board 5: Vince V – Mary B

Board 6: Frank F – Leo B

Board 7: Jim G – Charlie S

Stop on by to play or to watch the action!

Now meet the 14^th Chess World Champion!

Alexander Valerievich Khalifman (see photo) was born on January 18, 1966, in Leningrad. Khalifman is of Jewish descent. When he was six years old, his father taught him the game. From there, he became the FIDE World Chess Champion from 1999-2000.

Khalifman studied in the mathematics and mechanics department at Leningrad State University. He served in the Russian army. He is married and has a daughter.

His first trainer was Vassily Byvshev. Later he worked for many years with a Honored Trainer of the Russian Federation, Gennady Nesis. Alexander achieved his first major successes in youth chess. He was the two-time junior champion of the USSR (1982, 1984) and junior champion of Europe in 1985. Among the titles he has won in official competitions are: two-time champion of Saint Petersburg in 1996-97, champion of Russia in 1996, member of the winning Russian world championship team in 1997, and a member of the winning Olympiad teams in 1992, 2000, and 2002.

He achieved the title of International Master in 1986 and became a Grandmaster in 1990. His highest FIDE rating was 2702 (October 2001, January 2003, April 2003). His current FIDE rating is 2625.

He was a participant in the Candidates’ matches in 1994. He has been the victor or a prizewinner in many international tournaments, among them Plovdiv 1986 (3), Dordrecht 1988 (1), Moscow 1990 (1), Groningen 1990 (1), New York Open 1990 (1), London 1991 (1), Ter Apel 1993 (1), Rakvere 1993 (1), Elenite 1994 (1), St. Petersburg 1995 (1), Hastings 1995 (1), Bad Worishofen 1996 (1), Ischia 1996 (1), St. Petersburg 1997 (1), Aarhus 1997 (1), Hoogoven 2000 (1), Kazan 2005 (1) (sharing first place in the premier league of the Russian championship) and others.

His greatest success was his victory in the FIDE World Championship in Las Vegas (USA) in 1999, a tournament in which practically all of the strongest players in the world participated, with the exception of Kasparov and Anand. The tournament was conducted by the knockout system.  After winning the title of FIDE World Champion the Petersburg grandmaster admitted, “I always knew that someday I would be first!”

Alexander Khalifman is a famous chess theoretician and writer. He is the author of the popular series of opening books, “The Opening for White According to Anand” (analysis of the move 1. e4, in 12 volumes) and “The Opening for White According to Kramnik” (analysis of the move 1. Nf3, in 3 volumes), which have also been translated into English.

He is the co-author, with G. Nesis, of the books “Tactics in the Grunfeld Defense” and “Tactics in the French Defense“. He has written numerous columns, which have been published in practically all the leading chess periodicals of the world.

 Below Khalifman is interviewed for a Russian chess magazine.

 To promote children’s chess – what applied skills of chess education do you consider the most significant?

Chess is fairly unique for the precise reason that it teaches you to think. Most subjects taught in school only weigh your memory down with information, without giving you the skills of independent mental work. Even the solution of physical or mathematical problems most of the time can be reduced to one standard algorithm or another.

But chess teaches you to think, and not only that, does it in a playful form that is very natural for children. And at the same time, it brings you face to face with a very concrete result.

Your most memorable game?

Now I have to talk about missed opportunities after all. I was 20 years old, and several rounds before the end of the USSR Championship (Kiev, 1986) I played a good game and had a simple win against the respected GM Vitaly Valerievich Tseshkovsky. If I had won, I would have moved into first place. Alas, I lost the game, and after that I fell apart at the finish. You would think that was all long ago, but it still bothers me to this day.

Tell us, please, about your most memorable victory and most painful loss!

The most painful loss was against Tseshkovsky (USSR Championship, 1986), and the most memorable victory was my draw in the 6th game of the match with Akopian (Las Vegas, 1999). For several days after the defeat against Tseshkovsky I would even wake up, as in “Groundhog Day”, hoping that it was only a bad dream, and today I would play the game as it ought to be played. Unfortunately, it was not a dream… But after the game with Akopian, such a feeling cannot be described. I was happy that this happened to me.”

Is your style more tactical than positional? How would you assess your style of play in chess (brilliant tactician, strategist, attacker, defender, etc.)?

My style is more universal than either of the categories you just named. The absence of even the smallest apparent talent always forced me to play off my opponent, in other words, to play in that style that would be most uncomfortable for that particular opponent in that particular game. That’s difficult work, of course, but at times it didn’t work out badly. I tried to be a universal player and act in a fashion that would be maximally uncomfortable for the concrete opponent.

After this victory, did you consider yourself an equal classical champion in the line beginning with Steinitz-Lasker- … up to Kasparov, or did you somewhere in your heart of hearts understand that it wasn’t so? [Ed. Note: Brutal question. The interviewer is asking, ‘do you rightfully consider yourself the weakest World Champion of all time, or are you lying to yourself?’]

Thank you for your undoubtedly good intentions, but it never even came into my head to consider myself the equal of Steinitz. He defeated Zukertort, but I had to master Kamsky, Gelfand, and Polgar. Now compare. In my perhaps uneducated opinion, a world chess champion should prove his superiority not only over one outstanding challenger, but over others who are, perhaps, equally outstanding.

I do not idealize the knockout system and I do not even have any thought of considering myself a great chess player, but nevertheless the ideal system for awarding the world championship has not yet been invented. [Ed. Note: An absolutely beautiful answer to a boorish question.]

Whose games, among the former world champions, created the strongest impression on you?

You can learn something from all of them, but if I had to choose the absolute favorites, it would probably be Fischer and Tal.

LCCC Meets This Monday - and Happy Birthday Boris Spassky!

Come on by this Monday at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Brighton, Michigan for our next meeting. Casual chess is still available from 4pm until 10pm. But our 2022 Fischer Random 960 tournament continues. You can still enter this tournament (no cost) and we do have a player without an opponent for the next round so, there you go!

Here are the pairings for the next round. You have White if you are the first name:

Board 1: Paul M – Ken T

Board 2: Pete B – Mike N

Board 3: Levi T – Vince V

Board 4: Mary B – AJ E

Board 5: Sam T – Jim G

Board 6: Charlie S – Jeff S

Board 7: Leo B -  TBD or Bye

Stop by to play or to watch some alternative chess action!

In honor of Boris Spassky's birthday, here are some insights into a great chess player and human being!

Boris Spassky turned 87 on January 30^th. One of the finest chess players to ever live and a true sportsman in every sense of the word. Even Bobby Fischer, who hated the Russians, praised Spassky as a true champion and great man. I have played over many of his games and am amazed at his talent.

People forget history or are not correctly taught it (so we are doomed to repeat it, but I digress). But Bobby Fischer lost to Boris Spassky in the first game of the biggest World Chess Championship the world has ever seen. Then, Fischer being Fischer did not show up for game two.  He claimed there was too much noise in the playing hall from the television cameras and does not show up for Round 2. Spassky leads 2 – 0.

Fischer demanded that from now on, the games be played in what was basically a closet off the main stage for privacy and silence. This of course was out of the question to the sponsors, the organizers and of course the Russian government! It looked like Spassky would go up 3 – 0 and probably win the match on forfeit. All he had to do to remain world champion was show up at the chessboard as scheduled.

But Spassky told them all he would not win that way and would play Fischer in that back room! Not only making everyone mad at him but defying the KGB! All of the then Soviet Union wanted and needed this victory over the West. Spassky could be actually putting his life on the line!

Fischer won that game, and they returned to the stage for the rest of the match. Fischer won the match against a now frazzled opponent. How different the world, and the chess world would be if Spassky was not a true gentleman and sportsman? We will never know.

Walter Dobrich (Vlad to his friends) is no stranger to Canadian chess. Vlad is a master level player. But more important, Vlad was an excellent chess promoter and organizer.  He disappeared into the world of backgammon in the late 1970’s and became a great player there also! Today Vlad has opened a club in Toronto and he organizes blitz tournaments every week and writes this tribute to Boris Spassky:

I’ve had some personal interaction with him when he was World Champion. He played in the Canadian Open in Vancouver in 1971. I was there as well, and we both arrived at round six with 5-0 scores and consequently were paired for round six. Showing no respect, I played what I later learned was his pet line in the Nimzo-Indian against him (I had no respect!). After some 30 or so moves I was ready to resign but I saw a chance for a futile attack where I would get to check him once or twice – I could one day tell my grandchildren “I checked the world champion Boris Spassky!" I saw I would have to resign after four moves.

For some reason he appeared to be lost in concentration before making his next move which was forced. I looked up, “Why is he looking? This is trivial.” At which point I saw his eyes were bright red! I thought "I am insulting him when he is clearly tired from last night.” His next two moves were slightly different from what I expected, and I was forced to resign in three moves instead of four!

Some ten minutes later, in the post-mortem room, we played out the opening where he told me that I had misplaced my QB at which point I looked up to see his eyes were bright white. I said,  "Boris, your eyes were red like a rabbit’s 10 minutes ago, now they’re white again!" His answer was “Caruso was a great singer, he sang beautifully, effortlessly. But in between performances he always had to change his shirt!” What a compliment to me! Especially when I recall that he played sitting sideways to the board as if he had only a passing interest in the position.

A day or two later we were walking the UBC campus and entered the student’s common room where there was a group of some dozen or so crowded around a chess board going over the days game from the tournament. Boris casually squeezed into the group and suggested some play. At that point, whoever was the chief expounder on the game swatted him away as if he were some annoying bug. Smiling broadly, Boris retreated. The students never knew who it was that tried to make a suggestion!

After the tournament, we happened to be strolling a main avenue in Vancouver. I said “We have a major tournament in Toronto this weekend (the Labour Day Open at the CNE) perhaps you would like to play?”

“Unfortunately, my flight goes from here to Ottawa and then to Moskva” said Boris.

"Well, we can always change the ticket at a travel agency” said I, just as we approached a travel agency!

“You can do that?” said Boris.

Ten minutes later we were leaving the travel office with a rerouted ticket by way of Toronto.

“This will not cause some problem for you?” said I.

“The KGB has 100 files on me, 101 will make no difference.” said Boris.

And so, we ended up having a great Labour Day Open with five other GMs as well as the reigning World Champion. The GMs were (if I recall) Larsen, Benko, Browne, Byrne and Bisguire. There was a tie for first with Spassky and several of the GMs. I was the tournament director and can say that I directed the only weekend Swiss tournament in the history of chess to boast a reigning world champion as a participant!

Walter (Vlad) Dobrich

Next Meeting Feb 7 - Fischer Random Tournament Starts - and Bobby Fischer's Death Anniversary

LCCC meets again this coming Monday night at 4pm to 10pm at the Brighton Michigan Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant. Come by for casual chess - and a (FREE to enter) Fischer Random 960 Chess Tournament!  In honor of the man who gave us this variation of regular chess, here is a little bit of history:

On January 17, we mark the 14th anniversary of the death of the greatest chess player that has ever walked the earth, Bobby Fischer (left).

He was the most exciting player the game had seen since Paul Morphy. People who have met him often use the word ‘electrifying’ to describe his presence when he walked into a room. His games, even as a boy, attracted multitudes of spectators and admirers. He had superstar magnetism.

No chess player ever received mail from hundreds of female fans. Many with marriage proposals! Bobby Fischer was idolized around the world ever since he burst on to the scene at the age of 13. Fischer became the youngest US champion at the age of 14. At 15 he was already an elite grandmaster and candidate for the highest title in the chess world.

But he had to deal with reality: the cold war was raging, and the Soviet political leaders, tried to refuse to allow an American, no matter how talented, to threaten their national game. There was much talk, and evidence of collusion between Fischer’s Soviet opponents to try to stop him. And the KGB stalked Fischer all of his career.

The FIDE world championship structure was deliberately designed to thwart any threat to the Soviets. Fischer’s long march to become the 11th World Champion was a one-man battle against the chess world dictatorship. Much has been proven to be true since secret documents have been made public recently.

When Fischer briefly withdrew from competition because of ‘Soviet cheating’ in the early 60’s, he toured the US and Canada, giving simuls and lectures. Bobby’s lectures were filled with profound thoughts and ideas.

Of course, Bobby could be a difficult person. Fischer developed an ego to go along with his superstar status. He demanded the best conditions from organizers. He walked out if something was not perfect. He represented something that was the beginning of the professionalization of chess.

In 1967, the US chess federation received an invitation from the Prince of Monaco for three American chess players to play in the Monaco International Chess Tournament, but with the condition that one of those three player must be Fischer. Fischer participated and won the tournament but proved to be a bit difficult to manage. The following year, the US chess federation received another invitation from the Prince for three players to participate in the tournament, but with the condition that NONE of the players be Fischer!

Fischer disappeared from international competition for about 18 months in the late 60’s, making a comeback in the spring of 1970. Shortly before this, he co-authored a best-selling book of his games. The excitement that Fischer generated in the chess community was palpable! There has never been anything like it, or since. He was a god to chess amateurs! The living legend had descended from the clouds to settle business with the Soviets.

Bobby won everything he played in in 1970, and he played many times then! His games were amazing. If Mozart was a chess player, then he surely would be Fischer. Bobby was quickly nearing his peak. It was especially for this reason that there was unparalleled interest when Spassky met Fischer at the Siegen Olympiad. (Spassky won!)

Then in 1971 began Fischer’s run up to Mount Olympus. 6-0 scores against both Taimanov and Larsen, in the qualifiers to play Boris Spassky for the world title. Nobody could believe it! Taimanov lamented “Maybe I’ll take up the piano.” Larsen was hospitalized for high blood pressure.

The American media started to take notice. The Soviets’ attempts at thwarting the American genius were over. Fischer had pressured FIDE to put in place a qualification structure where collusion and cheating were next to impossible.
When Fischer met the Armenian (Russian) grandmaster and former World Champion Tigran Petrosian in Buenos Aires in late 1971, thousands of spectators showed up every game. There was pandemonium in the streets! Hundreds of journalists from all over the world flew into the Argentine capital to watch history unfold.

And what a great match it was! Fischer won the first game. Petrosian the second. After 5 games, the match stood even. But then Fischer won 4 games in a row!! Petrosian had never lost 4 games in a row in his entire life. Fischer had earned the right to play for the World Championship! And we all know how history turned out. Spassky saved his honor but could not stop what had been destined by the gods.

It is known that in the run up to the 1972 negotiations for the Fischer-Spassky match there were grave obstacles that had to be overcome. Fischer wanted more prize money. The Soviets refused to give an inch in the negotiations. Fischer more than once backed away. But the world in 1972 was still at the height of the Cold War, and it was important for both the Americans and the Soviets that the match take place. In the end, high level politicians saved the day. Henry Kissinger had to phone Bobby to convince the American genius to go to Iceland. After all, Fischer was a patriot….at that time.

In 1975, the much-anticipated Karpov vs Fischer match never took place! Fischer ignored the five-million-dollar prize fund. Fischer never played again until 1992 (and then just as quickly disappeared). The story of the life of a rebel genius, it seems must end in tragedy! The gods need reasons to cry. It was for political reasons that the 1972 match was saved by the White House, and that by the time 1975 came around the world was already, a different place.

Chess and Fischer was simply no longer a priority. Fischer was already a living legend and had nothing to gain. He had won the World Championship. Chess was popular and booming, and we should not let escape that the chess politicians in FIDE saw little advantage by having Fischer risk losing his title to a Russian. Every serious chess player/fan all wish they could turn back the clock and re-write the fateful decisions made.

What does Bobby Fischer mean to me personally? As a chess player he represents something that is bigger than the game itself. Chess can never have a big appeal (compared to football, soccer or even poker) by itself. It is a difficult game that requires work and dedication. It requires an unusual combination of passion and craziness to be a chess player or fan.

Undoubtedly, in my lifetime, Bobby Fischer will have been the only individual to have made chess universally appealing and may be the only one to do so.

We must also remember that Fischer was only too human. He had to deal with the pressures of superstardom alone. He had no real family, and very few friends. He was a fragile human being with mental health issues.

And like every true genius, there must some element of tragedy, something that makes us feel sad within when the story is complete. It is the tragedy of Bobby Fischer that he never played again after winning the World Championship. It is a tragedy about his final years in disgrace, finally finding a friendly haven in Iceland.

Next OTB Meeting Jan 24 @ 4pm to 10 - BWW Brighton - Interview with Svetozar Gligorich

 

LCCC will meet again over the board on Monday Jan 24 2022 from 4pm until 9 or 10pm at the Brighton Buffalo Wild Wings at the Green Oak Mall. See you all there!

(Hat tip to Canadian GM Spraggett)

Now an interview from one of my all-time favorite players - Svetozar Gligorich [pic] (born 1923), also known (affectionately) as Gligo.

An amazingly talented player, for decades he dominated European chess. Gligorich’s games in my opinion, rank as some of the most beautiful examples of how chess should be played, much like my other hero Tigran Petrosian.

In his prime, there was hardly a player that he did not beat! His score against some of the world champions says it all:

he won 4 games against Fischer;

5 games against Smyslov;

8 games against Petrosian;

2 games against each of Botvinnik, and Tal.

When I am asked by chess amateurs, interested in improving the level of their play, what player’s games they should study, I have never hesitated in recommending the games of Svetozar Gligorich!

Let us listen to the man himself:

I started much later than many to-be-chessplayers, learning how to play the game at the age of eleven. As I discovered shortly thereafter, chess came easy to me. In 1939, at the age of sixteen, I became a master, this from the era when there were relatively few masters, and at a relatively young age.

 

Unfortunately, coinciding with my becoming a master in 1939, World War II broke out, and for the subsequent six years I fought as a member of a partisan unit against the Nazi-led Axis powers, and I was forced to put on hold the studying chess until 1945. At that point in time, I started to play chess again, and in 1951, I became a GM.

Although I was far removed from the latest goings-on about the game, chess actually saved my life three times. Those stories are probably too lengthy to get into now, maybe we can discuss those later on. (Your humble scribe will research these stories!)

 

On Tigran Petrosian:

Yes, we played each other a total of 27 times, with 17 of the games decisive. I won eight of the encounters and Tigran came out on top nine times. Ten of the games were drawn.

 

As I said earlier, we were very similar to each other philosophically and stylistically. We both preferred to play chess according to strict logic, as it is called, correct chess. For me it was not important who the opponent was sitting across from me, it was important that I play correct and active chess. Maybe I was, relatively speaking of course, a more unpleasant opponent for Petrosian for the reason that I was both logical in my approach and active in my style. Regardless, we were close friends away from the board despite our competitive struggles during our games.

What is amazing is that in many respects, Tigran and I were so similar. We both were simple men and not saddled by ego problems. We both enjoyed music, humor, and we understood the intricacies of the game of chess. Possibly most interesting is that neither of us had pretenses that we must become champions. Regardless, nature and talent combined in Tigran and carried him to the greatest of heights.

Let me share some of my personal insights in the form of a story: In 1963 he was playing Botvinnik for the World Championship, and he confided in me that he couldn’t believe that he is playing Botvinnik for the title. Petrosian lamented that he was unable to concentrate and focus on the task at hand to compete for the title.

As a result, I think he was unable to collect himself and he lost. But then after gathering his energy and focusing on the task at hand through three stabilizing draws, Tigran struck back in game 5 and won a beautiful game with a king invasion; at this point, the impossible was already possible. It was a fantastic display of understanding, intuition, and skill all fused into one.

The standard question was put to Gligoric: How did you digest your defeats? How did you overcome failure?

To be honest I don’t think that I took it all that badly. This is the nature of sport. Defeat should be a motivation for you to improve, work harder, and do better the next time. As Capablanca said, the best teacher is defeat. You simply need the will and strength to be able to turn the experience into something positive.

These are great words for your humble scribe to re-read. My response is either to tip over the chessboard or drop kick my computer! Neither response seems to improve my play.

I think Gligoric and Capablanca have a more enlightened response to losing.

Happy New Year! Next Meeting on Monday Jan. 10 - and LCCC Top 1% !!

 As the new year rolls in, the first order of business is to announce when the next OTB (over the board) meeting of the Club is.

Monday January 10th from 4pm until the Buffalo Wild Wings in Brighton Michigan throws us out. Usually around 9 or 10 pm.

We will have casual chess that night and discuss which Monday meeting will begin our 2022 Fischer Random 960 Club Tournament. Entry fee will of course be free to all who wish to enter.

It is also with great pride that your humble scribe announces that the LCCC Chess Club on Chess dot com, has moved into the TOP 1% of all the Daily Play clubs on the #1 chess site in the world! A Daily Play club is a club that plays matches against any and all of the other clubs on the site. Which, as this is typed, the number of clubs is 111824. We are #1168 and will be moving up! Yes, all you calculator nerds would put us at 98.9555%, but never fear. When we stand at 99.1% shortly, we will still only claim the Top 1% title.

I wish to thank all the players who play for us on-line, and especially those carrying the heavy lifting. You know who you are. 

If you wish to join this elite group of on-line chess players at LCCC on Chess dot com, we really only have two rules of entry and being a Member-in-good-standing:

1. Sign up to play in at least a 1/4 of our matches. Sometimes you may get bounced because the other team did not have enough players to cover your rating level. Don't worry. You still get credit for signing up to play!

2. Don't forfeit your games.

Now since the discussion was about chess on computers, let's review a brief history timeline of computers playing chess.

1770 - A chess playing machine toured Europe, only to finally be discovered that it was controlled by a 'little person' hidden in the bottom working the controls.

1956 - A machine called Maniac defeated an unrated player. 

1967 - Mac Hack VI defeats a 1510 player. No, it was not me. I was unrated at the time and would have lost to both of them anyway.

1968 - The movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. predicts the future correctly. Computer HAL defeats Frank, the human astronaut.

1978 - Chess program Chess 4.6 achieves and Expert rating of 2040.

1981 - Program Cray Blitz achieves a Master rating of 2258

1989 - Program Deep Thought achieves a 2400 rating and loses to World Champion Gary Kasparov in a two-game match.

1997 - Program Deep Blue does a checkmate heard around the world as it defeats the World Champion Gary Kasparov.

2004 - Grandmasters Topolov, Ponomariov and Karjakin lose to the chess programs; Hydra, Deep Junior and Fritz (see pic - our own Igor 3000).

2016 - Program Komodo wins the Computer Chess Championship and it's rating is over 3400 (World Champion Magnus Carlsen stands at 2890)

2019 - Program Lc0 wins the 2019 Computer Chess Championship beating the two-time champion Stockfish and establishes it's rating over 3900.

 Both Lc0 and Stockfish have not responded to your humble scribe's challenges to chess matches (to be played underwater in snorkel gear). They must be scared of defeat.