LCCC League Takes Shape – Seth Homa Simil Dec. 9!



League Competition heats up!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers!
Two dominating performances and a match that was drawn highlighted Week 4 of the LCCC league.
The Rabid Squirrels swept the Thunder, and the Tigers swept the 49’ers.
The Flames and the Sonics drew their match.
The standings are as follows:
Rabid Squirrels – 7points

Tigers – 6 pts

Sonics – 4 pts

Flames – 4 pts

49’ers – 2 pts

Thunder – 1 point

There seems to be some separation of the teams starting to show – a top, middle and a bottom.

The next league round this coming Monday – December 2 - will showcase a very exciting 1^st place vs. 2^nd place battle. Here are the matchups:

Tigers vs. Rabid Squirrels

49’er vs. Sonics

Flames vs. Thunder

Other announcements – the Seth Homa Simultaneous Exhibition is next week! Seth is in St. Louis this turkey weekend playing in a tournament. Be sure to get your seat for this exciting event – a chance to play one of the best players in Michigan and an International Master Candidate!

Don’t miss it December 9 – or the LCCC league nights – December 2 and 16.

LCCC Closed Tonight Due to Power Outage

And due to the power outage, LCCC could not get this post up sooner.

Anyway see you Thursday at Teekos or Monday the 25th for League Night!

The Blitz Tournament will have to be moved to December 2nd.

But the Seth Homa Simultaneous Exhibition is still on for December 9 at 6:30pm. Get there at 6pm. Sign up on this blog or contact Ken L, Ken T, Vince V or Mike N. Let's make it a success!

Chess 960 (Fischer Random) Won by Jason Morris

Alexandra Kosteniuk giving a simil.

No surprise there as Jason is the highest rated player at LCCC. But to win any tournament - and especially undefeated in a style you never played before - is still special.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the change of pace tournament. The utter randomness of the starting position made for some very anxious moments at the start of the games.

Congratulations to Jason as he is the 2013 LCCC Chess 960 Champion!

Here are the final standings:

1. Jason M - 4 points

2. Tim R - 3

3. Aaron J - 3

4. Don J - 3

5. Ken T - 3

6. Vince V - 3

7. Scott M - 2

8. Tom H - 2

9. Luigi M - 2

10. Mike N - 2

11. Ken L - 2

12. Paul M - 2

13. Luke S - 2

14. Gene M - 1.5

15. Zade K - 1.5

16. Americo M - 1

17. Zack R - 1

18. Gabe T - 1

19. Marcello M - 1

20. Luca M - 1

21. Joshua T – 1

 

The league resumes next week. Be ready as the tournament clocks start at 7pm sharp! There will be some announcements and other distractions prior to the round, so get there early.

Remember to sign up and see Vince V or Ken L for payment to enter the Seth Homa simil. Club players under 18 can join for $15. Sign up for this event and support LCCC please.

Also Ken T will be running a Blitz (5 min) tournament next week (on Monday 11/25), so sign up for that also!

Also, we may have a photographer from the local newspaper stop by and get some pictures of the action. It will be part of an article about our upcoming Seth Homa Simultaneous Exhibition. You have been warned!

 

Some games from the 960 event to be posted this weekend.

Bobby Fischer’s #1 Grandmaster; and 960 Rd 3 Has Change in Pairings

Perhaps the greatest of all time - Paul Morphy

This is from Mr. Fischer’s 1962 list. I think on the eve of the start of the championship match between Anand and Carlsen, we should look back at who may actually be the greatest chess player that ever lived.

Paul Morphy

“A popularly held theory about Paul Morphy is that if he returned to the chess world today and played our best contemporary players, he would come out the loser.

Nothing is further from the truth!

In a set match, Morphy would beat everyone today.

He was the best-read player of his day, which means he would be up on the lastest theories and tactics, and his natural talent would be more than sufficient enough to vanquish the best twentieth century players.

Morphy was the most accurate chess player who ever lived. He had complete sight of the board and never blundered, in spite of the fact that he played quite rapidly. He rarely took more than 5 minutes to make a move, while his opponents – before chess clocks – often took hours.

I played over several hundred of Morphy’s games and am continually surprised and entertained by his ingenuity. It has taken me 20 to 30 minutes to find the proper response to one of his moves!
Morphy always fought on in bad positions and still found winning possibilities. In addition, he had very fine endgame technique.

Perhaps his only weakness – and it is most apparent in his match with Anderssen – was in closed games like the Dutch Defense. But even then, he was usually victorious because of his resourcefulness.

As is well known, Paul Morphy gave up chess in 1859. His disillusionment was more with chess players, than chess itself.”

960 Tournament Monday:
Vince V had to withdraw, so here are the new pairings for the 3^rd round Monday (first name has the White pieces):

1.      Jason M – Tim R

2.      Scott M – Tom H

3.      Americo M – Aaron J

4.      Zade K – Gene M

5.      Don J – Marcello M

6.      Luca M – Ken L

7.      Zach R – Gabe T

8.      Joshua T – Luigi M

Monday was a Chess 960 (Fischer Random) Swiss Tourney...and a Success!

Chess is chess. Chess is about decisions. Life is about decisions. Chess is life.

Everyone seemed to have a good time with it. It was different. It was challenging. We had some upsets! All in all, it was a fun evening of chess.

The games were a little more ‘serious’ than I thought it would be. Chatting was at a minimum and even a few “shhhhh” were issued. I guess a tournament is a tournament.

With the pieces place in random locations that the players did not even see until they set up and started their clocks, led to the demand for quiet. You had to study the board some before even making your first move!
 

As I said, there were some upsets, but pretty much the top guns held serve. Here are the standings:

 

Ken T  3 pts#

Jason M 2 pts

Vince V 2 pts

Tim R 2 pts

Paul M 2 pts#

Scott M 1 pt

Aaron J 1 pt

Gene M 1 pt

Mike N 1 pt

Don J 1 pt

Ken L 1 pt

Tom H 1 pt

Americo M 1 pt

Zade K 1 pt

Marcello M 1 pt*

Luca M 1 pt*

Gabe T 0 pts

Luigi M  0 pts

Zach R   0 pts

Joshua T 0 pts

 

# Ken T and Paul M will not make the last two rounds and are given ½ point byes – so their totals are final.

*Marcello M and Luca M were absent for rounds 1 and 2, but will play rounds 3 and 4 and were also given ½ point byes, but are in the next two rounds.

Here are the pairings and colors for Round 3 of the Fischer Random / 960 Chess Tourney 

             White          -      Black

1.                     Jason M.      -    Vince V

2.                     Tim R.         -     Scott M.

3.                     Aaron J.       -     Tom H

4.                     Americo M   -     Gene M.

5.                     Mike N.        -     Marcello M

6.                     Zade Koch    -     Don J.

7.                     Ken L            -     Luca M

8.                     Zach R          -     Gabe T.

9.                     Luigi M         -     Joshua T.

Good luck to everyone! Thanks for participating.

11/11 is the Final two rounds of the 960 Swiss.

11/18 is League Night! Don’t miss that!

11/25 is a 5 minute Blitz tournament, so sign up for that!