Casual Chess Night 032519 Had Ten Players - and Club Events Update!

Chess is a fun and sociable game for everyone!

A nice night of chess this evening with ten participants.

The annual Club Officers Meeting will be held this Wednesday Night. The meeting minutes will be shared with the Club on this blog after that meeting.

Without further adieu, here is the latest Club Events update:

Livingston County Chess Club Events and News

1. Next Event - April 15^th  - 960 Tournament – 45 minute game – 5 second delay if possible.

We will play 3 or 4 rounds - depending on the number of entries.
Sorry for the wrong information on the original post. 

Kid’s Night on April 8^th.

2. Ladder Tournament – is up and running!

Rules are available by the sign in sheet.

You simply look at who is in attendance that is above you on the Ladder and challenge them to a game! If you win, you move to the space above them. If you draw, you move to the space below them. If you lose, you stay where you are! It’s just a fun little motivation to have when playing your casual games! Ladder Rules will be available at the Club!

3. Membership Dues and Election of Officers Time Again – April 1 thru April 22

To become a “Regular” Member of the Club, dues are $20 per year. This entitles the Member to run for any office for the Club (President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary or Tournament Director). A Regular Member also can attend any Board Meeting of the Officers. The time and place of any Baord meeting will be given to the Regular Members ahead of time.

All Club dues collected are used for Club supplies, advertising and event hosting – such as simultaneous exhibitions or lectures by Masters or other higher caliber players that may require an appearance fee.

4. Club Election – April 29

Voting for officers is done by a Regular Member writing their selections on an index card supplied by the Club and placing it in an envelope also supplied by the club. The member simply marks the envelope with a “V” to show it is a vote envelope, and drops it in the Club Senior Center Collection cigar box.

Upcoming Local Tournaments

April 6 – 7 – 2019 Michigan Senior Championship

April 7 – Lansing Mini-Swiss

April 14 – TYASCC Quads – Troy Public Library

April 16 – Genessee County CC Quick Swiss – Eastside Senior Center, Flint

April 20 - Thinkers Challenge - Detroit

April 27 - Canton Chess Tournament - Cherry Hill School, Canton

May 5 -  Lansing Mini-Swiss

May 18 -  Canton Chess Tournament - Cherry Hill School, Canton

May 18 - 2nd Annual Grand Rapids Spring Classic - New City Church, Grand Rapids

May 19 -  TYASCC Quads – Troy Public Library

May 21 -  Genessee County CC Blitz Championship – Eastside Senior Center, Flint

June 8 – 9 – 2019 Michigan Amateur – Lansing

July 20 - 21 - 2019 Michigan Bottom Half Class Championship - Lansing

Kids Night 031219 a Success with 16 players

Another fun night of chess was had by all. We had seven of the younger chess players and nine older players.

NPP welcomes new members Alex E., Carl S, Dan S and Peter M. Glad you are here.

Casual chess is on the horizon for the next few weeks, so come on in and play in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.

Now for a little chess clock history compliments of the late great GM Larry Evans, with some commentary from your humble scribe:

The chess clock did not exist at the first international tournament in 1851. Howard Staunton, who invented the now standard design for chess sets, groused when his opponents took forever thinking about each move.
A year later, in a match between Harrwitz and Lowenthal a time limit of 29 minutes per move was established. Then in 1862, in a match between Anderson and Kolisch, hourglasses were used that gave each player 2 hours for 24 moves.
The now standard double chess clock made its debut in London in 1883. Each side had an hour for 15 moves and clocks then became a fixture for any serious chess match or tournament.
Time limits got tighter and tighter, and today with the better clock designs, we have a bevy of tournament time controls available.
Most serious tournaments have a time limit of around 40 moves in 2 hours. Then 30 moves in an hour and then 30 minutes sudden death. Sometimes the 30 in an hour is removed as a second time control and you go right to a sudden death time control.
The belief is to keep any serious game to 7 hours maximum, as the general rule.
Newer clocks even allow for a "delay" where you maybe set a 5 second interval (although delays can be set for whatever can be agreed upon, but 5 seconds is standard) that runs BEFORE your main time starts running down to at least give you the opportunity to move before losing on time.
There is also something called the "increment" option where a set amount of time is added to your clock after each move. This give a player "credit" for moving. Of course players take advantage of this feature by maybe moving their pieces back and forth twice on the same squares to add a minute to their clocks. GM games have gone over 100 moves with much more frequency now due to that option.
Obviously shorter time controls lowers the quality of the chess game, but idly sitting while a game drags on is no good for the player or any spectator.
Time control for casual games are up to the two players.
For a point of reference, chess games 1 minute to 5 minutes are called Blitz chess. 6 to 15  minutes are called Rapid Chess. 15 minutes to 30 minutes is called Quick Chess.
So now chess has not only it's own special greatness, but you can also play it at any speed you desire - including no clock at all.
But in your scribe's opinion, playing chess with a clock is what makes you a real chess player.

2019 LCCC Blitz (5 min) Championship was a Success!

There were 15 players at the Club this Monday and 13 players entered the Blitz Tournament!

Our Tournament Director declared a 3 round event. So each player played their opponent 2 games each round. If you split the games - it was a drawn round.

Here are the top three finishers!

1st Place - Scott Marvel
2nd Place - Matt Trujillo
3rd Place - Ken Tack

Congratulations to the winners!

Playing speed chess can lead to some funny games and strange positions. But they can happen in regular chess also.

This strange draw was played from an opening that does not usually end in a draw. It's the type of swashbuckling opening used often in speed chess - the King's Gambit Accepted.
Your humble scribe apologizes for losing the names of the players and the tournament and year the game was played. I got rid of the magazine I found the game in after I ran the game thru Igor3000.
But Igor found a reference to a game with a similar conclusion in 1904!

1. e4            e5
2. f4            exf4
3. Nf3         g5
4. h4           g4
5. Ne5        Nf6
At this point, Black is up the pawn advantage (-1), but he must be able to hold off the White attacking chances on his open king side successfully.

6. Bc4          d5
7. exd5         Bd6
Igor says the game is back to EVEN at this point.

8. O-O         Bxe5
9. Re1          Qe7
10. c3           Nh5
Black takes a half pawn lead here according to Igor (-.4).

11. d4          Nd7
12. dxe5      Nxe5
13. b3          O-O

Position after 13. .......   O-O

What looks like a wild wide open game is back to EVEN and - according to Igor3000 - stays that way the rest of the game! Each player making moves that just keep the game EVEN the rest of the way!

14. Ba3          Nf3+
15. gxf3         Qxh4
16. Re5          Bf5
Igor3000 searched his data base and found this game between Gunsberg-Teichmann in London, 1904 - which finished 16. ....Qg3+ 17. Kh1, Qh3+  Draw agreed. As Igor stated - the position is EVEN. How come it looks so uneven?

17. Nd2          Qg3+
18. Kf1           Qh2
19. Bxf8         g3
20. Bc5           g2+
21. Ke1           Qh4+
22. Ke2           Ng3+
23. Kf2           Ne4+
24. Kxg2        Qg3+
25. Kh1          Qh3+
26. Kg1          Qg3+
Draw