Club News
Glenwood Chess Club September Open
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- Written by Kenneth Windmon Kenneth Windmon
The Glenwood Chess Club September Open was held on 9/29/12 at the Blakey Center in Glenwood and drew 18 players. Congratulations to Sedrick Prude and William Blackman who both tied for 1st place in the open section.
The under 1700 prize went to Joe Fennessey.
February Chess Roundup
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- Written by Dan Leroy Dan Leroy
February has me thinking of love. Maybe it's because the Valentine's aisle is loaded with cards or it's my French heritage that enjoys dropping the word "amour" into as many sentences as possible this time of year and not being thought of as strange. Whatever the reason, I love (i.e. "amour") this game that I've played for most of my life. It started with me as a young Adonis believing I could both conquer the world and my dad at chess and it's been an infatuation ever since. It hasn't been all highs; there've been times when I've felt my love for the game has been unrequited. But overall, I enjoy tournament games or casual pick-up games in a coffee shop as well as the saccrarine-sweet rush of a blitz game.
Judging from all the players and tournaments around the state of Illinois, I expect I'm not alone in some of my feelings for the game. Here are highlights from Illinois tournaments.
December 1 to January 5: The Epiphany Tournament in Bloomington, IL had 18 players participating in this four round event with Ethan Catt coming out on top with 4 points. Crosstable.
2012 Peoria Winter Tornado
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- Written by Wayne Zimmerle Wayne Zimmerle
Nikhilesh Kunche won the January 28th, 2012 Peoria Winter Tornado for the second year in a row again with a perfect 4/0 score. There was a four way tie for second place with scores of 3/1 between Pete Karagianis, Jordan Nach, Hanson Hao and Peter Mc Conaghie. There were 28 players in the Open section.
Aydin Turgut representing the up and coming young players at age 7, current US K-1 National Champion, played 3 games, winning 2 out of three vs higher rated players to raise his rating from 1509 to 1593.
At the last moment the organizers added a scholastic section which ended up with 16 players and was won by Maxwell Jong with a score of 4/0.
The playing site was Lakeview Museum's auditorium, so there was plenty of room, with a separate skittle room upstairs.
So You Want to Organize a FIDE Title Norm Tournament?
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- Written by Seven Muradian Seven Muradian
FIDE title norm tournaments are not something to be undertaken lightly. They require a great deal of planning and are time consumptive. We will discuss how to organize Round Robin title norm tournaments, even though you can have Swiss or Team events bear norms. I don’t recommend attempting Swiss title norm tournaments for various reasons such as low rated players and foreign player requirements. For the full technical requirements for title norm tournaments visit this link – http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=58view=article
The first thing you will require is to secure an arbiter. Arbiters are the FIDE name for tournament directors. FIDE has two classifications of arbiters – FIDE Arbiter (FA) and International Arbiter (IA). The International Arbiter is the higher of the two. A norm tournament requires that the Chief Arbiter is either an FA or an IA. There is no wiggle room here – it has to be. You can search for FA’s or IA’s on the FIDE website – http://ratings.fide.com/advseek.phtml. You should work with the arbiter regarding the technical requirements for a norm tournament.
January Chess Roundup
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- Written by Dan Leroy Dan Leroy
New Years resolutions. Maybe more time studying chess. Perhaps buying a book. Or studying the book you bought last year. Playing more tournaments. Or fewer tournaments but prepping more for those you do play. Or just relaxing and enjoying the game. Whatever it is you hope to achieve this year there are a lot of people in Illinois Chess with the same goal. For those looking to compete in tournaments there is a lot of chances to get involved. Not only is the Illinois Tour starting back up, but there is a wealth of opportunity to play. In December alone there were events with as few as 4 people and as many as 173. Here are some of the highlights:
December 2: In Naperville, IL the NYCC Quad#3 tournament drew 16 players to this 4 section event. Crosstables.
December 2 thru 9: Oak Lawn had their G/30 Championship Tournament. 14 players participated. Steven Tennant beat out expert Tam Nguyen and fellow master Len Weber to take first place. Crosstable.