Where Organized Chess in America Began
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Where Organized Chess in America Began EMPIRE CHESS Summer 2013 Volume XXXVI, No. 2 $5.00 Chess in Summertime…. Empire Chess P.O,. Box 390969 (note new address) Brooklyn, NY 11234 NEW YORK STATE CHESS ASSOCIATION, INC. www.nysca.net The New York State Chess Association, Inc., America‘s oldest chess organization, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting chess in New York State at all levels. As the State Affiliate of the United States Chess Federation, its Directors also serve as USCF Voting Members and Delegates. President Bill Goichberg PO Box 249 Salisbury Mills, NY 12577 A New Day, A Better Way! [email protected] Vice President May was the end of the line for former U.S. Chess Federation Polly Wright 57 Joyce Road Executive Director Bill Hall. Hall sent a letter to the USCF Executive Eastchester, NY 10709 Director saying he was leaving for personal reasons. Texas chess [email protected] organizer Francisco Guadelupe is the Interim Director, and a Treasurer Karl Heck nationwide search is taking place for a new Executive Director. 5426 Wright Street, CR 67 East Durham, NY 12423 Unlike the search of Hall, it is not required that the new Executive [email protected] Membership Secretary Director relocate to Crossville. The small Tennessee city of 10,000 is a Phyllis Benjamin poor location to recruit executive and professional talent too, as it is P.O. Box 340511 over an hour from a metropolitan area and not in a chess-friendly part Brooklyn, NY 11234-0511 [email protected] of the country. Despite the best efforts of Hall to give the vast majority Board of Directors of National Tournaments on his watch to locations in the former Upstate Downstate Confederacy, the southeast remains low in USCF membership Phil Ferguson Phyllis Benjamin Bill Goichberg Dr. Frank Brady penetration with the notable exception of Texas. Vacant Mark Kurtzman Karl Heck Lenny Chipkin Ron Lohrman Ed Frumkin The Executive Director advertisement is a tacit admission that the William Townsend Carrie Goldstein move to Crossville was a mistake as far as efficient operation of the Steve Immitt USCF goes. The editor of Chess Life lives in Georgia, and most of the Gata Kamsky Sophia Rohde Chess Life staff lives out of Tennessee, much less Crossville. So does Harold Stenzel Chess Life Online editor Jennifer Shahade. Why? They don't want to Carol Jarecki live in Crossville. As you can't hire the talent to perform these jobs in Polly Wright or near Crossville, the “virtual office” model was used. Meanwhile, there is substantial vacant space USCF built in Crossville to house Tournament Clearinghouses these employees. Zip Codes under 12000 (downstate) Bill Goichberg [email protected] The Crossville move took place for a few, inter-related reasons. Then President Beatriz Marinello wanted to take action to reduce cost. The NYS Zip Codes over 11999 (upstate) move to Crossville gave Bill Hall the inside track on the soon-to-be- Karl Heck [email protected] vacant Executive Director because he was one of the few willing to live there. It also gave a “scalp” to the people in USCF who hated New Deadlines York State and thought the New York location of the National Office. December 15 for the Winter Issue March 15 for the Spring Issue Clearly in the Bill Hall administration, New York chess wasn't getting June 15 for the Summer Issue much of anything. September 15 for the Fall Issue Advertising Manager With his resignation, it's the end of an era. At Empire Chess, we are Contact the Editor. looking forward to better days with a new Executive Director and new hope for a vibrant, 50-state USCF, not just one looking to settle old scores. 2 EMPIRE CHESS “The magazine of America’s oldest chess organization” Volume XXXVI, Number 2 – Summer 2013 Cover: A girl plays chess outdoors at the Albany Tulip Festival. BALLOT ENCLOSED! From the Editor.......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents …...................................................................................................................................................3 Deepak Aaron Sweeps At 21st NYS Open by Bill Townsend………..............………......................................4 13th Queens Team Championship Report by Ed Frumkin.............................................................................8 NYSCA's Discount Program ....................................................................................................................….........10 Harmony in Chess – The Scholastic Column by Zachary Calderon….....................................................11 New York State Champions by Bill Townsend and Karl Heck.........................................................................14 Capital Region News by Bill Townsend.................................................................................................................20 Central New York News by Karl Heck..................................................................................................................24 Buffalo/Niagara News from Buffalo/Niagara Chess Corner……………………………….......................................25 Open Lines by Karl Heck….........................................................................................................................................26 NY Hosts Record-Breaking Junior Open (and Senior Open too) by Karl Heck................................28 New York Tournaments………………………………........................................................................................30 Editor: Karl Heck, [email protected]. Webmaster: Daniel Heck, www.nysca.net. Empire Chess, the official publication of the New York State Chess Association, Inc., is published quarterly. No liability is assumed with respect to the use of any information contained herein, or for any advertised products. Opinions expressed are solely those of the contributors, and not necessarily those of NYSCA. Empire Chess is COPYRIGHTED, 2013. Empire Chess accepts articles, games, tournament reports, art work and photos. No responsibility is assumed for unsolicited material. All material submitted for publication becomes the property of Empire Chess, and will not be returned unless accompanied by a selfaddressed, stamped envelope. Letters received by Empire Chess are accepted & subject to editing. Please send to: Karl Heck, [email protected]. Membership in the NYSCA: $20/year with four printed Empire Chess; $12/year with online Empire Chess (two printed). To join, write to: Phyllis Benjamin, P.O. Box 340969, Brooklyn, NY 11234. (please note new address) NYSCA membership now gets you discounts at Continental Chess Association events in New York State and all New York State Championship tournaments. Please send articles and advertisements in camera-ready format for publication. (TIF file, Adobe Photoshop, 100 lines per inch). Chess games should be in ChessBase, with boards and positions in final form. Articles should be sent via e-mail, in Microsoft Word, Times New Roman font, size 11. Deadline for the Fall issue is September 15, 2013, although earlier submissions are appreciated, and will more easily guarantee a space in the next magazine. Check out the new www.nysca.net, and we are now on Twitter! #nystatechess. 3 A giant among the pygmies? Deepak Aaron dominates at the 21st New York State Open by Bill Townsend The 21st Annual New York State Open took place There were also two co-winners in the Under-1310 May 17 to 19 in Lake George Village, about an hour section as Pranav Venkataraman and Vincent Abate north of the Capital District. Around 68 players both scored 4½-½. Daniel Newell was clear third competed in the four sections, down significantly with 4-1. William Gonzalez was all alone in fourth from last year’s record total of 87, but roughly on par place with 3½-1½. Fifth through eighth with 3-2 with 2011’s turnout of 65. were: Ruthvik Ayyagari, Ronghai Gong, JanKarl Galia and Michael James. Steven Danko was ninth Last year’s Open section featured two former U.S. with 2½-2½. Charles Bryant was top unrated player Champions, GM Alexander Ivanov and GM Joel with 2-3. Benjamin duking it out for top honors. This year it was a different story: no titled players and the top- The tournament was directed by Steve Immit for the rated competitor, former NYS Scholastic champion New York State Chess Association. I’d like to thank Deepak Aaron, easily captured the event with a Steve for getting me most of the games from this perfect 5-0 score. In fact, Deepak was the only 3-0 event. player at the end of round three. Tournament winner Deepak Aaron of Niskayuna is Vermont master David Carter was clear second with the only person to win the New York State Scholastic 4-1. Carter’s only loss wasn’t to Deepak – it was to Championship three times. He is currently a student Henrik Van der Weij who was clear third with 3½- at Georgia Tech, but he is still quite an active player – 1½. Fourth through sixth with 3-2 were: Dale Sharp, he played in the Georgia state championship, and Carlos Varela and Troy Duncan. Seventh through recently came in second in the U.S. Junior Open. My ninth with 2½-2½ were Jeffrey LaComb, S. Warren thanks to Deepak and tournament director Immitt for Lohr and Scott Sheff. providing me with this game. Perhaps one of the reasons for this tournament’s Here Deepak’s last round win over Dale Sharp, a popularity is that it has a rare feature – a Senior player who has been playing at the master level