R ank & File SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009 VOLUME XXXIII, NO. 5 $3.00 State Championship: Sevillano repeats! Los Angeles Open October 9-11, 2009 $10,000 Prize Fund (based on 200 players, 50% of each prize guaranteed) at the LAX Hilton 5711 W. Century Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90045 Five Rounds — Swiss System Open 3-day schedule 40/2, SD/1; 2-day schedule rounds 1-2 G/60 1st: $1600 Entry Fees: 2nd-5th: $1000-$800-$400-$200 Open, Premier: $83 if received by 10-8, $95 at door. U2400: $300-200 Amateur:$67 if received by 10-8, $80 at door. U2200: $700-$500-$300 SCCF membership required of rated state residents ($18, jr. $10) Registration: 5:30-6:30 p.m. Friday, 9-10 a.m. Saturday Premier Rounds: 3-day 7 p.m., 11-5:30, 10-4:30; 2-day 10:30-1:30 (Under 2000) Saturday (G/60), then merges $700-$500-$300-$100U Entries: SCCF, c/o John Hillery, 835 N. Wilton Place #1, Los Angeles, CA 90038 U1800: $400-$200-$150 HR: $109 single or double. (310) 410-4000. Use Group Code U1600: $400-$200-$150 LOS. Parking $8/day On-line entry, advance entry lists: Amateur www.westernchess.com (Under 1400/unr) $400-$200-$100 Also U1200: $100 Unrated: $100 October 11 (Unrated may win Unrated prize only in this section) MDC SCHOLASTICS. 5-SS, G/30. LAX Hilton, 5711 W Century Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045. Open to gr. 12-below. $25 Best Game prize, all sections eligible. October 11 MDC HEXES. 3-SS, G/90. LAX Hilton, 5711 W. Century Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045 . Six-player sections by rating. 2 RANK & FILE SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009 AroundAround thethe NationNation U.S. Open Returns points to players under 20 (as of January 1) who score wins (worth Prizes include $1,000 cash, a To The Southland ten points) or draws (five points) trophy, and free U.S. Open entry for against players rated at least 100 the winner. The top 20 and top in The U.S. Open, the granddaddy points above them. The intent is to each state also earn prizes. of national tournaments, last held encourage juniors to play in mixed At this writing, before Labor here in Los Angeles in 2003, will be tournaments and not just scholas- Day, there have been nine qualify- back in 2010, with Orange County tics, though some national scholas- ing tournaments in Southern Cali- getting its turn at bat. The Hyatt tic championships are included also. fornia, and some of our young play- Regency in Irvine, located in a Qualifying tournaments, which ers have traveled to others such as beautiful area with lots of restau- must be at least four rounds and the Supernationals, National Open, rants and offering a $99 room rate, have a slower control than G/60, World Open, and U.S. Open. Last will host the tournament, July 31 are indicated in tournament life an- year’s state winner, Ryan Polsky, – August 8. The Open is the only nouncements. leads again with 75 points from six national tournament that finds the tournaments. At 60 points and also hoi polloi rubbing shoulders with grandmasters (11 played this year) in one big section. There are typi- cally plenty of upsets too; in India- napolis this August GM John Fe- CCONTENTSOONTENTSNTENTS dorowicz suffered a 349-point upset in the final round, and this writer AROUND THE NATION . 3 AROUNDAROUND THETHE NATIONNATION ........... .........................................................3 yielded a first round draw to a 21ST ANNUAL U.S. AMATEUR TEAM youngster rated 586 points below... 22009009 SSTATETATE CCHAMPIONSHIPHAMPIONSHIP ..............................................5 The Open is a true chess festi- WEST . 5 val, with daily side events, lectures, TTACTICSACTICS simuls, and workshops. The main WESTERN CLASS CHAMPIONSHIPS . 10 BYBY IMIM ANKSANKS .................................. ..................................................................... event offers a choice of nine-, six-, T H 11 TACTICS and four-day schedules. Tourna- HHEREERE & THERETHERE ment directors should note that ser- by Tim Hanks . 12 vice on the staff affords an opportu- ClubClub news,news, locallocal tournaments,tournaments, nity for invaluable experience and HsscholchEREolaasticstic &eeventsve TntsHERE andand moremore .............................................................................1 5 credits toward advancement on the ladder! Further details on the Open CCLUB LClubUB DDIRECTORY news,IRECTO localRY .................................................................................. tournaments, 2020 will follow, but put in for those vaca- scholastic events . 15 tion days now! – Randy Hough TTHEHE LLONGONG VVIEWSIEWS BYBY OHNOHN ILLERYILLERY .......................... ..................................................................... S TATE J C HHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERS . 192424 ........................................ Southern UUSCFGSAMESCF DDELEGATES’ FELROMEGA TREECENTS’ MEETINGMEE ETIVENTSNG . 21 24 Californians Lag In STATESTTHEAT EL CHAMPIONSHIPCIGHTERHAMP ISOIDENSH. I. .P . Q. .UALIFIERSU . .A . L. I. .F . .I .E . R. S. .................. 242 5 Junior Grand Prix UUPCOMINGUPPCOMINGCOMING EVENEVVENTSENTTSS ............................................................................. 262 6 In 2008 World Chess Live began sponsoring a Junior Grand Prix in CCHESSCHHESSESS QQUIZQUUIZIZ ............................................... ....................................................... 242 8 addition to the traditional Grand Prix. The junior category gives 3 RANKANK & FILEILE SEPTEMBEREPTEMBER-O-OCTOBERCTOBER 20092009 in the top hundred nationally are score with 5. The tournament was Michael Brown, Agata Bykovtsev, notable for the absence of Jerry Southern California Chess and John Yu (three) and Michael Hanken, who missed his first open Lau (two). By way of comparison, since 1972 because of health prob- Federation the national leader has 185 points lems. Vincent Huang also tied for President Elliot Landaw in 11 tournaments! One hopes that fifth in the Denker Tournament of Vice President Ron Rezendes the remaining qualifying events, High School State Champions and Secretary Chuck Ensey including the American Open, will earned his first Master rating. Treasurer John Hillery Executive Board get more contenders into the arena Randy Hough to fight for top spots. IM Enrico Sevillano (2569) Mike Nagaran Of course, it gets more difficult to – Corbin Yu (2179) Rick Aeria pull those upsets as one’s strength U. S. Open, Indianapolis 2009 Jim Bullock increases. But there’s plenty of B22 SICILIAN DEFENSE, Alapin Mick Bighamian Jerry Yee room for our young players to play Variation Anthony Ong in more mixed tournaments – and (Notes by Los Angeles Times Takashi Iwamoto for organizers to structure their chess columnist Jack Peters) events so as to attract those JGP 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Rank & File point-seekers. – Randy Hough Alapin’s treatment of the Sicil- Editor John Hillery ian Defense. 835 N. Wilton Pl. # 2. … d6 3. d4 Nd7 Los Angeles CA 90038 US. Open: Playable, although 3. ... Nf6 4. [email protected] Six is the point Bd3 e5 is more common. 4. Nf3 Qc7 5. Bd3 Ngf6 6. 0-0 Publisher David Argall Six players tied for first in the e5 Contributing Editors 455-player 110th Annual U.S. After 6. ... e6 7. Qe2, Black must Jack Peters Open, held at the Indianapolis Mar- constantly beware of e4-e5. Tim Hanks riott East August 1-9. Scoring 7.5 7. Bg5 Be7 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. Al Pena out of 9 were GMs Alex Yermolin- Na3 0-0 10. Nc4 b6?! Contributors sky, Sergey Kudrin, Dmitry Gurev- Granting White an edge. With Chuck Ensey ich and Jesse Kraai, and IMs Alex 10. ... b5! 11. Ne3 c4 12. Bc2 Bb7 13. Randy Hough Anthony Ong Lenderman and Jacek Stopa. Since Nf5 Nc5, Black obtains adequate Chris Roberts Stopa is from Poland, the other five counterplay. players take all five U.S. Champion- 11. Ne3 Bb7 12. Nf5 Rae8 13. Subscriptions/Address Changes ship qualification spots. Congratu- Qe2 Kh8?! Randy Hough, Membership Secretary lations to the winners! This was the best moment for P.O. Box 205 Eugene Yanayt topped the 13. ... c4! 14. Bxc4 Bxe4. Monterey Park CA 9754 Southern California contingent 14. Rad1 (626) 282-742 with 6½ points, including a draw White’s active pieces are ready [email protected] with co-winner GM Alex Yermo- to pounce. Black’s attempt to unpin Rank & File — ISSN 8750-964 USPS linsky. Last year’s champion, IM by 14. ... Ng8? would lose to 15. Bb5! 738-230, published bimonthly by the Enrico Sevillano, finished with a Bc6 16. Bxe7 Nxe7 17. Nd6 Rd8 18. Southern California Chess Federation, 300 disappointing 6. Vincent Huang, Ng5, hitting f7. Ballista, La Puente CA 9744. Periodical Donald Danlag, Randy Hough, and 14. … c4? postage paid at Industry, CA. POST- Nathaniel Lagemann (who gained Continued on page 23 ... MASTER: Send changes of address to 38 points, notching one upset win SCCF, PO Box 205, Monterey Park CA and five upset draws) scored 5½, Photos: John Hillery 9754. Subscriptions: $8 adult, $0 junior. and Don Cotton also made a plus Copyright © SCCF 2009. One-time only publication rights have been obtained from signed contributors. All other rights are hereby assigned to the authors. The opinions Advertising Rates: Full page $80, half page $45, expressed are strictly those of the contribu- 1/4 page $25, 1/8 page $15, back cover (3/4 page) SCCF Online tors and do not necessarily reflect the views $80. (All rates are for camera-ready copy.) Flyer of the SCCF, its officers or members. insert $50 (advertiser must supply flyers). 50% The SCCF Web discount for tournaments requiring SCCF mem- bership. Display ads should be sent to the Editor, page is located at: flyers to the Publisher (addresses at right). Pay- ment should be sent with order to the Editor. SCCF www.scchess.com reserves the right to reject any advertising. 4 RANK & FILE SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009 2009 sccf state championship # Name Rtng Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Tot 1 IM Enrico Sevillano 2556 W3 W2 W5 W7 W6 D4 X8 6½ 2 Tianyi He 2210 W6 L1 W8 D3 W4 W5 X7 5½ 3 Alexandre Kretchetov 2403 L1 W8 D4 D2 W5 W7 W6 5 4 Tatev Abrahamyan 2315 W8 W7 D3 W6 L2 D1 L5 4 5 IM Jack Peters 2411 W7 L6 L1 W8 L3 L2 W4 3 6 Elliott Liu 2405 L2 W5 L7 L4 L1 X8 L3 2 7 Ali Morshedi 2318 L5 L4 W6 L1 X8 L3 F2 2 8 Robert I Reynolds 2210 L4 L3 L2 L5 F7 F6 F1 0 he 2009 SCCF State Championship, held August 15-23 at the 21.