Today was our first Orland Scholastic of the year, and we drew 42 players, which is about a 50% increase over last years October event. We have added a rated section which was dominated by wunderkind William Radak. William has been rocketing up the rating list and should be near 1600 now putting him near the top of his age group in the country, not bad for a second grader. Last week Shiva Maharaj dubbed him the "Harry Potter of chess" for his more than passing resemblance to the young Potter as well is his prowess on the board. The title drew a nice grin of approval and a high five from the young man.
Coming up next is the Illinois All Grade championships coming up on November 8th. So far registration has been a little slower than expected at about 240 right now, but we are still projecting that we break 400 for the event.
Glenn
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Allan Hsu is a lowlife
Been away from blogging for a while now, and the scholastic chess schedule is now in full swing. Unfortunately, it seems as though despite there being fewer tournaments, the turnout among the players has actually decreased. Maybe that will be a column for another day.
We are also in week 9 of the US chess league season, where our Chicago Blaze is 4-4 playing against the Arizona Scorpions in a match that has significant playoff ramifications. A win puts our destiny in our own hands and even gives us a chance at the #2 seed, a draw and week 10 becomes a must win game. I will probably blog again after the match.
Anyways, lets get to the title of the post. Back in the wild west days of the internet, cybersquatting was a practice that was common and even lucrative. The idea was that you either vulture a domain name when it expired, or beat a person or a company to getting a website at what their natural name is. Apparently this practice is still common. Several years ago the Seattle Chess Foundation (aka the AF4C) had their site taken and turned into a porn site. Allan Hsu purchased the Illinois Chess Association's http://www.ilchess.org/ address, and is holding it for ransom for $3000. To do this to a non-for-profit group is despicable. If you would like to tell Allan what you think of his doing this, you can contact him at allan_hsu@hotmail.com
To get to the real ICA website, please go to http://www.il-chess.org/
Glenn
We are also in week 9 of the US chess league season, where our Chicago Blaze is 4-4 playing against the Arizona Scorpions in a match that has significant playoff ramifications. A win puts our destiny in our own hands and even gives us a chance at the #2 seed, a draw and week 10 becomes a must win game. I will probably blog again after the match.
Anyways, lets get to the title of the post. Back in the wild west days of the internet, cybersquatting was a practice that was common and even lucrative. The idea was that you either vulture a domain name when it expired, or beat a person or a company to getting a website at what their natural name is. Apparently this practice is still common. Several years ago the Seattle Chess Foundation (aka the AF4C) had their site taken and turned into a porn site. Allan Hsu purchased the Illinois Chess Association's http://www.ilchess.org/ address, and is holding it for ransom for $3000. To do this to a non-for-profit group is despicable. If you would like to tell Allan what you think of his doing this, you can contact him at allan_hsu@hotmail.com
To get to the real ICA website, please go to http://www.il-chess.org/
Glenn
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Blaze take on the Sluggers
Monday night the Chicago Blaze take on the Seattle Sluggers and their creepy overcaffeinated knight mascot. As we are sitting at 1.5-1.5 we are on pace to make the playoffs which can be done with a 5-5 result. Seattle presents and interesting challenge as they will be putting out their 2 GM lineup, and we are out rated on 3 of the 4 boards.
The US chess league seems to be a large game of rock, scissors, paper and while the Seattle 2 GM lineup creates matchup problems this week, it probably gets no better than a draw against most balanced lineups that it would see. This is a must win matchup for seattle as dropping to 1-3 cripples their playoff chances. It also sets up what may become a rather heated rivalry due to the accusations Nakamura aimed at Mitkov a couple years ago in Vegas.
I still like our chances as we are coming off a big win last week, and are playing well. Thankfully it is an internet match so the 11 year old boys in the area are safe from Nakamura's rantings.
Glenn
The US chess league seems to be a large game of rock, scissors, paper and while the Seattle 2 GM lineup creates matchup problems this week, it probably gets no better than a draw against most balanced lineups that it would see. This is a must win matchup for seattle as dropping to 1-3 cripples their playoff chances. It also sets up what may become a rather heated rivalry due to the accusations Nakamura aimed at Mitkov a couple years ago in Vegas.
I still like our chances as we are coming off a big win last week, and are playing well. Thankfully it is an internet match so the 11 year old boys in the area are safe from Nakamura's rantings.
Glenn
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Colias best game prizes
We are pleased to announce the best game prizes for the Colias Invitational from last month. For the Class player section, Richardson-Djordjevic wins the prize. For the master sections, Tate-Gratz was selected. As soon as I figure how to add games to my blog, I will post them here with annotations.
This week the Blaze have a featured Monday night matchup against the Seattle Sluggers. We have a bit of an uphill struggle as we are outrated on 3 of the 4 boards, but our team has been playing well lately, and upsets happen.
Glenn
This week the Blaze have a featured Monday night matchup against the Seattle Sluggers. We have a bit of an uphill struggle as we are outrated on 3 of the 4 boards, but our team has been playing well lately, and upsets happen.
Glenn
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Visiting the St. Louis Chess Club
As every year at this time I am sentenced to hard labor day time in South Central IL (not LA), I decided I would make a break for it this year and drive the hour to St. Louis and check out the chess club that has gotten so much pub. That and I really did not want to see one more meal that was fried, pork, or fried pork. So I drove down.
First, the neighborhood is exceptionally cool. Right off of the Wash U campus, the homes are beautiful and brick, there are tons of outdoor cafes, and stores, and coffee shops, not to mention a Vodka bar just around the corner for the Russian GMs that want to stop by.
You walk in, and it has the feel of a nice apartment building or downtown office as you come to the granite countered kiosk and are greeted. The floors are a dark hardwood, everything else is themed black and white. The place is immaculate, and they must have made the plasma TV salesman happy as there are like 15-20 of them in the place.
There are three levels to the club, the basement has a library full of chess books and magazines, as well as about 20 boards, all with chairs with the STLCC logo etched into the back of them. The main floor has about 8 boards, and is for informal play. There are also the plasma sets showing Diana Thater's video artwork. The upper level has about another 20 boards, and is the tournament hall.
Right now they have about 250 members, and are looking for a resident GM to give lessons as well as play and work there. Tournaments are weekly, and we will see both the US Championship and Women's championship there next year.
It really is too bad that we don't see more places like this in other cities. The one question I did not get answered is what will happen to the vibrant club at the St. Louis Bread Company? Will this new club kill it?
My next blog will likely be on Wednesday during the Chicago Blaze-San Francisco Mechanics USCL match. Tune in at 7:30 to watch.
Glenn
First, the neighborhood is exceptionally cool. Right off of the Wash U campus, the homes are beautiful and brick, there are tons of outdoor cafes, and stores, and coffee shops, not to mention a Vodka bar just around the corner for the Russian GMs that want to stop by.
You walk in, and it has the feel of a nice apartment building or downtown office as you come to the granite countered kiosk and are greeted. The floors are a dark hardwood, everything else is themed black and white. The place is immaculate, and they must have made the plasma TV salesman happy as there are like 15-20 of them in the place.
There are three levels to the club, the basement has a library full of chess books and magazines, as well as about 20 boards, all with chairs with the STLCC logo etched into the back of them. The main floor has about 8 boards, and is for informal play. There are also the plasma sets showing Diana Thater's video artwork. The upper level has about another 20 boards, and is the tournament hall.
Right now they have about 250 members, and are looking for a resident GM to give lessons as well as play and work there. Tournaments are weekly, and we will see both the US Championship and Women's championship there next year.
It really is too bad that we don't see more places like this in other cities. The one question I did not get answered is what will happen to the vibrant club at the St. Louis Bread Company? Will this new club kill it?
My next blog will likely be on Wednesday during the Chicago Blaze-San Francisco Mechanics USCL match. Tune in at 7:30 to watch.
Glenn
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Blaze drop close opener to Arizona
Last night I was hoping to make it to the Altounian home in Tucson to watch the Blaze take on the Scorpions first hand, unfortunately my three year old had other plans for us so I had to rely on the kindness of others to text me with updates. We lost the match 2.5-1.5, and take on San Francisco next week.
The highlight was the crushing victory of Ilan Meerovich over 2007 Denker winner Warren Harper. The next few weeks we will be trying some different lineups, and GM Nikola Mitkov will be back to anchor board one. The league is a bit new to us right now, but we have a fantastic roster top to bottom as well as great support from assistant manager Tom Panelas, resident tech geek Sevan Muradian, master blogger Brad Rosen, TD Betsy Dynako.
I have to admit, I was highly annoyed by Arun Sharma, who has never met many of our players, or even spoken to any of our management group, decided to publicly question our dedication. Arun, your prediction was spot on for the first match, I give you credit as a prognosticator, but apparently your journalism skills are quite lacking.
Glenn
The highlight was the crushing victory of Ilan Meerovich over 2007 Denker winner Warren Harper. The next few weeks we will be trying some different lineups, and GM Nikola Mitkov will be back to anchor board one. The league is a bit new to us right now, but we have a fantastic roster top to bottom as well as great support from assistant manager Tom Panelas, resident tech geek Sevan Muradian, master blogger Brad Rosen, TD Betsy Dynako.
I have to admit, I was highly annoyed by Arun Sharma, who has never met many of our players, or even spoken to any of our management group, decided to publicly question our dedication. Arun, your prediction was spot on for the first match, I give you credit as a prognosticator, but apparently your journalism skills are quite lacking.
Glenn
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Arizona
Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been in Arizona for the last few days enjoying the 105+ degree heat. Actually I have gotten to visit several chess friends, hung out with my 3 year old, and even got to see a baseball game (more on that later).
Tomorrow I am hoping to get down to Tucson, for two reasons, to watch our Chicago Blaze battle the Arizona Scorpions at their den. The other reason is because the best Mexican food in the country is found in Tucson. I need to get to the little Cafe Poca Cosa, or I could even settle for El Charro, or any number of places down there.
Our first match should be enjoyable to track. I think the team will get stronger as we go along, and we will be trying some different lineups nearly every week to get a feel for how the team plays. Arun Sharma gives his predictions on the US Chess League season on their site, which predict us for 6th. We will give it our best attempt to make him look bad. We are a little outrated in this first match, but I still like our chances.
Today I was able to get the Chase Field (formerly the BOB), to watch the Dbacks and the Marlins face off. What a great park and experience! Visiting parks is a hobby of mine, so this was a treat. The seats were great along the 1st base line (angled to face home plate), food selection was top notch, the weather was 105 outside but probably a comfortable 80 or so inside the yard. Misty May Treanor just back from Beijing threw out the first pitch, John McCain was on hand to watch. Of the parks I have visited, here is how I would rank them:
1. Pac Bell, San Francisco: Stunning views, great food, older park feel with newer park convenience, nice features such as the statues and the free viewing area outside of the park through the fence, and a cool lively area.
2. Chase Field, Arizona: Just a really well thought out park. Engineeringwise, this place is amazing, the area is getting more stuff to do. It is kind of like if you were a kid and trying to design the perfect park (natural grass, dome, great food, cool area, very kid friendly, wonderful sight lines, it is all there). The one feature that I don't think most fans care for is the Upper deck looks even steeper to the old upper deck at the current Comiskey park.
3. PNC Park, Pittsburgh: Ok, so the Pirates aren't very good, but the park makes up for some of it. The Megatron with the sound system looks like it was taken from a Vegas casino with the sound and picture quality. Some of the best scenic views of any park.
4. Coors Field, Colorado: This is the most fun stadium to watch batting practice in. An absolutely huge and beautiful park, not very expensive either. The lo-do neighborhood is great to visit.
5. Turner Field, Atlanta: In some ways, very similar to Coors, a really nice looking park, though a bit harder to get to.
6. Commiskey, Chicago: Screw US Cellular, this will always be Commiskey to Sox fans. Yes, I am putting it ahead of Wrigley. This park is convenient, and while I disliked it when it opened, hard not to when we saw the parks right after it but it continuously improves every year.
7. Wrigley, Chicago: Great history, fun neighborhood and that is where the positives end. Parking is terrible, the sightlines are poor, food poor, I don't even know where to start about the bathrooms. Yes, it is a great place to spy beautiful women, but the tickets are costly and perhaps the dumbest fans in baseball that go do games. Disclaimer, I do actually like the Cubs too. I think they use the "Go Cubs Go" song to torture prisoners in Guantanimo.
8. Busch Stadium, St. Louis: Some of the best fans in baseball, a nice downtown location, but a completely non-descript new stadium.
9. Jacobs Field, Cleveland: I really thought I would love this park, fun area downtown, but as I entered the park I noticed a few things. For a newish park, it looks rather run down. The food selection there is poor. Sightlines are average. They do get some points for the yankee stadium style monuments by center field though.
What are some of your favorite parks?
Glenn
Tomorrow I am hoping to get down to Tucson, for two reasons, to watch our Chicago Blaze battle the Arizona Scorpions at their den. The other reason is because the best Mexican food in the country is found in Tucson. I need to get to the little Cafe Poca Cosa, or I could even settle for El Charro, or any number of places down there.
Our first match should be enjoyable to track. I think the team will get stronger as we go along, and we will be trying some different lineups nearly every week to get a feel for how the team plays. Arun Sharma gives his predictions on the US Chess League season on their site, which predict us for 6th. We will give it our best attempt to make him look bad. We are a little outrated in this first match, but I still like our chances.
Today I was able to get the Chase Field (formerly the BOB), to watch the Dbacks and the Marlins face off. What a great park and experience! Visiting parks is a hobby of mine, so this was a treat. The seats were great along the 1st base line (angled to face home plate), food selection was top notch, the weather was 105 outside but probably a comfortable 80 or so inside the yard. Misty May Treanor just back from Beijing threw out the first pitch, John McCain was on hand to watch. Of the parks I have visited, here is how I would rank them:
1. Pac Bell, San Francisco: Stunning views, great food, older park feel with newer park convenience, nice features such as the statues and the free viewing area outside of the park through the fence, and a cool lively area.
2. Chase Field, Arizona: Just a really well thought out park. Engineeringwise, this place is amazing, the area is getting more stuff to do. It is kind of like if you were a kid and trying to design the perfect park (natural grass, dome, great food, cool area, very kid friendly, wonderful sight lines, it is all there). The one feature that I don't think most fans care for is the Upper deck looks even steeper to the old upper deck at the current Comiskey park.
3. PNC Park, Pittsburgh: Ok, so the Pirates aren't very good, but the park makes up for some of it. The Megatron with the sound system looks like it was taken from a Vegas casino with the sound and picture quality. Some of the best scenic views of any park.
4. Coors Field, Colorado: This is the most fun stadium to watch batting practice in. An absolutely huge and beautiful park, not very expensive either. The lo-do neighborhood is great to visit.
5. Turner Field, Atlanta: In some ways, very similar to Coors, a really nice looking park, though a bit harder to get to.
6. Commiskey, Chicago: Screw US Cellular, this will always be Commiskey to Sox fans. Yes, I am putting it ahead of Wrigley. This park is convenient, and while I disliked it when it opened, hard not to when we saw the parks right after it but it continuously improves every year.
7. Wrigley, Chicago: Great history, fun neighborhood and that is where the positives end. Parking is terrible, the sightlines are poor, food poor, I don't even know where to start about the bathrooms. Yes, it is a great place to spy beautiful women, but the tickets are costly and perhaps the dumbest fans in baseball that go do games. Disclaimer, I do actually like the Cubs too. I think they use the "Go Cubs Go" song to torture prisoners in Guantanimo.
8. Busch Stadium, St. Louis: Some of the best fans in baseball, a nice downtown location, but a completely non-descript new stadium.
9. Jacobs Field, Cleveland: I really thought I would love this park, fun area downtown, but as I entered the park I noticed a few things. For a newish park, it looks rather run down. The food selection there is poor. Sightlines are average. They do get some points for the yankee stadium style monuments by center field though.
What are some of your favorite parks?
Glenn
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