Princeton University “A” finished 6-0 to lead 281 teams in the 43rd World Amateur team event last weekend in Parssipany, N.J. There were a number of Massachusetts players in the 1,190 (record turnout) assembled multitude, many in costume, which has been rated at
www.uschess.org.
Top Massachusetts team was “Larry C Larry Do,” led by grandmaster Larry Christiansen of Cambridge and anchored by Carissa Yip, 9, of Chelmsford, with Paul MacIntyre and Natasha Christiansen on the middle boards. The many individual awards are featured on the N.J. State Chess Federation’s website,
www.njscf.org.
Meanwhile, in Amherst, the 88th Western Mass. and Connecticut Valley Open, one of the longest running traditional trophy events, drew 37 players and a five-way tie for first between Jayson Paul, Magnus Wennemyr and Michael Zyra Jr. of Massachusetts, Eric Strickland of Vermont, and Norman Burtness of Connecticut, all at 4-1. The event since the 1920’s being traditionally on Washington’s birthday, now President’s Day week.
On Tuesday, “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” a 17-minute video of Jerry Seinfeld and Michael Richards (Kramer) reminiscing about their long-running (150 episode) comedy series, was posted on
www.chessbase.com. Halfway through, Richards has a “monologue on chess.”
At the end Richards says he could have played Kramer “forever.”
Sad news to players across the state who competed about 30 years ago with Chris Arriaza, 47, who died Feb. 15 in Orlando, Fla. Born in Worcester, he graduated with honors from Belmont High School, then moved to Arlington and finally to Florida. His funeral was yesterday in Worcester, and is remember at the In Passing section of the USCF website, many of the tributes written by George Mirijanian of Fitchburg.
Don’t forget that the Mass. Chess Association (
www.masschess.org) not only has a calendar of upcoming chess events, but supplies chess sets to most any local chess activity in a school, library, youth or adult community or senior center. This is provided by their Living Memorial Chess Fund that honors chess enthusiasts of the past and present.
“Character Education with Chess,” a 72-page booklet, provides “useful ideas for parents, teachers and therapists” from the career and research of Roumen Bezergianov, who works with troubled youth as a psychotherapist with the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections. He is contemplating a new edition with actual chess positions to illustrate how chess relates both to life and literature.
Answer to quiz; Black “wins” with 1. ... Qxa5. There’s no way to protect the white queen and stop checkmate, so at least white’s queen is lost. Another amateur position from the 1,000 puzzle e-book of
www.tacticstime.com, available at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009TBYA7U, at just $5, with free periodic update.
