If you missed the first eight rounds of the U.S. Championship and Women’s Championships, you can tune in for today’s final round at www.uschesschamps.com today. The coverage by Yasser Seirawan, Jen Shahade and Maurice Ashley is superb, and live coverage of games in progress is instructive to players of all levels. We last viewed Thursday’s round six, and no one is running away with either title in the fiercely fought games.
If there is a tie in the 24-player men’s or 10-player women’s sections, there will be playoffs tomorrow. You can ask questions during the live commentary today via Twitter, and prizes are being awarded to those presented during the game analysis. Both the sponsoring St. Louis Chess Club and invited guest presenters such as Hip Hop Chess have active presence on Facebook.
If you live in northern Worcester County or in southern New Hampshire, check out the 7 p.m. Monday meetings of the Keene Chess Club at the Elks, 81 Roxbury St., Keene. A USCF-rated event is now under way, with pairings at 6:50 p.m. by Tom Cassar. More details at www.Knightschessclub.org.
Last weekend’s 24th Vermont Resort Open in Rutland attracted 37 and Vermont stalwart David Carter took clear first. View crosstables of all USCF-rated events at www.uschess.org, under clubs and tournaments.
If you believe that the scholastic chess season is over, view the five events this coming weekend, including a college scholarship event in Connecticut, the annual Battleship Cove Museum event in Fall River, and a host of others at www.masschess.org. The events at the University of Connecticut at Storrs are open to Massachusetts students, including the high school event with college scholarship prizes.
Three scholastic events during the Memorial Day weekend, in conjunction with the three-day 82nd Mass. Open in Marlboro, are also described in full, and ballots were mailed last week in MACA’s annual election, one of the first in recent years that is contested for more than one officer position.
Speaking of scholastic chess, Richard James’ new book, “The Right Way to Teach Chess to Kids,” will debut in June. James also offers free booklets for parents and kids at www.chesskids.com, his online academy in the United Kingdom, a chess service advertised on the USCF’s website.
Answer to quiz: Mikhail Tal played 1. Nd7ch and Botvinnik conceded. The rooks force the pawn to queen. From the www.newinchess.com recent volume, “The Magic Tactics of Mikhail Tal: Learn from the Legend,” by Muller and Stolze.
Source: http://www.telegram.com
Great column.