When the Chess world went scholastic Richard Francisco
Richard Francisco
was one of the first children in the Atlanta area to become a strong player. Mr. Francisco represented Atlanta, and Georgia, when playing for the Atlanta Kings.
He is a likeable gentleman about whom I have never heard a discouraging word.
Therefore it was painful to watch local favorite lose his first three games in the ongoing Charlotte Holiday IM norm tournament. In the fourth round Richard, playing black, stopped the bleeding by drawing a hard fought game with fellow FM Doug Ekhart,
rated only 2166 FIDE, thirty four points below Master level. The game was a long back and forth struggle in which both players were at times winning the game, which culminated in a draw.
Richard Francisco (USA) vs Matan Prilleltensky (USA) Holiday CCCSA IM 2021 round 05 A20 English opening
from Spain, rated 2483 FIDE; 2583 USCF. The game was relatively even until the Grandmaster lurched in playing 24 exf5, a horribly bad move. After many vicissitudes Richard slammed the GM to the mat!
Jose Gonzalez Garcia (ESP) vs Richard Francisco (USA) Holiday CCCSA IM 2021 round 06 E90 King’s Indian, 5.Nf3
a USCF Master, rated 2099 FIDE. In the first four rounds Mr. Rosenberg won two and drew and lost one each. The wheels came off in the fifth round as Rosenberg lost three games consecutively before playing a horrific blunder on move 18, after which he was beaten and battered unmercifully before throwing in the towel.
Evan S Rosenberg (USA) vs Richard Francisco (USA) Holiday CCCSA IM 2021 round 08 A04 Reti opening
To come back to even against this competition after starting a round robin tournament with three straight goose eggs is an outstanding result. Mr. Francisco has shown that he can take the blows and and do it his way. Unlike some Chess players, like the recent challenger for the title of human World Chess Champion, who shatter completely when hit with a punch, Richard managed to keep it together, remain resilient, and come back strong.
Breaking news! The last round has begun and Richard and his opponent 2321 FIDE rated opponent Tianqi Wang
have “phoned it in” by agreeing to split the point after only 5 moves had been played. What the hell, it’s the holidaze and neither player had anything for which to play, so they did a little dance so they could get down tonight rather than taking that midnight train to Georgia, and I’m sure the wife will be happy to see Richard while the sun is still shining.
The CCCSA Summer 2019 GM/IM Norm Invitational was held at the Charlotte Chess Center & Scholastic Academy June 6-9. There were three sections, GM; IM B; & IM C. After an overview we will focus on the IM B section for reasons which will become clear soon enough. But first I would like to mention the GM section ended in a tie between GM Karen Grigoryan, of Armenia, and IM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy, from the USA. Grigoryan was running away with the tournament until losing to IM Kassa Korley in the penultimate round. In the last round Grigoryan lost to Ostrovskiy while still clinging to a share of the lead.
In the IM C section GM Carlos Antonio Hevia Alejano, from Texas, shared first place with NM Aydin Turgut of Indiana. Full standings can be found @ http://chessstream.com/Invitational/Pairings.aspx
GM Alonso Zapata,
now a resident of the Great State of Georgia, ran away with the section, finishing a clear point ahead of the field with 7 1/2 points. IM Felix Jose Ynojosa Aponte,
from Venezuela, was second with 6 1/2 points. They met in the seventh round:
Felix Jose Ynojosa Aponte (VEN) vs Alonso Zapata (COL)
Charlotte Summer Invitational IM 2019 round 07
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. Bd3 Ne7 6. O-O (SF plays 6 b3 a move not seen since 1999, according to 365Chess. The move has appeared in only four games. There are no games at the ChessBaseDataBase with the move)
O-O 7. h3 (SF plays 7 Re1; Komodo plays 7 b3 a TN) c6 8. Re1 Ng6 (TN-SF plays 8…Na6) 9. c4 ½-½
Granted, this was the second game of the day so there must have been little thought from the GM other than to accept the gift. Zapata was born in August, 1958 and is currently sixty one years old. Aponte was born in 1996, and had the white pieces, yet did not even attempt to make a game of it against his much older rival. This reminds of the time decades ago when Ron Burnett had been paired with Sammy Reshevsky at a tournament such as the US Open, or maybe a World Open. Ron was ready for the battle, talking trash about what he was about to do to his opponent. “But Ron,” I said, “Sammy is a legend.” Ron shot back, “He ain’t nothing but an old man.” Once a player reaches a certain age he becomes the Rodney Dangerfield of Chess.
This was Aponte’s moment and what did he do? He offered a draw…Aponte has no cojones and unless he grows a pair in the near future the GM title will remain out of reach. Contrast the “game” and I use the term loosely, with Zapata’s last round game:
Tying for third place were Georgia native NM Richard Francisco,
now thirty five years of age, and his last round opponent NM Zachary Dukic,
from Canada. They both finished with 6 points; 6 1/2 were required to earn an IM norm.
In the first round Richard faced a young (birth year 1997) IM Martin Lokander, from Sweden.
NM Richard Francisco (USA) – Martin Lokander (SWE)
Charlotte Summer Invitational IM 2019 round 01
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Bd7 5. Nf3 a6 (5…Nc6 SF) 6. Bd3 cxd4 (Komodo and Stockfish at the CBDB both play 6…Nc6, but the SF at ChessBomb considers 6…Qc7, a potential TN, equal to Nc6) 7. cxd4 Bb5 (SF prefers 7…Nc6)
8. O-O? (This shows a lack of understanding of the position and is the beginning of problems for Richard. Both the Fish and the Dragon would play 8 Bc2. There are many other, better, moves, such as 8 Bxb5+; 8 Nc3; and 8 Bg5, all shown at the ChessBomb) Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Ne7 10. Nc3 Nbc6 (For 10 N3c6 see Papahristoudis v Savoglou below) 11. Ne2 Rc8 12. Bd2 Nf5 13. Nf4 Be7
14. g3? (This is obviously a very weak move and gives the advantage to black. There was no need to voluntarily weaken the castled position. Richard needs to read Sam Shankland’s book…Stockfish says 14 Rac1 keeps the game balanced. Unfortunately for our hero Richard, the game went downhill from here. This is my last comment on the game, which can be found here, along with input from Stockfish, albeit with little time to “cogitate.” https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2019-charlotte-summer-invitational-im/01-Francisco_Richard-Lokander_Martin)
It must have been devastating to lose, especially with the white pieces, in the very forst round when one needs 6 1/2 points to earn an IM norm. To make matters worse, Richard had to face the only GM in the tournament in the second round.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. f4 (Not the best move in the position. Stockfish 10 at depth 49 would play 6 a3, a move which does not appear at the ChessBaseDataBase. SF 080219 at depth 46 plays 6 Be3, the most often played move, while SF 9 at depth 38 plays the second most often played move, 6 Be2) 6…a6 7 Nxc6 (The most often played move, but Komodo would play 7 Be2) 7…Qxc6 (Although the most often played move, SF 10 would play 7…bxc6) 8. Bd3 d6 (SF plays 8…b5, by far the most often played move) 9. a4 (SF 10 simply castles) 9…Nf6 10. O-O Be7 11. Kh1 (SF & Komodo prefer 11 Be3) 11…Qc7 (SF would castle) 12. Qe2 (Unfortunately, Qe2 is not always the best move. SF would play 12 a5) 12…O-O (SF 10 would play 12…b6) 13. e5 Nd7 14. exd6 Bxd6 15. Ne4 Be7 16. f5 (Komodo plays 16 Be3)
exf5 17. Bf4 SF plays 17 Ng3) Ne5 18. Ng3 Bd6 19. Bxf5 Ng6 (SF shows 19…Nc4 best) 20. Bxd6 Qxd6 21. Rad1 Qc7 22. c3 Bxf5 (SF prefers 22…Ne5) 23. Nxf5 Rad8 24. Rd4 (SF plays 24 Qg4) 24…Rfe8 (SF would play 24…Ne5)
25. Qf3 Rxd4 25 f6 SF) 26. cxd4 Qd7 (Houdini plays the “in your face” 26…Qf4) 27. h4 Nf8 (SF plays 27…Qe6) 28. d5 (28 h5 SF) f6 29. h5 Re5 (The Fish would rip off the pawn with 29…Qxa4) 30. d6 (The Dragon would play 30 b3) 30…Kh8 (Komodo would play 30…Qe6) 31. h6 g6 32. Ng3 (SF considers 32 Ne3 a much better move) 32…Qxd6 33. Qxb7 (Stockfish 10 would play 33 Ne4. The Fish at DaBomb would play 33 Qxf6) Re7 34. Qa8 (Komodo prefers 34 Ne4) Rf7 (SF 10 likes this move) 35. Ne4 Qe5 36. Nxf6 (Both the Fish and the Dragon prefer 36 b4) 36…Qg5 (36…Qe2 Komodo) 37. Qe8 (Both the Fish and the Dragon would take the pawn with 37 Qxa6) 37…Qxh6+ (37…Qh4+) 38. Kg1 Qg7 39. Qd8 h5
Richard bested CM Abhimanyu Mishra with the black pieces in round 3 and FM Sahil Sinha with the white pieces in the fourth round before holding the draw with the black pieces against FM Seth Homa in the following round. He drew with the white pieces with the aforementioned Aponte in the first game played Saturday, June 8 before winning with black against FM Nikhil Kumar in the second Saturday game. This put Richard in the postition of needing to win both games the following day, Sunday.
Now it was time for the final round, a game Mr. Francisco needed to win to obtain an IM norm. His opponent was a Canadian NM, born in 1997, the lowest rated player in the event, who was having a very good tournament. Like Richard the Canuck also had 5 1/2 points and needed a win to garner the coveted IM norm.
During research for this post the following comment by Mr. Dukic was found:
“Well guys I almost got the norm. I needed a 2450 performance but since I drew my last game I only managed 2437.
I had 4.5/7 going into the final day and I would need 2/2 to secure the norm, including winning a game with black against a Swedish International Master. I managed to win this, so I only needed to win with white in the last round to secure the norm. If my opponent were to win, then he would win the norm. If we drew, nobody would get it. It was truly the money game!
It came down to a king and pawn endgame (see below) where I was one tempo short of victory. It resembles the endgame in Searching for Bobby Fischer except for one key detail: black’s pawn on c6 prevents my queen from controlling his queening square 😥
For those of you who followed along, hope you enjoyed it!”
I spent much time following the games from Charlotte via the internet, when it was up. The service received from AT&T leaves much to be desired. Frankly, having AT&T is like living in a third world country, with constant outages. The internet is frequently down and when down, stays down for many hours. Nevertheless, I persevered, while either muttering expletives, or screaming things like, “That blankety blank AT&T!!!”
One of the best things about viewing the games was they were given at ChessStream (http://chessstream.com/Invitational/Default.aspx) sans annotations so I could think for myself before heading over to the ChessBomb to learn what Stockfish, with little time and depth, had to say about the move and/or position.
The Atlanta Kings season ended last night when, needing a win, they could only manage a draw with the Sharks of Miami. The Kings were eliminated from the playoffs.
Week 10: Miami Sharks (MIA 2406) vs Atlanta Kings (ATL 2405)
Because of the rating cap it is difficult to take the USCL seriously. Each team must have an average rating of 2400 except when, “3. Any player rated above 2600 will count as only 2600 when determining whether a lineup has a legal average; this is done to reward teams for using the strongest players in the country on their rosters.” Or when, “4. Any player rated below 2000 will count as 2000 when determining whether a lineup has a legal average; this is done to keep lineups reasonably balanced.” (http://uschessleague.com/rules.php)
This makes no sense whatsoever. When the Kings played the St. Louis Arch Bishops GM Wesley So, the number ten player in the world, was rated 2751, yet for USCL purposes his rating was considered to be 2600. Theoretically, a team could field three 2700 players and an 1800 on last board under USCL rules. If the 2700 rated players were actually considered to be 2700, then the last board would have to be manned by a player rated 1500. This obviously greatly favors teams fortunate enough to have players rated over 2600, lessening the chance an underdog team has of making the playoffs. Like the tax laws in this country favoring the wealthy and corporations, now considered “people” under the law (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/how-supreme-court-turned-corporations-people-200-year-saga) & (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/03/corporations_are_people_and_that_s_why_hobby_lobby_should_lose_at_the_supreme.html), USCL rules favor the teams rich in higher rated players. Unless and until the rules are changed the USCL has little credibility.
The Kings were led this season by NM Richard Francisco, who scored an amazing 7 1/2 out of 9 games. The Frisco Kid played 3 games more than any other player, and scored an astounding 4 1/2 more points than the second highest scoring player, NM Damir Studen. He also had the highest PR. If a team MVP is chosen, Mr. Francisco is the man.
The Atlanta Kings went down to the Rio Grande Ospreys in USCL action last night. Heavily outgunned on the top two boards and having to play with only 66 minutes, versus 84 for the Pandion haliaetus, or Fish Hawks, whichever you prefer, because of a last minute lineup change that did not benefit Atlanta rating wise, the Kings almost drew the match when, down 1-2, Lawrence White, playing his first game for the Kings, managed to get a Rook, Bishop, and Knight into his opponents position with mating chances, while down three pawns! Unfortunately for the Kings the game ended in a draw by repetition.
This leaves the Kings tied for fifth in the Southern Division, but only a half game behind Baltimore and Connecticut. Wonder if one can order grits in the land of the Dreadnoughts? The regular season ends next week with the Kings facing the Sharks of Miami, while the Dreadnoughts face off against the Kingfishers. Baltimore should have spelled their name, “Kingfischers.” Although tied with Atlanta with a score of 3 1/2-5 1/2, the Cobras have been eliminated from the playoffs while the Kings are still alive. I have no idea why…
The Frisco Kid has now scored 6 1/2 out of 8 and is tied for fourth place in the USCL with 17 1/2 points. I have no idea how the USCL point system works. His PR is a Grandmasterly 2522.
Francisco, Richard (2382) – Guerrero, Alejandra WIM (2110) [C02]
USCL Week 9 Internet Chess Club, 22.10.2014
The St. Louis Arch Bishops defeated the Atlanta Kings by a score of 3-1 in USCL action last night. Richard Francisco scored the Kings lone point with a win over FM Doug Eckert on board three. St. Louis was led by the $100,000 chess man, GM Wesley So, playing only a couple of nights after winning the Millionaire Open, who defeated GM Alonso Zapata on first board. GM Ben Finegold, with the Black pieces, defeated FM Daniel Gurevich. NM Matthew Larson also won with the Black pieces, besting the Kings NM Leo Martinez on fourth board.
Statistics on the Southeast Chess website show the Arch Bishops with an average rating of 2469, which is 69 points over the 2400 limit. How is this possible? I cannot explain this anomaly. If anyone can explain why one side is allowed to field a team 69 points over the limit, please leave a comment, or email me at: xpertchesslessons@yahoo.com.
Week 8: St. Louis Arch Bishops (STL 2469) vs Atlanta Kings (ATL 2399)
Wednesday, October 15, 8:00pm
1. GM Wesley So (STL 2751) – GM Alonso Zapata (ATL 2555) 1-0
2. FM Daniel Gurevich (ATL 2393) – GM Ben Finegold (STL 2591) 0-1
3. FM Doug Eckert (STL 2281) – Richard Francisco (ATL 2382) 0-1
4. Leo Martinez (ATL 2266) – Matthew Larson (STL 2251) 0-1
St. Louis Wins 3-1 (http://www.southeastchess.com/atlanta-kings.html)
The Frisco Kid has now scored 5 1/2 out of 7 games and has a 2532 performance rating.
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e5 3.Bg2 c6 4.d4 exd4 5.Qxd4 d5 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.Qd1 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Nbd2 Re8 11.Nb3 Ne4 12.Be3 Bf6 13.Nbd4 Bg4 14.Rc1 Rc8 15.Qa4 Qd7 16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.Bd4 c5 18.Qxd7 Bxd7 19.Bxf6 Nxf6 20.e3 Bf5 21.Rfd1 Red8 22.Ne5 c4 23.g4 Nxg4 24.Nxg4 Bxg4 25.Rxd5 Be6 26.Rxd8+ Rxd8 27.Bf1 Rc8 28.Rc3 Kf8 29.b3 cxb3 30.Rxc8+ Bxc8 31.axb3 Ke7 32.Bd3 a5 33.Bc4 f6 34.Kf1 Kd6 35.Ke2 Kc5 36.Kd3 Kb4 37.f3 g5 38.Kd4 Bh3 39.Bg8 h5 40.Ke4 Kc3 41.Bf7 h4 42.f4 g4 43.Be6 Bg2+ 44.Kf5 g3 45.hxg3 h3 0-1
The Kings are in third place in the Southern division, with a record of 3 1/2-4 1/2, two points behind the Archies, but only one point behind the Sharks of Miami. Next week the Sharks face-off with the Dallas Destiny, while the Kings battle the Rio Grande Ospreys in the penultimate round of the regular season. The finale has the Kings facing the Sharks, a match which could determine a spot in the playoffs.
Daughter Maitland – St. Louis Blues (Boardwalk Empire)
The Atlanta Kings are on a roll. After crushing the Carolina Cobras 4-0 last week, this week they beat the Philadelphia Inventors 3 1/2 – 1/2 to move into a tie with the Miami Sharks, a point behind division leading St. Louis Arch Bishops. The Kings lead the Sharks by a wide margin in game points. What makes this so amazing is that the Kings are the best players in the area, with only two players rated over 2400, Deepak Aaron, 2446, and GM Alonso Zapata, 2555, who has played only one game. The Kings have had to total and average the team only once. They do not have to try to meet an imposed rating limit because most of the team is under the limit!
The question on the USCL website last week was, “Which game should win Week 6 Game of the Week?” This is how the people voted:
Francisco vs Cunningham 1-0 (45%, 37 Votes)
Huschenbeth vs So 1/2 (20%, 17 Votes)
Orlov vs Khachiyan 1-0 (14%, 12 Votes)
Esserman vs Mandizha 0-1 (12%, 10 Votes)
Kamsky vs Ivanov 1-0 (9%, 7 Votes)
The “experts” determined the Huschenbeth vs So GOTW. Kamsky vs Ivanov was second. Orlov vs Khachiyan won bronze, while Esserman vs Mandizha took fourth. Which leaves the Frisco Kid’s game in…
5th Place: NM Richard Francisco (ATL) vs FM Robin Cunningham (CAR) 1-0
Richard leads the Kings in total points scored, 4 1/2 out of 6 games, with a performance rating of 2500!
The Kings face off with the powerful Arch Bishops this week, a team that can, and does, “stack” their line-up. Consider this headline from the USCL website (http://uschessleague.com/): posted on October 6, 2014, “Brian Jerauld evaluates St. Louis’s stacked lineup strategy.” The teaser begins, “It has been a long debate for many years in the USCL whether to go with a balanced or stacked lineup when trying to be successful, and the St. Louis Arch Bishops have been one of them most extreme teams recently in going with the stacked strategy.”
Clicking on sends one to the St. Louis Chess Club & Scholastic Center for an article by Brian Jerauld with this headline, “Marler on Hot Seat as Arch Bishops Look to Stop Skid.” Discension in the ranks is just what the Atlanta Kings, the league’s most “balanced” team, want to see before facing off with the St. Louis Arch Nemesis. Consider this paragraph, “Leading the list of complaints causing unrest with the manager’s performance is a Marler-designed lineup strategy of stacking the squad’s top-two boards with two uber-elite 2700+ Grandmasters. Many argue the top-heavy strategy has been tried before, and with disastrous results — though it’s a method that Marler stubbornly defends.” (http://saintlouischessclub.org/blog/uscl-week-7-marler-hot-seat-arch-bishops-look-stop-skid)
We can only hope our “no-name” squad rises to the occasion and stays on a roll!
The grueling ordeal that is the US Masters came to an end last night with GM Bartlomiej Macieja alone in first place at +6 while winning $5000. GM Yaroslav Zherebukh in second place at +5 and took home $3000. Six players tied for third at +4. They each won $850. If you think this a tremendous disparity between first and third, the winner of the ongoing Sinquefield Cup will win $100,000. It pays to be at the top.
GM Alonso Zapata drew with Damir Studen in the last round with both finishing with a +1 score of 5-4. Damir took home $114.29 as second U2300 while the GM went home empty-handed.
Michael Corallo drew his last game with Vladimir Romankenko to also finish at +1 and also won $114.29. IM Carlos Perdomo also finished with a +1 score, but took home only $75 after his last round draw with Nicolas D Checa.
Sanjay Ghatti lost in the last round to Gabriel Petesch to finish at -1, with a score, but yet took home 266.67 for the 2nd U2100. As is often the case in tournament chess it often pays to be a lower rated player.
The Frisco Kid, Richard Francisco, showing great fighting spirit when those around him were doing the “buddy-buddy shake,” won his last round game against Sam Copeland to finish with an even score and took home that home as consolation.
I was able to provide most of these games because I transcribed them myself, and enjoyed replaying them immensely. Unfortunately, the scoresheets for most of the last round games have not been provided on the website (http://www.carolinaschessinitiative.com/tournaments/US-Masters-NC-Open-2014/)
The disparity between the ratings shown is because the USCF rating is different, and usually higher, than the FIDE rating.
Shout – Otis Day & The Knights (Animal House 1978)
It was a brutal penultimate round for the intrepid players from Georgia. GM Zapata managed to draw his game with Levy Rozman (2287), as did IM Carlos Perdomo, who drew with Alexander Betaneli (2246). Damir Studen also drew his game with IM John Cox (2371) from the United Kingdom.
Unfortunately Michael Corallo lost again, this time to GM Elshan Moradiabad (2598). Michael had been having such a tremendous tournament that after losing back to back games he is still tied at +1, or 4 1/2 points, with those above named players, and will battle another GM, Vladimir Romanenko (2498) in the money round.
Sanjay Ghatti lost to Andrey Gorovets (2478) but still has an even score with 4 points.
The Frisco Kid drew with Joshua Colas (2116) and is at -1, with 3 1/2 points, needing a win tonight against Sam Copeland (2153) to finish with an even score.
Kazim Gulamali lost his penultimate round game and also has 3 1/2 points.
Nicolas D Checa (2219) vs FM Kazim Gulamali (2283)
The game ended here and this was displayed on the website:
“White won (rated game). Cellphone went off”
It is beyond my comprehension how such a thing could occur. Why any player would even have a cellphone after what happened to GM Nigel Short when he lost a game, even though his gizmo was turned off, because it made a sound to signal its battery was low, disrupting the tournament, and violating the FIDE rule against gizmos making sounds. No players should ever, under any circumstance, have a gizmo with them in or around the tournament hall because of the appearance of having such device gives because of the possibility of cheating by using a gizmo. All chess organizations should have banned gizmos years ago for just this reason. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not, and would never accuse Kazim of cheating. Having known him for at least a decade I would not believe it if he were ever accused of cheating because he is a gentleman. I hate to write this, but his play this tournament could be considered prima-facie evidence that he did not cheat. It is more than a little obvious that Kazim had what is now called a “Dierks” moment.
Reece Thompson lost in the penultimate round and still has 3 points, but will play the last round game trying to finish with a -1 score.
Kapil Chandran (2382) vs Reece Thompson (2087)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nf3 Nbd7 4. Nc3 c6 5. e4 e5 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Qc2 Re8 9. d5 a5 10. h3 Qc7 11. Be3 Nc5 12. Rfd1 Bd7 13. Rac1 cxd5 14. cxd5 Rec8 15. Nd2 Qb8 16. Bxc5 Rxc5 17. a4 Be8 18. Qb1 Nd7 19. Nb3 Rc8 20. Nb5 Rxc1 21. Rxc1 Bd8 22. Qc2 Bg5 23. Nc7 Bxc1 24. Nxa8 Be3 25. fxe3 Qxa8 26. Qc7 Qa7 27. Kf2 Nf6 28. Qd8 h6 29. Bb5 Kh7 30. Bxe8 Nxe4 31. Kf3 f5 32. Bd7 1-0
The schedule has been brutal as can be seen by the fact that 30% of the field will not play in the last round. The ones who do play will certainly be staggering at the finish line.
The turn has been made at the US Masters and the players have hit the long stretch and are heading for the finish line. Heading into the penultimate round NM Michael Corallo, even with his loss to GM Sergei Azarov on board two in the antepenultimate round, is leading the contingent from the Great State of Georgia. Michael lost in the first round, then scored four wins and one draw, including three wins in a row, including a victory over GM Alex Shabalov. His 4 1/2 points is a half point more than GM Alsonso Zapata, who lost to IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat in round seven. IM Carlos Perdomo has shown his class by coming back after losing his first two games to score four points in the next five rounds with three wins and two draws. Carlos drew with fellow Atlanta Kings member Sanjay Ghatti, who also has four points, last night in the seventh round. Shabba bested another Kings player last night, leaving FM Kazim Gulamali with 3 1/2. The Frisco Kid, NM Richard Francisco and the Denker representative from Georgia, Expert Reese Thompson each have scored 3 points.
As I write this the penultimate round is under way, and four of the games being shown include players from Georgia. Damir, Reese, Kazim and Sanjay are the players being shown. If you are wondering why the top Georgia players are not being shown, I wondered the same thing earlier in the tournament. Most tournaments broadcast the top boards, but they do things differently in NC. Since they did the same thing last year, this year I sent an email to the man in charge, Chacha Nugroho. He replied:
Hi Michael,
Thanks! The lower board we put camera, and I have to find good lighting tables, and those lower live boards are because under the main light of the room. I will post Neal Haris game soon.
regards
Chacha
Yasser Seirawan was taking about the first time he saw the pieces being used at the STLCC&SC when at Rex Sinquefield’s home. Yaz said they are beautiful and were made specially for Rex by Frank Camaratta, who owns the House of Staunton. I have had the pleasure of being in the home of Mr. Camaratta, which looks like a museum with all the wonderful chess sets on display. Yaz said these particular pieces are to be used with the board for broadcast and there only twenty-five such sets. One can do things like that when one has a billion dollars at one’s disposal. Our poor chess cousins in the Great State of North Carolina, my adopted “second state,” are doing the very best they can with their much more limited budget.
Now for some games from our illustrious luminaries carrying the colors:
This song contains the Legendary Georgia Ironman’s all-time favorite lyric. Just thinking about it brings a smile to the Ironman’s face. I will let you figure it out…
The first two are live and I could not decide which to post, so I posted both! The third version is from the album, not disc, and it is the one to which we listened “back in the day.”
Jackson Browne 1977 The Load Out Stay
Jackson Browne – The Load Out and Stay – Live BBC 1978
If you have been a regular reader of either the BaconLOG or the Armchair Warrior you know I have had no interest in the USCL. I simply do not understand the rating cap. It makes no sense to have three GM’s and an Expert play as a team. Imagine the Atlanta Braves fielding a team of eight Major League Baseball players and one amateur. Strike that! The Braves do field a team like that, and have for two years now, with Blown Job Upton playing center field every day. Use another team, any team, as an example, and you get my drift…
I looked at the ‘starting lineup’ for the new Atlanta Kings yesterday and saw four strong players rated between 2382 and 2446 for the Kings. All four players are very good players, capable of beating any titled player on any given day, which is how it should be. These are the best players our team can field tonight. I decided to watch the games because I know three of the players, and have played two of them at the House of Pain. I went to the USCL homepage (http://uschessleague.com/) and looked in vain for the games. Next I went to the USCF homepage, and again came away empty. Since this is opening night, I found this strange, so I went back to the USCL website to look again. I found nothing. Then it occurred to me to go to the homepage of the Atlanta Kings (http://www.southeastchess.com/atlanta-kings.html). Once again I found nothing about where I could watch the games. This was terribly disconcerting. I did find this, “Updates available on our Facebook page.” I do not do the book with faces; never have and never will. Besides, who wants an update?
I did find that Grant Oen is the manager, with Leonardo Martinez the assistant manager, and Frank Johnson the TD. I was surprised to see that Thad Rogers is the “Overseeing general manager,” whatever that means. The Atlanta Braves could use one of those, I suppose. The one they have spent seventy-five million dollars to stick a black hole out in CF.
I scrolled on down to find:
Week 1: Carolina Cobras (CAR) vs Atlanta Kings (ATL)
4. Richard Francisco (ATL 2382) – Kevin Mo (CAR 2334)
These teams are evenly matched! Now I was really lamenting the fact that I could not find the live games…Then I noticed the “Press Release” was underlined. Moving my cursor over it allowed me to click on, which I did, finding Frank Johnson’s blog (http://www.chess-coach.net/myblog). After reading this, “You can follow the games live on chessclub.com beginning at 7:30pm (EST) or you can visit the Emory Campus and watch the games live,” I knew the promised land had been found! So I clicked on and was extremely disappointed. The chessclub.com (http://www.chessclub.com/) is the Internet Chess Club, a pay site. Like a prescription drug company, the ICC offers to hook you with a “1-month FREE TRIAL!”
The interest I had in the USCL because my home city has a team is gone. Even though the big chess news tonight is the Kings, you will not read about it here.
Armchair Warrior 