London Chess Classic UPDATE w/Results

One of the best tournaments for web viewing will be starting up this Saturday in England.  The London Chess Classic is in its fourth year and draws the worlds strongest players.  This year you have Magnus Carlsen (Top rated in the World), Vishy Anand (World Champion), Vladmir Kramnik (former World Champion), Levon Aronian (2nd highest rated in the world), Hikaru Nakamura (US Champion), Judith Polgar (Top rated woman in the world), Luke McShane (2nd highest rated UK Player), Gawain Jones (current UK Champion) and Michael Adams (UK highest Rated Player).

What I think makes this event great is the live video coverage.  In past years, the games are analyzed during the round by top UK GMs and IMs as well as the player that has the rest day and isn't playing.  After games are over, the players stop by and go through their games.  Usually the commentary is educational AND entertaining.

The web site is:

londonchessclassic.com

First round starts at 6am Pacific Standard Time on Saturday, December 1st.  If you happen to be awake, go to the site and click on the "Live Commentary" link to watch the games in progress and listen to the commentary.

Here is a video from IM Andrew Martin with a preview of the event:




UPDATE: The tournament finished this morning with the clear winner being Magnus Carlsen.  Not only did he win the tournament, in doing so he has broken Gary Kasparov's rating records and is now the highest rated player ever!  Former World Champion Vladmir Kramnik took clear 2nd.

Here is a final Cross-Table of the event.  Click to enlarge.

Chess Life Article on East Bay Open

Thanks to some help from Ted Castro, our article about the East Bay Open is now on Chess Life Online. Here is the link:

http://www.uschess.org/content/view/11982/688

East Bay Open 2012 Games PGN File

With a little work and some help from Michael D'Alfonsi, all the games scores that were turned in at the East Bay Open have been entered in and a PGN file generated.  All together there are 60 games in the PGN file. You can download it here:

East Bay Open GAMES

As was pointed out by one of our members, this type of file isn't particularly liked by all, so below are five more of the most interesting games submitted that you can view here on the site.  Enjoy!

Three Games from East Bay Open

I am steadily working through the score sheets from the tournament in my spare time and will eventually post a .pgn file of all the games that were turned in and legible.  Until then, here are three games to hold everyone over.

Sevillano Wins First East Bay Open

Over Veterans Day Weekend, ninety-seven chess players from beginners to masters competed in the inaugural East Bay Open Chess Tournament.  The players traveled from as far away as Las Vegas, NV, San Diego and  Eureka to compete in the event held in Concord, CA at the Crowne Plaza and sponsored by the Contra Costa Chess Club.  The event was divided into four sections by skill level with thirty players including nine masters competing in the top section.  The tournament included five rounds played over three days with each game potentially taking up to five hours to complete.

The event kicked off with a visit from Concord Mayor Ron Leone.  The Mayor welcomed everyone to the event and on behalf of the City Council presented the Contra Costa Chess Club with a proclamation naming Nov  9th-11th "Contra Costa Chess Club East Bay Open Tournament Days".

After five rounds of play, the clear winner of the top section was top seed Grandmaster Enrico Sevillano from Tehachapi, CA.  He scored four and a half points out of five to take home the $1000 first place prize.  Grandmaster Sevillano has been on a tear through Northern California in the last three weeks sharing first in the National G/30 Championship, winning the National G/60 Championship (both held in Pleasanton, CA), winning the Auburn Power Open and now winning the East Bay Open.

During the tournament, a crew was doing a documentary on one of the players, Frederic Lawrence Dutter.  Mr. Dutter is an expert level player but has not played in a tournament in well over ten years.  The documentary is following his comeback to the game.  During the tournament he started off strong with two points in his first two games but then struggled in his remaining games.  

The other three sections of the tournament had clear winners as well.  Taking first in the Under 2000 rating section was Alexander Mariano with four and a half points out of five points.   The Under 1600 section was won by local chess coach Nenad Zagorac and the Under 1200 Section was won by Darmawan Ali Effendi.  (A complete list of winners may be found at the end of the article.)

After the conclusion of the event, a Speed Chess Tournament was held.  In speed chess, each player has only five minutes for all the moves of their game.  If they run out of time, they lose their game.  This side event attracted seventeen players and was won by International Master Ray Kaufman.  Fide Master Ronald Cusi took clear second place.

The event was sponsored by the Contra Costa Chess Club (www.ccchess.com) with John Michael Treshler playing the role of chief organizer.  The tournament was run by chief tournament director Scott Mason assisted by Pete Klein and John Harris.  The success of the event was quite a group effort with many members of the club (and others) playing and helping encourage others to play in the event.  In particular, we would like to thank the efforts of John Sefton, Jeff Mc Cann, Stewart Spada, Trevor Stearman, Ted Castro, Emmanuel Perez and Salman Azhar along with the chief organizer and tournament directors for making the event a success.

The Contra Costa Chess Club meets twice a week and encourages players of all levels to attend and have fun.  On Thursday nights it meets in Clayton, CA at the Starbucks at Clayton Rd. and Yagnacio Valley Rd starting at 6:15pm and on Monday Nights it meets in Walnut Creek, CA downtown at Cafe La Scala starting around 7pm.

EAST BAY OPEN PRIZE WINNERS

Open Section
1st - GM Enrico Sevillano
2nd-3rd - IM Ray Kaufman and NM Hyak Manvelyan
4th-5th - IM Ricardo De Guzman and NM Jimmy Heiserman
U2200 - Kevin Davidson and Andy Applebaum

U2000 Section
1st - Alexander Mariano
2nd-3rd - Valeriy Timofeyev and Anthony Zhou
4th - Yuan Wang
1st U1800 - Audrey Zhao
2nd U1800 tie - Sameer Vijay and Pete Klein

U1600 Section
1st - Nenad Zagorac
2nd - Chenyi Zhao
3rd - Rishith Susarla
4th tie - Chinguun Bayaraa, Bill Kelley Jr, Justin Tan, Jason Shuhe Zhang, and David Chi Ralston
U1400 tie - Andrew McGloin and Scott Cameron

U1200 Section
1st - Darmawan Ali Effendi
2nd - Louis Law
3rd-4th tie - Jack McFadin, Fred Tabisaura, Arthur Boudreault, Jared Zurlo and Rob Clem

East Bay Open Speed Chess Results

After the main tournament was over, 17 players slugged it out in an unrated Speed Chess Tournament (G/5).  The speed chess event was 5 rounds with two games against each player.

The winner of the event was IM Ray Kaufman taking clear first and the prize of $60.  Clear second was FM Ronald Cusi winning $30.

The under 1900 prize was a three way split between Stewart Spada, Micahel J Wang and Bayaraa Bekhtur each winning $10.  The U1500 prize was won by Darmawan Ali Effendi taking home $30.

The crosstable for the event may be found in the results tab.

Special thanks to Pete Klein for directing!

Random Pictures from East Bay Open

Here are some pictures from the East Bay Open over the last weekend.  If you happened to take any, feel free to submit and I will add on to this post with them.  Click on any picture to enlarge.

The Mayor of Concord, Ron Leone

Off and running on Saturday Morning

Proclamation from the Mayor, Ron Leone, and City Council of Concord

Room from another view

GM Enrico Sevillano vs. NM Jimmy Heiserman

Under 1600 Section Winner Nenad Zagorac with Organizer John Michael Treshler and TD Scott Mason

The U1200 Section enjoying their participation medals

Tournament Winner Grandmaster Enrico Sevillano receiving check from Organizer John Michael Treshler

U1200 Section Winner Darmawan Ali Effendi with Tournament Director Scott Mason

Local players Rob Clem and Jack McFadin picking up their winnings from Organizer John Michael Treshler

Again, if you happened to take some pictures from the event, we would appreciate your forwarding them on to us for us to share.

Article about East Bay Open

The Concord Patch has posted an article about the tournament:

http://concord-ca.patch.com/articles/concord-hosts-east-bay-open-chess-tournament

We are excited to get some local press for the event!  Special thanks to John H. for getting the information and pictures to the Patch!

Over the next few days, as time permits, we will be posting pictures, a summary and games from the event.  Final standings and prizes may be found now in the "Pairings/Results" tab.