St. Louis Chess Club
FOX Sports Midwest : US Chess Championship
Thursday, May 30, 5 p.m.
Saturday, June 1, 8 p.m.
Wednesday, June 5, 5 p.m.
Saturday, June 8, 7 p.m.
Thursday, June 13, 11 p.m.
U.S. Championsips 2013 / Rnd 1
by National Life Master Loal Davis
In the first round of the U.S. Championship, Kaidanov was the first to finish his game/win. He was on the Black side of a Scotch game and took advantage of an over-extended Knight. The loss of the Knight was clear and Gregory finished a rather simple looking game.
Kamsky won his game against Shabalov. It was a French Defense and very finely conducted by Kamsky who turned his better Pawn structure and Good Knight vs Bad Bishop into a win.
GM Larry Christiansen
My favorite of the first round was Christansen’s win over Norowitz. It was a Bronstein/Larsen variation of the Caro Kann. Larry had the better Pawn structure out of the opening (a given with the variation), started to push against Black’s King which ended up with a set of doubled Pawns for Black in the center of the board blocking his Bishop. Christiansen applied central pressure with Black totally defensive and passive. This eventually turned into a winning Rook & Pawn ending.
Anna Zatonskih
My favorite game in the Women’s section was Zatonskih’s win over Belakovskaia. It began as an Albin Countergambit, which was effectively declined with an early e3. Simple opening or not, Anna applied good pressure throughout and the tactical sequences beginning with move 14 (Diagram) were very sharp and hard fought.
For all wins from the U.S. Championships (Round 1) – See Comments.
U.S. Championship & Women’s Championship 2013
http://www.uschesschamps.com/
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The Bill Wright Saint Louis Open (2)
The Bill Wright St Louis Open..Happened this weekend and it was a good turnout with 80 players . With 2 sections and $10,000 in prizes to win you knew it wasnt going be easy. Before the tournament started The Stl Chess Club was kind enough to help Our website (QG) promote the up in coming event..” NM Loal Davis vs QG Collective ” Match on April 20. In return we volunteered to donate $25 to both the OPEN/U2000 section for the biggest UPSET . Two Rounds went by In the U2000 section before Paul Goddard (1844) won over #1 seed Barry Manthe (1997) . Then it wasnt until the 3rd round when Matt Larson (2049) claimed the cash prize with his win over NM Ruifeng Li ( 2330) . Congrats to both players and Big Thanx to the Stl Chess Club and Scholastic Center and TDs Mike Kummer and Alex Marler.
Top 5 players in the Open..
1 . WESLEY SO 2722 4.0
2. GEORG MEIER 2693 4.0
3. MANUEL LEON HOYOS 2647 4.0
4. BENJAMIN P FINEGOLD 2569 4.0
5 . FIDEL CORRALES JIMENEZ 2669 3.5
Top 5 players U2000
1 . SPENCER GEORGE 1906 4.5
2 . MATT BARRETT 1944 4.0
3. ALBERT DAMONT HOWLETT 1870 4.0
4.VANITA YOUNG 1687 4.0
5. JUSTIN GM HULL 1569 4.0
On Saturday morning round 2 I played Matt Larson the young Expert from Missouri who was very modest and cordial , He finished quite respectfully at number 22 out of 41 in the Open Section with 2.5 points out 5 .
Here’s our game…
Rd 2 Bartotto(1630)- Larson(2020)
The Bill Wright STL OPEN
Seirawan Becomes GM in Residence in St. Louis
Grandmaster Yasser Seirawaan
Four time U.S. Champion Yasser Seirawan arrives in St. Louis on September 3 as the Resident Grandmaster of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
http://www.chessdom.com/seirawan-to-saint-louis-as-acting-resident-grandmaster/
GM Ben Finegold Resigns
Saint Louis (August 16, 2012) — Grandmaster Ben Finegold has resigned his position as the Resident Grandmaster at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL).
Citing personal reasons for his departure, Finegold and the Chess Club are parting on good terms, and the club hopes he will continue to support American Chess at all levels, from developing strong scholastic players to coaching players at the top tier.
GM Finegold was hired to be the Resident Grandmaster at the CCSCSL in January 2010, and he was integral in helping shape the growing scholastic chess movement in Saint Louis and in helping organize numerous world-class events.
Tony Rich, executive director of the CCSCSL, thanked GM Finegold for his service to the Chess Club. “Ben was a valuable addition to our staff, and we are thankful for his expertise and input throughout his tenure here,” Rich said.
http://www.chessdom.com/gm-finegold-resigns-position-at-ccscsl/
U.S. Junior Closed Championship 2012
The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis will host the U.S. Junior Closed Championship for the third consecutive year July 10 -15. The top Junior players in the nation will duke it out for the title of U.S.Junior Champion, $18,000 in prizes and a highly coveted invitation to the 2013 U.S. Championship.
STL prodigy Kevin Cao, [15]…will compete against 15 of the top chess players in the country under the age of 21 .
The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis is partnering with the Kasparov Chess Foundation
Karpov vs Seirwan Match / St. Louis
The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis is proud to host former World Champion GM Anatoly Karpov in a special match against legendary GM Yasser Seirawan.
The two will face off June 9-13 in a unique competition that will test their classical chess skills along with their abilities at both blitz and rapid play.
Tourney Format:
- Two Classical: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of a 30-second increment per move starting from move one
- Each Classical game is worth three points.
- Two Rapid: 25 minutes plus a five-second increment
- Each Rapid game is worth two points.
- Ten Blitz: Five minutes plus a two-second increment
- Each Blitz game is worth one point.
- 1st Place: $10,000
- 2nd Place: $7,000








