Tal Chess Puzzle

Here's a chess puzzle from one of Tal's games. It is White to move. Can you find the mate in 4?

More Coupon Codes

Here are a few more coupon codes:

ChessHouse.com

S2574 - 10% Off through 12/25
S2362 - $5 off $25+ through 12/31
S2393 - $10 off $60+ through 12/31
S2387 - $15 off $150+ through 12/31
S2408 - $30 off $250+ through 12/31

The House of Staunton

SANTA - 10% Off, Free UPS Ground Shipping on orders over $100

Holiday Coupon Codes

A number of chess websites are offering special deals during the holiday season. If you are in the market for any chess-related items as a gift, you might want to check out these coupon codes:

The House of Staunton - SAC - 20% of all Studio Anne-Carlton chess sets from 12/11 to 12/24

USCF Sales - HOLIDAY - 10% off your order from 12/13 to 12/19

Wholesale Chess - HOLIDAY - 10% off your order from 12/14 to 12/16

I'll be posting more codes as I receive them. Happy holidays!

Tournament Update

Unfortunately, we were unable to secure a site for the tournament that was tentatively planned for this weekend. Oh well, maybe next time!

The next big tournament in our area is the Cardinal Open in Columbus, OH. A number of our club members are planning to attend. If anyone is interested in tagging along, please drop us an e-mail at movchessclub@gmail.com.

Charleston Chess Club Christmas Party

The Charleston Chess Club will hold a "Chess" Christmas party from 11 am to 4 pm on Sunday, December 19, 2010 at the WVSSPA Building; 1610 Washington Street East; Charleston, WV 25311.

We will have snacks (chips, cupcakes, etc.), drinks (coffee, soda), and probably fried chicken or pizza or somthing along those lines.

Of course, the main "event" will simply be the chance to play chess purely for the fun of it. No one need bring any food or drink. Just bring yourself and perhaps a chess set/clock.

I hope you can make it! Merry Christmas!

John Roush

Kings Island Open

Two members of the Mid-Ohio Valley Chess Club recently traveled to Mason, OH to compete in the 19th Annual Kings Island Open. Both Reggie Best and Matt Richardson did well at the tournament, earning 3/5 in their respective sections.

WV State Championship Results

John Roush is once again the WV State Chess Champion with an impressive 5.0 score after six rounds. David Saville and Sid Parhi tied for second place with 4.5 each. Congratulations also go out to Mike Richardson who won the U1900 prize with a 4.0 score and gained seventy rating points.

It was a very strong tournament this year, and the competition was fierce. See you all next year in Charleston!

Magnus Carlsen vs. The World

Chess.com has partnered with G-Star Raw to present Magnus Carlsen vs. the World online Chess game on September 10th! Three grandmasters (Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, and Judit Polgar) will recommend moves against Carlsen, but the move played will be determined by consensus vote from registered players. The game is only a week away, so head on over and register!

2010 Homecoming Results

The 18th Annual Parkersburg Homecoming Chess Tournament was held on Sunday, August 22nd at the Municipal Building in Parkersburg, WV. Thirty-two players competed for the title.

The first place award in the rated section went to Benjamin Good of Stonewood, WV. Ben has been a West Virginia state chess champion for the past two years, but this marks his first victory at the Homecoming tournament.

The second place award in the rated section went to Thomas Magar of N. Versailles, PA. Tom has been a frequent supporter of the Homecoming Tournament and has won it several times in years past.

The following players won class prizes in the rated section:

Robert Canary of Mullens, WV (U2000)
Edward Garner of Pennsboro, WV (U2000)
Grant Perks of Columbus, OH (U2000)
Lewis Sanders of Charleston, WV (U2000)
Simbarashe Nkomo of Morgantown, WV (U1700)
Berty Ruan of Pittsburgh, PA (U1400)

The first place award in the non-rated section went to Jonathan Crooks of Parkersburg, WV, who competed in the Homecoming tournament for the first time.

The second place award in the non-rated section went to Kara Haskins of Export, PA, who was also a first-time competitor.

Congratulations to the prize winners, and thanks to everyone who turned out to make this a great tournament! We hope to see you all next year!

A crosstable for the event can be found here.

Parkersburg Homecoming Tournament

The Parkersburg Homecoming Tournament is only one week away! We currently have 10-12 players who are planning to compete in the event, and we expect many more at the door. If you've been sitting on the fence, I'd encourage you to stop by and take in the tournament and the Homecoming festival.

USCF Dues Increase

The USCF recently passed a motion to increase two and three year regular adult dues effective January 1, 2011. These rates should have been increased a year ago when the one year rate was increased from $29 to $34, but that was left out of the motion. Two year regular adult memberships will go from $52 to $63. Three year regular adult memberships will go from $74 to $91.

In both cases those are the rates for memberships submitted online. Memberships submitted by mail or phone are $7 higher.

Tournament Update

Beckley Chess Club Open

The Beckley Chess Club Open will be held on Sunday, October 17th at the Pikeview Manor Apartments Community Center, 315 Manor Drive in Beckley, WV. The format is a 4-round Swiss System G/60. The entry fee for the tournament is $20 for adults and $10 for juniors. 40% of the entry fees will go to the winner and 40% of the entry fees will go to top player under 1600. There is a maximum of one prize per person. Registration is from 8:30-9:00. Rounds are at 9:00, 11:30, 2:00, and 4:15.

For more information, contact Mike Turner at turnermichaele@hotmail.com.

WVSCA Google Group

Craig Timmons has created a Google Group for the WV Scholastic Chess Association. For those who would like to get announcements about scholastic chess in West Virginia, please feel free to sign up at http://groups.google.com/group/wvchess.

Tournament Update

West Virginia State Championship and State Junior Championship

The 72nd Annual West Virginia State Championship will be held on Labor Day weekend at the Bridgeport Benedum Center, 164 W. Main Street in Bridgeport, WV. The format is a 6-round Swiss System 35/90, SD/60. The entry fee for the tournament is $40 if received by 8/28 or $50 on site. The annual WVCA business meeting will be held at 9 AM before the start of the tournament.

For more information, please visit the tournament page on the WVCA site. An entry form can be found here.

The West Virginia State Junior Championship will also be held in Bridgeport on September 5th at the same site. It is open to all USCF members under the age of 18. The format will be a 4-round Swiss System G/75. The entry fee will be $20 by 8/28 or $30 on site.

For more information, please visit the tournament page on the WVCA site. An entry form can be found here.

12th Mountaineer Open

The 12th Annual Mountaineer Open will be held on October 16, 2010 at the Morgantown Chess Club, 100 Cobun Avenue in Morgantown, WV. The format will be 4-round Swiss System G/75. There will be two sections: Open and Reserve (U1600). The entry fee will be $25 by 10/9 or $35 on-site.

For more information, please visit the tournament page at the Morgantown Chess Club site. An entry form can be found here.

St. Francis Fall Chess Tournament

The 5th Annual St. Francis Fall Chess Tournament will take place at St. Francis of Assisi in St. Albans, WV on October 30, 2010. There will be two themed Scholastic sections and one Open section.

There will be under 600 and 600+ Scholastic sections. Unrated middle or high school players should play in the 600+ section. Pre-registration for Scholastic is $5 or $10 on site. USCF memberships need to be valid through October 31, 2010. The under 600 section is G/30 and the over 600+ section is G/60. All players in the Scholastic section are required to use the Ruy Lopez opening.

The Open section is a WVCA Grand Prix event which will allow the participants to earn points towards the WVCA Grand Prix. In-state players must be members of the WVCA. The entry fees are $20 if paid by October 23, 2010 or $25 on-site. 70% of the registration fees collected will be paid in prizes (40%, 20%, 10%).

An entry form for the tournament can be found here.

Chess Puzzle

Here's an interesting puzzle for you. It's White's move. Can you find the mate in four? Please note that Black still has castling privileges.

Additional Meeting Dates

Due to popular demand, the Mid-Ohio Valley Chess Club will now meet on both the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at the Vienna Public Library from 6-9 PM until the end of the year. The next meeting will be held on May 26th. I look forward to meeting you over the board twice as often!

Morgantown May Day Tournament

Congratulations to MOVCC member Mike Price on his recent performance at the May Day Tournament in Morgantown, WV. Unleashing his new weapon, the Nimzowitsch Defence, Mike went on to defeat two 1700-rated players to secure a respectable 2.0 score for the day, increasing his rating by 146 points!

Here is a link to the cross-table for the event.

Homecoming Tournament

The 18th Annual Parkersburg Homecoming Tournament will be held on Sunday, August 22, 2010 at the Municipal Building, 2nd & Market Streets, Parkersburg, WV. The format will be four-round Swiss System G/60. Registration is from 9-9:45 and rounds will be at 10:00, 12:45, 3:00, and 5:15. There will be both rated and non-rated sections. The entry fee for the rated section is $15 postmarked by 8/16 or $20 at the site. The entry fee for the non-rated section is $7.

We had a great turnout last year, and we are hoping to do even better this year! Check out last year's cross-table at the USCF.

For an entry form and more information, visit the Parkersburg Homecoming Chess Tournament website.

Saturday Chess

The chess club will meet tomorrow, April 24th at Borders in Vienna from 1-4 PM for casual chess. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it this time. I hope you all have a good time!

This will probably be the last Saturday meeting at Borders until the fall. With the warm weather here to stay, we will organize some Saturday events in the Parkersburg and Williamstown city parks like we did last year. I'll keep you posted.

- Matt Richardson

Notre Dame Spring Tournament

The Notre Dame Spring Tournament will be held on May 15, 2010 at the Notre Dame High School in Clarksburg, WV. There will be three sections: Elementary (4SS G/30), High School (4SS G/45), and Open (3-4SS G/60). The entry form can be downloaded here.

Club Meeting

This is just a reminder that the next meeting of the Mid-Ohio Valley Chess Club will on this Wednesday, April 14th, at the Vienna Public Library at 6:00 PM. We will also be meeting on Saturday, April 24th at Borders in Vienna for casual play.

2010 WV Action Championship

The 2010 West Virginia Action Championship is only one week away! I've received pre-registrations from the following players:

John Roush (2084)
Ben Good (2069)
Dave Hines (1981)
Markus Boettcher (1940)
Terry Wassell (1698)
Aaron Richardson (1674)
Daniel Brenneman (1437)
James Wassell (1166)
Richard Shaver (1075)
Simba Nkomo (Unr)

I'm also expecting 3-5 brand new players from the WVUP club in addition to a number of people registering the day of the event. So far it is shaping up to be a good tournament. I'd encourage anyone sitting on the fence to come out and give it a try!

Beckley Spring Open

The Beckley Spring Open will be held on May 23, 2010, at the Pikeview Manor Apartments Community Center in Beckley, WV. The format of the tournament will be a 4-round Swiss System G/45. The entry fee is $15 for adults and $10 for juniors. For more information, contact Michael Turner, or visit the tournament posting on the WVCA website.

Chess Puzzle

It's been a long time since I posted a chess puzzle. I ran across this interesting position today:

Obviously, White has multiple ways to mate; however, can you find the mate in 3? There are two ways to do it, depending on Black's move.

Interestingly, I plugged this position into Rybka 3 (1 CPU) and let it run for 15 minutes. The best it could find was mate in 4. The free RobboLito and Stockfish engines found the solution instantly, so you might want to consider these engines as an alternative for endgame analyses.

Fincher To Make 'Sacrifice'

Director David Fincher has been selected to direct "Pawn Sacrifice", a biopic on American chess icon Bobby Fischer. For more information, check out this link.

Saturday Chess

The Mid-Ohio Valley Chess Club will meet on Saturday, March 20th at Borders book store in Vienna, WV for a few friendly games of chess. The meeting will last from 1-4 PM. Feel free to stop by!

Chess Club Meeting

This is just a reminder that the Mid-Ohio Valley Chess Club will be meeting this Wednesday, March 10th at the Vienna Public Library from 6-9 PM. Hope to see you there!

Saturday Chess Meeting

The Mid-Ohio Valley Chess Club will be meeting this Saturday, February 27th at Borders in Vienna from 1-4 PM for a few casual games of chess. If you have never been to the club before, this is an excellent opportunity to see what it's all about.

Unorthodox Openings

I ran across this interesting link the other day. It leads to an archive of the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter. Check it out!

WVU-P Chess Tournament

The first annual WVU-P Chess Tournament was held this morning at the WVUP campus. The competition was fierce at this non-rated, five round tournament. Taking first place with 4.5 points was Craig Rabatin. Taking second place with 4 points was Joe Mundy. Thanks to everyone who came out to this event!

Tournament Update

The Morgantown Chess Club will be holding the 2010 Morgantown Spring Open on March 6, 2010. The 2010 May Day Tournament will be held on May 1, 2010. For more details, visit their website.

Also, the Mid-Ohio Valley Chess Club will be hosting the 2010 West Virginia Action Championship this year on April 17, 2010 at the Judge Black Annex on Market Street in Parkersburg. The format will be 7SS G/30. The entry fee is $25 by 4/10 or $35 on site. The entry form can be downloaded here. Please send entries to Matt Richardson, 1225 20th St., Parkersburg, WV 26101. Come join us for the fastest seven rounds of the year!

Chess Documentary

I ran across the following teaser video for a documentary being filmed about the chess team of Brooklyns's Intermediate School 318. This inner-city school has one of the strongest scholastic chess teams in the nation. It looks like a very interesting film.

CHESS MOVIE (working title) from Rescued Media on Vimeo.

WVU-P Tournament

The WVU-P chess club will be holding a non-rated tournament on Saturday, February 20th. Registration begins at 8:00 AM. Rounds start at 9:00 AM and last until noon. Exact format will be determined based on the number of entries. If you can, I'd encourage to pay a visit to support this local club.

Chess at Borders

The Mid-Ohio Valley Chess Club is planning to get together at Borders on Saturday, January 23rd from 1:00 to 4:30 for some friendly games of chess. Please stop by for a game and a cup of coffee!