On Tuesday March 20, the Queen City Chess Club had a very special last minute event…India’s national youth chess coach, FM Visweswaran Kameswaran, stopped by for a presentation to a packed house of about 60 chess enthusiasts.

FM Visweswaran Kameswaran

FM Kameswaran (I will call him Vishy for the remainder of this blog post) is a very strong player, with a couple of legs on the IM norm. Much more importantly from our point of view is his official status as “FIDE Trainer” and is as stated in the title of this piece the official youth chess coach of India.

I personally spent about 12 hours with Vishy on the day of his visit, talked chess with him and observed him during presentations and one on one with various players and I came away with a very favorable impression. If there was such a title of GM Chess Coach, Vishy would have my vote! He is totally dedicated to teaching chess to people and takes a real interest in them personally. And he appears to love what he does. In the time I spent with him, he was either teaching someone chess or teaching someone *how* to teach chess virtually every moment.

This visit came about through a regular member of our club. Sulia Mason knew Vishy via the internet. They had corresponded for a few years and when Vishy came to the US, it was decided that he stop through Charlotte and meet Sulia personally. Sulia had the idea for Vishy to visit the club and asked if I could arrange it. Even though I was tied up that weekend helping out at the State Scholastic, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass by, so we put together a quick e mail blast and got the word out.

About 60 players were in attendance for Vishy’s Tuesday night lecture…an amazing turnout given the quick notice. The presentation was on “The Young Anand”. Our Vishy knows the more famous Vishy personally and told some stories about him followed by going over three of Anand’s games. It was an insightful, well thought out presentation, with room for questions and discussion.

After the lecture, the adults stayed in the main room for our regular weekly tourney game. The kids went to a separate area with Vishy and competed against him in a simultaneous. I think Vishy won every game, though someone might be able to correct me on that.

Now we are planning a more formal visit by Vishy in late April or early May for a kids training session and maybe a separate adult session. More details to come soon. One thing I know for sure, Vishy is interested in getting to know our local chess community and helping develop our players on a regular basis. I look forward to many more visits.

The Temple of Chess Thinking

Another great night of chess at the Asian Library.! There were a total of 40 competitors, a few new players who stopped by to check us out and a handful of parents socializing and working on their laptops in the skittles area. Must have been close to 60 people in the house at the start of the round. The big attractions were Round 2 of Better Bishops Bureau II, our weekly rated event, plus the new “Learn, Earn and Play”, where students come in for a lecture and a tournament game at 45 minutes per side, which allows them to be out by 9PM and in bed at a reasonable hour on a school night.

Let’s take a minute to welcome old friends and new faces. First, we had an old friend come by. Matt Green, who has been away from chess for a while. He is back and got off to a good start with a victory against Seth Taylor-Brill. Matt promises to come back regularly. We would also like to recognize a few visitors who came by to check us out: Saeed Mujic and Efrain Lemus both came and stayed  for most of the evening, playing skittles and watching the games. We hope you guys come back soon and join the competition. There was the ever present Bill Connell who comes in to watch and analyse. Also, unfortunately some weeks a bye is necessary. This week it was and it went to James White. There are several more new scholastics members that jointed trhough “Learn, Earn and Play” but unfortunately Peter has that list so I cannot recognize them individually here.

Matt Green makes a chess comeback!

Speaking of Learn, Earn and Play; the kitty is up to $84. This money will go to the chess clubs of the  top two schools in attendance during the series. Right now the leader is Barringer with Myers Park Traditional coming in second. The race is still close from top to bottom. Plenty of time to get your school involved and potentially make an impact in the final standings.

That’s all for now. See you In Asheville this weekend for Land of the Sky, or next week for Rd 3 of Better Bishops Bureau and Learn Earn and Play.

Tuesday night, January 17 saw the weekly meeting of Queen City Chess. Twenty-eight players attended for Round one of “Better Bishop’s Bureau 2″ and the inaugural “Learn, Earn and Play”;  our new feature that allows our younger players to come in for a lecture and a rated G/45 contest and be out by 9PM! Eighty percent of the money collected through this endeavor will go to the schools with the highest attendance during the series.

It was a night of upsets. First Taefi defeated McCartney about  the time the room had settled into the round. Michael Brown took advantage of my overly ambitious play to win our game. Kliber defeated returnee to the competiton Alain Morais. In the lower section, the games Overton-Hashemloo and Frazier-Sefat would also have to be considered upsets, but of course the winners of those games are both rapidly improving young players who will be delivering many more “upsets” in the future.

The results are posted on the front page of the website. I will take the remainder of this blog to do a little photo essay of the evening. Just another night at the Asian Library!

Alain Morais tries to get rid of the cobwebs against Michael Kliber

Young and old. Beginner and master. Charlotte area chess players congregate at the Asian Library every Tuesday night.

Eelya Sefat with mom

Some came with their moms to “Learn, Earn and Play”

Sulia Mason ponders a move in his game against Clarke Brosi

The adults came to compete in the weekly rated “Better Bishops Bureau”

...and Brosi reciprocates

And compete they did…all the way til closing time!

Copeland Blackwell handles the white pieces vs Windy Gatlin

Some matchups featured two guys who had met over the board many times in the past.

Kellie Smith plays Anastasia Dai

...and there was a game that involved two girls who had never met…

Rose Yen, CMSCA President and more importantly, mother of Ethan Yen

Some stayed to watch their kids play

The voyeuristic Bill Connell, presumably scouting future opponents for his boss. Bill, we would love for you to join us as a player!

….others just watched

McCartney attempts revenge on Taefi in blitz

In the skittles room, you could weep and moan after a painful defeat…

Eelya Sefat after his win over Frazier

Or celebrate a big win by having another picture taken….

Youngsters compete in "Learn, Earn and Play

Whatever your chess skill…whatever your age…young,  old……

Hassan Hashemloo devises a plan

Or somewhere in between…

Corey Frazier...a fixture at the Asian Library

….Queen City Chess at the Asian Library provided learning, fun and great competition for all!

See you next week for “Learn, Earn and Play” and  week 2 of “Better Bishops Bureau II” !

On January 14, a grand total of 62  players contested the 25th edition of Reverse Angle. The top section was won by Liberty College student Dominique Myers in his last day before going back from Christmas break. Dominique went 3-0, including a last round win against 13 time SC Champion, SM Klaus Pohl!

SM Klaus Pohl models the latest in chess fashion!

The U1800 resulted in a three way tie with Praveen Suthaharan, Marnzell Hand, and DJ Cremesi sharing the honors.

In the U1400 section, Alan Murray and Walter High shared first. This was NCCA VP Walter High’s first “section” victory. He is out there every week bringing people to tournaments and supporting all the local events. A true NC Chess hero! Congrats to Walter on his victory and improving play.

In the U1100 section there was another perfect score, as Charlottean Dr Xiaodong Jin, competing in his first tournament, swept the field with a 3-0 result. Dr Jin is unable to compete in our Tuesday night club due to professional responsibilities, but I can report that he very much enjoyed this event and will be back for more on Saturdays!

Chess players doing what they do at Reverse Angle 25

Reverse Angle was once again a great day of chess with a large and diverse group of people getting together to enjoy the Royal Game. In addition to the best talent that Charlotte had to offer, we hosted players other parts of North Carolina and  from three neighboring states, which attests to the popularity of the event and the value received by the players. Word of mouth has been a big part of this success. Thank you for supporting us. I guarantee you that Peter and i will keep it going and the event will continue to flourish.

The next Reverse Angle is February 25. Hope to see you there!

Hi ALL!

Back again with a cool instructive game. This time sent in by Daniel Lee, i also received games from others as well, which is great! KEEP SENDING THEM IN!

Here is this weeks game with notes:

 THINGS TO LEARN

1. Pawn structure dictates how a game will be played.
2. Trading pieces does not necessarily make the game easier (could actually make it harder =[), especially if one has significant structural damage.

KEEP SENDING GAMES

Peter Giannatos

www.house-of-pawn.com

Twenty two players showed up at the Asian Library for Round 5 of the weekly tournament.Some exciting games were played, especially in the top section.

It was good to see Jamie McGavran and Dominique Myers show up one last time before going back to their new locales (Jamie is a Professor in Ohio, Dominique a student in Virginia. It was also nice to welcome a new player to our ranks. Fabian Abril made his first apperarance at the club.

Clarke Brosi against Seth Taylor Brill. In the background Windy Gatlin plays Kireet Panuganti

On a personal basis, it just so happened that this meeting fell on my birthday. This was the second time in recent history that I have played chess on my birthday and the result was much better this time. I won a nice game against the always tough Mike Kliber which I will publish below. Quick story on the *last* time I played on my b-day. It was January 10, 2009. Just so happened that Reverse Angle was scheduled for that day, as well as a Carolina Panther playoff game vs the Arizona Cardinals. I looked forward to that all week! A chess tournament followed by a playoff game. This was my lucky day. I was sure to go 3-0 and come home to watch the Panthers toast Arizona! Well, it wasn’t my day. I lost a tough game to Ken Baxter in the first round. I got posterized by Dominique Myers in the second round. And then I lost a tough game to David High in Rd 3. So the first part of my day didn’t exactly go as planned. Oh well, we still have the Panthers. I leave Reverse Angle as the game has just started. The Panthers get off to a quick 7-0 lead. While listening on the radio, I think to myself, ” I hope i get home before this game gets out of hand; it won’t be fun if we just stomp them”. Well, by the time I got home (about 30 minutes) Delhomme had already thrown the first two of his 6 (seemed like 20) interceptions, the Cardinals were up 21-7, and yes the game was over…just not the way I thought it would go. Bummer.

Don’t forget Reverse Angle this coming Saturday the 14th. Also, we have a new initiative starting next week at the club. It’s called Learn, Earn and Play and it’s purpose is to give our younger players the opportunity to get some instruction, play a game of tournament chess and get out the door by 9PM. And the proceeds will go to a fund to help pay for some students to go to Nationals. Check the home page of the website for more details. We hope you guys support this effort!

Now, since it was my birthday..I will show you my game with Mike Kliber, with very few notes, sorry I’m pressed for time. See you at Reverse Angle this Saturday!

Here is the second instructive game with annotations. Remember to send your games in, i would love to use yours instead of mine! All you have to do is email me and i will annotate for you. Well anyway this is a recent game of mine from the 2011 Eastern Open. I was in a must win situation and did, all thanks to a few mistakes by my opponent and the bishop pair. I hope you enjoy!

Things to remember

1. Bishops rule (ask NM Mabe)
2. Bishops are great in open positions, if the position is closed, crack it open!
3. Rook lifts are not only used to attack, but also used simply to double rooks

UNTIL NEXT TIME

Take Care,

Peter Giannatos