Creating tension in a chess position

If you have the opportunity to see this movie, please do. I believe they will be in Tennessee next.

If you are preparing for a chess event and feel like you can benefit from out tournament preparation program, contact is at 404-492-9039.

On a November evening at his grandparents’ White Plains home, Harper, who is 5, matched up against 32-year-old Stephen Cain, a family friend. Playing atop a coffee table in the living room, Harper’s eyes zigzagged across the chess board as they loomed above the horizon of his chubby forearms.

Slowly, Cain’s white pieces disappeared from the board as Harper collected them one by one. Eventually, Harper drove Cain’s king into a corner.

Cain was beaten. Harper, victorious.

“I knew I had you checkmated,” Harper said and then laughed. “I was just playing it out.”

Harper began playing chess months ago when he was 4. His mom, Regan Hall, said he became curious about the game after spotting chess pieces and eyeing the opposite side of the family checkerboard, which doubles as a chess board.

“I showed him how the pieces move and he started beating me,” Regan Hall said. “He just kind of gets it.”

His mom said she has no explanation for her son’s ability. According to her, no other family members have such a keen sense of the game.

According to Bill Hall, executive director of the United States Chess Federation, success in chess is unusual, but not unheard of, for children Harper’s age.

“I would say it sounds definitely more advanced than normal,” Hall said when briefed by a reporter on Harper’s ability.

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2011-2012 Scholastic Schedule

MLK Holiday Tournament 16 Jan 2012 (Mon) – Peachtree Presbyterian Church
North Regional (NMAR) – 28 Jan 2012 (Sat)
East Regional (EMAR) – 04 Feb 2012 (Sat) Creekland Middle School (Lawrenceville)
Collegiate State championship – 11 Feb 2012 (Sat) -Winship Ballroom, Emory University
HS State championship – 24 Mar 2012 (Sat) -Winship Ballroom, Emory University
Regional West (WMAR) – 12 Feb 2012 (Sun) – Campbell HS (Smyrna)
South Regional (SMAR) – 25 Feb 2012 (Sat)
K-8 State Championship – 17 Mar 2012 (Sat)

GCA Scholastic Committee

Ben Johnson, 1st Vice President, is looking for interested persons to serve on the GCA Scholastic Committee. This Committee helps set policy for the GCA Scholastic program and organizes our ambitious tournament schedule.

2011-2012 Committee Members are:

Sally Dorn
Ande Noktes
Katie Hartley
Hal Morrison
Ted Weiber, Sr (HS Program)

We could use a half dozen more parents to help create policy and organize tournaments! Contact Ben at 1vp@georgiachess.org
MLK Holiday Tournament Monday 16 Jan 2012 at
Peachtree Presbyterian Church Family Center

Registration limited to 300 entries!

Coordinators are Fun Fong, Katie Hartley (Programming), and Susan Justice (Registrar). We will need approximately two dozen additional more volunteers to work on game day. The venue has placed a cap of 300 registrants and this cap will be firm in consideration of our hosts. In view of this situation, the Board has voted to not allow on-site registration at all, reflecting a change in our previous notice. We are planning for an appropriate program to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Click here for registration!
Click here for details!
Click here for new 2012 FAQs!

North Regional (NMAR) 28 Jan 2012 (Sat)

Coordinators are Ben Johnson and Rexline Daniel.

East Regional (EMAR) – 04 Feb 2012 (Sat) – Creekland Middle School
170 Russell Road, Lawrenceville, GA 30043

Coordinators are Ande Noktes and Matt Chappell.
West Regional (WMAR) – 12 Feb 2012 (Sun) – Campbell HS
5265 Ward Street Smyrna, GA 30080

Coordinators are Tarun Ganeriwal, Sally Dorn, and Lisa Wheeler.
South Regional (SMAR) – 25 Feb 2012 (Sat)

Coordinators are Frank Johnson and Andy Mallott.
K-8 Championship (SMAR) – 17 Mar 2012 (Sat)

Coordinators are Sally Dorn and Matt Chappell.
Top Rated Juniors

Tables of the top-rated juniors in Georgia are now being compiled by Keith Sewell. They are on the ratings page.

Tchess Pro stays in regular usage. There are several features that continue to prove value for the serious chess enthusiast.

1. Tchess Pro will import pgn games from email with annotations. This feature is extremely helpful for those users who are used to being able to see annotations in chessbase. The annotation option appears as a little pencil at the bottom of the screen.

2. Users have the option to turn off the move list. This feature is extremely helpful when studying the game or playing predict the move. We have created several puzzle/exercises where the students objective might be to complete a series of moves.

3. The pgn game database feature is a must have. No longer do you have to wait for the app developers to push a new version. You can download games from the Internet from a wide variety of sources and see the games in realtime. We use this feature to give students lessons.

4. The opening database is very helpful for those trying to get the basic ideas behind openings. Selecting an opening or variation will automatically set that position up.

5. The opening database will also help you learn the common moves in a particular opening, again making Tchess Pro an awesome learning tool as well as playing app.

6. Tchess Pro also has a blindfold option. This feature is also great for teaching visualization.

7. The one feature that has made this app a must have as a chess coach, is the ability for you to annotated games on the fly. I don’t know if the developer meant for this flexibility to be built in or not, but if you go to the copy past option of Import/export of game. You will see the current position in a text field area. Using pgn syntax you can just add your comments.

This one feature means that you can now go end to end with creating pgn lessons for students or review for yourself. I didn’t really talk about the playing strength of the computer/engine or the graphical options both 2D/3D but they are all above par.

Features I would like to see in future versions include:

1. The ability to add arrows to games for review.
2. The ability for the screen to be shared to large monitor (iPad 1).
3. FEN Support.

You can find out more here. http://www.tchessgame.com/

Masters of the Game and Leaders by Example

Fewer than 2 percent of the 77,000 members of the United States Chess Federation are masters — and just 13 of them are under the age of 14.

Among that select group of prodigies are three black players from the New York City area — Justus Williams, Joshua Colas and James Black Jr. — who each became masters before their 13th birthdays.

“Masters don’t happen every day, and African-American masters who are 12 never happen,” said Maurice Ashley, 45, the only African-American to earn the top title of grandmaster. “To have three young players do what they have done is something of an amazing curiosity. You normally wouldn’t get something like that in any city of any race.”

The chess federation, the game’s governing body, does not keep records on the ethnicity of its members. But a Web site called the Chess Drum — which chronicles the achievements of black chess players and is run by Daaim Shabazz, an associate professor of business at Florida A&M University — lists 85 African-American masters. Shabazz said many of them no longer compete regularly.

Ashley, who became a master at age 20 and a grandmaster 14 years later, said the rarity was not surprising. “Chess just isn’t that big in the African-American community,” he said.

The chess federation uses a rating system to measure ability based on the results of matches in officially sanctioned events; a player must reach a rating of 2,200 to qualify for master.

In September last year, Justus, who is now 13 and lives in the Bronx, was the first of the three boys to get to 2,200, becoming the youngest black player to obtain the master rank. Joshua, 13, of White Plains, was a few months younger than Justus when he became a master last December. James, 12, of Brooklyn, became a master in July.

(Samuel Sevian of Santa Clara, Calif., is the youngest master in United States history, earning the title last December, 20 days before his 10th birthday.)

The three New Yorkers met several years ago during competitions. Justus has an edge over James, mostly because he won many of their early games, before James caught up. Head to head, James and Joshua each have several wins against the other. Justus and Joshua have rarely competed against each other.

Although they are rivals, the boys are also friends and share a sense that they are role models.

“I think of Justus, me and Josh as pioneers for African-American kids who want to take up chess,” James said.

James’s father, James Black, said he and Justus’s and Joshua’s parents were aware of what their sons represent and “talk about it a great deal,” but tried not to pressure them too much.

Black said his son “knows that the pressure comes along with the territory. What is going to happen is going to happen. As long he plays, we’re sure that things will work out for the best.”

The three boys approach the game differently. Justus and Joshua say that James studies the most, and Joshua admits he would rather play than practice. “I like the competition,” he said. “And I like that chess is an art.”

Justus said he is the most aggressive of the three, and he and James agree that Joshua is the most unpredictable. “Joshua likes to change up his openings during tournaments,” Justus said.

Supporting the boys’ interest is not easy financially. Though there are many tournaments in the New York City area, the boys must travel to play in more prestigious competitions, sometimes overseas. This week, they are set to play in the World Youth Chess Championship in Brazil.

They study the game with professional coaches who are grandmasters. The lessons are expensive — $100 an hour is not unusual — and the boys’ families have either found sponsors or have paid for the instruction themselves.

The boys aspire to be a grandmaster by the time they graduate from high school, something that only a few dozen players in the world have done. Ashley, who has met the boys but does not know any of them well, says the obstacles are substantial.

He said several children that he had coached to the junior high school national championships in the early 1990s went on to enroll at elite colleges and then to have successful careers. Along the way, he said, playing chess became less of a priority for them. It is difficult to make a living as a player, he said, adding, “I’ve seen many talented kids go by the wayside.”

Ashley said he could not predict whether the success of Justus, Joshua and James would encourage other young African-Americans to play. Another black teenager, Jehron Bryant, 15, of Valley Stream, N.Y., became a master in September.

“Masters will never be epidemics,” Ashley said. He said the rise of the young masters was a “phenomenon” that was “ worth noting.”

“It is special,” he said, “and that we know for a fact.”

Justus, Joshua and James all played in the Marshall Chess Club Championship in Manhattan last month. Justus and Joshua finished with disappointing results — a common problem for young players, who often lack consistency. But James tied for fifth. In the last round, he beat Yefim Treger, a strong veteran master who is in his 50s.

Treger is a tough opponent because he uses unorthodox openings. James kept his head, however, patiently seizing space and building up his attack until he was able to force through a passed pawn. He wrapped up the game by cornering and checkmating Treger’s king.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: November 15, 2011