Stay tuned as the list of folks coming to the GCO grows……

There have been many articles written on the benefits of chess – and our one faithful Dayton Chess Club member is one shining testimony….

A game that changed my life

Again   – thanks to all who spent a portion of their Saturday with us……

It was a successful Saturday…..as photo reveals…..

Thanks, Ms Kay – you’re a blessing to Scholastic Knights program – and to the Dayton Chess Club!

Some of the crew that showed up for the National Chess day

Cross table:

CROSS TABLES CINCI-DAYTON MATCH APR 2012

Pictures will be downloaded soon…….

Thanks, Cincinnati Chess Club!

2012 MOTCF Cross Tables

You might recognize a few of the players…..

Wish I was playing.....

1st Place Winners & TD

2nd Place Winners - and TD (center)

MOTCF U2000 Winners & TD

Three Squares

from Riley Driver’s Point of View

If GM Alex Goldin were to read this, he would be pleased as he has instructed me to focus on end games and especially pawn endgames to learn – really learn – how to properly calculate. Additionally, this happens to be one very interesting endgame.

White has just played 49.g5 and it is at this point Black resigned (!).

GM’s Beliavsky and Mikhalchishin use this introductory position in their book Winning Endgame Strategy as an example of Premature Resignation of a Game for GM Timman now had a draw available to him.

A short note: the position above was from a game between GM Alexy Shirov and GM Jan Timman in round 11 of a 13 round robin at the 58th Annual Hoogovens Chess Tournament, a category XVII event, held in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands from January 12th to January 29th 1996.

The authors note that for both players the draw seemed “to be in order and appropriate comments [later] appeared in ChessBase…”

But if Black should not have resigned, what should he have done? The authors give the following moves: 49. … Kd6 50.h4 Kxc6 51.f5! Kd6 52.f6, ‘when there are [now] two ways to draw.’

The two ways or two moves the authors provided that permit a draw are

Position A – after 52…. Kd7

For Postion A the three squares d7, d8, and e8 provide the ability to triangulate against the approach of the enemy King while both protecting the pawn on c7 and keeping a watchful eye on f8 (remaining ‘in the square’) should the pawn on f6 advance to f7 and f8 to Queen.

and Position B – after 52…. c6

For position B the three squares d6, d7, and e6 (along with d8) again provide the ability to triangulate against the approach of the enemy King while protecting the pawn now on c6 and keeping a watchful eye on f8 (again remaining ‘in the square’) should the pawn on f6 advance to f7 and f8 to Queen.

The following diagrams provide a great visual showing the key three square in each position and where Black must carefully place his King.

Position A’s 3 key squares

Position B’s 3 key squares

There is a great deal of enjoyment and a lot to be learned by trying to find a way for White to win either position. So far, Black always draws with best play.

For example:

From Position A, after 52…. Kd7 53.Kf3 Ke8 54.Ke4 Kc7 55.Kd5 Ke8! And Black holds! (if Ke6 then Kf8!)

From Position B, after 52…. c6 53.Kf3 Kd7 54.Ke4 and either Kd8! or Ke6 holds for Black.

A little background on the game: up to the point of Black’s resignation he had moved his king a total of 15 times (including castling), traveling from c8 to b3 and back to g8. In a 15 move span (from move 21 through move 35) GM Timman moved his King 12 times. An amazing tour de force which as the authors have noted, should have resulted in a draw.

You may find the game here or here.

Enjoy.

Greater Dayton

High School Chess League

Miami Valley School’s Team of Chess Champions: From left to right -  Matthew Page, 10th grade, 5th board (shared), Matt Renner, coach (rear), Ishan Paranjpe, 10th grade, 1st board, Bo Wang, 12th grade, 5th board (shared), Bill Dyer, 11th grade, 4th board (rear). Phillip Shepard, 10th grade, 3rd board, Manish Paranjpe, 10th grade, 2nd board, Jon Graetz, coach

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Miami Valley bested Fairmont HS, Beavercreek HS, and Bellbrook HS this year to take clear first in the round robin playoffs at the Dayton Chess Club in downtown Dayton on Saturday, February 18, 2012 between the top two finishers of the Western Ohio Chess League – Miami Valley School and Bellbrook – and the Dayton Suburban Chess League – Beavercreek and Fairmont.

The four teams finished – Miami Valley School – First, Bellbrook – Second, Beavercreek – Third, and Fairmont – Fourth.

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Miami Valley School – Champions

Greater Dayton High School Chess League

After 23 years, often as the bridesmaid, Miami Valley School finally wins the Greater Dayton Chess Championship. This is the story of how they finally arrived there. – Riley Driver

By Jon Graetz

I arrived at the Miami Valley School in the fall of 1989, having just graduated from Wright State University.  I had started a successful chess club at WSU, which interestingly, included Riley Driver and Earle Wikle, with whom I have been friends and rivals ever since. Riley Driver and his wife Sharon run the Dayton Chess Club while Earle Wikle is the administrator for the Greater Dayton High School Chess League.

At Miami Valley, I immediately started a chess club.  Students flocked to join, and at one point, we had one third of the upper school as members!  It was cool to play chess.  My first board was Matt Renner, who quickly improved to the point of beating me.  Five years ago, he returned to the Dayton area and has been coaching with me since.

Over the years, we have had many promising teams.  We would power through our division (typically undefeated), then come into the playoffs and fall to other teams.  During my tenure, our nemesis was Beavercreek High School, led capably by Dennis Diehm.  Interestingly, their first win came in my second year.  They have since taken the championship twelve times in those 23 years. In addition, there were two years where Colonel White High School ran the board on all of us with Riley Driver as their coach.

Most frustrating for me has been the fact that in the years I have brought my strongest teams (especially 1990, 1991, and 2007), Dennis had his strongest teams as well, and we would fall yet again.

This year, finally, we came with a very strong team and prevailed.  Our top two boards, sophomores Ishan and Manish Paranjpe, have ratings of 1595 and 1530, respectively.  They are regulars at the Dayton Chess Club and tournaments both local and regional.  Our third board, sophomore Phillip Shepard, is new to competitive chess, but he has been catching up quickly, coming to the Dayton Chess Club and receiving lessons and competing.  Our fourth board, Bill Dyer, seems to be a natural.  We got him started last year as a sophomore, and his keen board sense and relaxed attitude earned him 3.5 points at last year’s states and provisional rating of 1333.  At fifth board is Bo Wang, a senior who has represented us at the city tournament all four years of high school.  Lastly, our sixth board, sophomore Matthew Page, is showing real promise.  Bo and Matt took turns at fifth board and contributed points to the cause.

This year, the finalists were Miami Valley and Bellbrook from one league, and Beavercreek and Fairmont from the other.  In Round 1, MVS defeated Fairmont 5-0 and Beavercreek and Bellbrook drew their match.  In Round 2, MVS and Bellbrook drew, and Beavercreek beat Fairmont 4-1.

Thus an interesting situation developed for the final round: MVS and Beavercreek both had 1.5 match points, so if one of them won the match, they would win outright.  But if they drew the round, then Miami Valley would be ahead by one “board point” (games won).  But If Bellbrook defeated Fairmont with a sweep, they would be tied with MVS on both match points and board points, and an additional playoff would be required!

Bellbrook won their first four games, and MVS was leading 2.5-1.5, so the nail-biting was in full force.  Our remaining board seemed to be headed for a draw (which would give us the win), but at the scholastic level, one can never be sure.  The jam was broken by Fairmont’s fourth board, who drew with Bellbrook, meaning that their game points would come up short against MVS, even in the event of a tie.  Our last game, too, went favorably, a draw, giving us the match win, and with it, an outright win for the day.

The curse is broken!  Now MVS can pursue its dynasty in chess!

Please note that the listed players under each team are NOT necessarily in board order number!!!

**Skullsplitters
Lou Friscoe
Joe Landusky
John Hampton
Wm. Hemming

**TalmaAubryScottManians
Charles Diebert
John Bath
James Weitthoff
John Hayes

**The CCLian Defense
John Hughes
Alan Casden
Vikram Raman
Chris Shen

**CCLB
Runya Xu
Luke Xie
Rohit Rajendran
Arjun Kumar
Stanley Cao

**Preemptive Strikers
James Lake
Ben Snow
Blair Komen
Dave Guehl
Lee Masters

**(Team name not selected yet)
David Friedman
Earl Wikle
Andre Jaworowski
Michael Kelley

**The Mitey Nights of Thud and Blunder
Dennis Gittrich
Gary Markette
Eric Gittrich
Evan Shelton

**Les is More
Les Whorton
Mark Kellie
Chris Bechtold
Loren Rodgers

**(tentative)  Three Knights and a Queen
Bruce Bryant
Blake Baumgartner
Katerina Baumgartner
Joe Dixon

**(tentative)  Riley’s Rowdies
Chris Atkins
Riley Driver
Noah Keating-Adams
Bill Pursel
Steve Anderson

**(Tentative)  Chess Men with Dragon Tattoos
William Wright
Benjamin Weaver
Oleksandr Chastukhin
Robert Basalla

**Bellbrook Chess Eagles
Rob Dennis
Paul Fuchs
Joseph Zoller
Sergei Palmer
Adam Siens

**Sufficient Mating Material
Hans Multhopp
Andrew Mackowiak
John Miller
Jeffrey Palun
Chris Freytag

If at all possible, if teams sign up before Friday at midnight, will try to keep this list updated!