WCC News 2017 ♔

Hello All,
After about a 3 month "vacation" I'm resuming my club videos with my first game of the 2017 club championship.
Maybe I'm a little rusty at this video production business, as I neglected to do the little astronomy segment along with the chess.
So here they are separately, for your viewing pleasure:
My Week at the Club #32: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFl0I6KrruQ
My Week at the Club #32 (astronomy addendum): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vR4RK1ZdnY
Cheers,
Roger
See this & all of Roger Cappallo's other videos at Roger's YouTube Channel

Diego Ubiera, one of the Wachusett Chess Club's highest-rated players, made his debut Friday night, May 19, at the Waltham Chess Club, where he finished as runner-up in the Waltham May Game/5 tournament. Diego scored 7-3 and faced five opponents in the 13-player event, winning two games each against three of them, drawing two games against one other, but losing two games to the ultimate tournament winner, master Sherif Khater, who tallied 10-0.
-George M

2017 WCC 'A' Championship
Round 1 of 7

The USCF did a re-rating of a couple of events. So, these are the rating updates for 05/17/17:
-George M

Round 1 of the 2017 WCC B Championship will be played Wednesday, May 17, in Room C159 in the McKay Complex at Fitchburg State University. Players must be present by 7:10 p.m. in order to be paired for Round 1. Players running late who wish to be paired MUST CALL by 7 p.m. Players who know they won't be there and wish to receive a half-point bye, please let Larry Gladding (lgladding@msn.com) and me (miriling2@aol.com) know by 7 p.m.
-George M

2017 Martin Laine Memorial
Round 4 of 4

 Round 1 - May 17, 2017:
Board #: [White] vs. [Black]
Board 1: Paulson (6) vs. Kildahl (2)
Board 2: Brassard (5) vs. Godin (3)
Board 3: Commisso (7) vs. Cappallo (1)
Board 4: Venezia (4) vs. Gurge (8)

Round 2 - May 24, 2017:
Board #: [White] vs. [Black]
Board ?: Godin (3) vs. Paulson (6)
Board ?: Kildahl (2) vs. Commisso (7)
Board ?: Venezia (4) vs. Brassard (5)
Board ?: Cappallo (1) vs. Gurge (8) - POSTPONED

Round 3 - May 31, 2017:
Board #: [White] vs. [Black]
Board ?: Venezia (4) vs. Kildahl (2)
Board ?: Paulson (6) vs. Commisso (7)
Board ?: Godin (3) vs. Gurge (8)
Board ?: Brassard (5) vs. Cappallo (1) - POSTPONED

Round 4 - June 7, 2017:
Board #: [White] vs. [Black]
Board ?: Kildahl (2) vs. Godin (3)
Board ?: Gurge (8) vs. Paulson (6)
Board ?: Cappallo (1) vs. Venezia (4)
Board ?: Commisso (7) vs. Brassard (5)

Round 5 - June 14, 2017:
Board #: [White] vs. [Black]
Board ?: Godin (3) vs. Cappallo (1)
Board ?: Kildahl (2) vs. Gurge (8)
Board ?: Brassard (5) vs. Paulson (6)
Board ?: Venezia (4) vs. Commisso (7)

Round 6 - June 21, 2017:
Board #: [White] vs. [Black]
Board ?: Cappallo (1) vs. Kildahl (2)
Board ?: Paulson (6) vs. Venezia (4)
Board ?: Commisso (7) vs. Godin (3)
Board ?: Gurge (8) vs. Brassard (5) - POSTPONED

Round 7 -June 28, 2017:
Board #: [White] vs. [Black]
Board ?: Cappallo (1) vs. Paulson (6)
Board ?: Kildahl (2) vs. Brassard (5)
Board ?: Godin (3) vs. Venezia (4)
Board ?: Gurge (8) vs. Commisso (7)

George Mirijanian is receiving the Lifetime Achievement award at FATV's Boulder Awards, Thursday May 11th at Oak Hill Country Club. If you'd like to attend to celebrate tickets are available until this Friday, May 5th.
Meal choices are: Filet, Chicken Piccata or Vegetarian Pasta and are $30 each.

For more information, contact Anne Bisbee, operations manager (anne@fatv.org), or Glenn C. Fossa, executive director at 978-343-0834. http://www.fatv.org
It would be great to see a big turnout from the club members!
-David Couture

Brett Kildahl, one of the Wachusett Chess Club's highest-rated players, scored another victory in his chess career by scoring 4-0 to win the Absolutely Awesome April Swiss tournament, held Thursday nights, April 6-27, at the Greater Worcester Chess Club at the Hibernian Cultural Center in Worcester. Kildahl paved the way to victory by defeating Class B player Donna Alarie, expert Mike Odell, Class A entrant Muharrem Brahimaj and FM John Curdo respectively in the 8-player event. He finished 1.5 points ahead of his closest rival, Odell, who took clear 2nd place. The other players he beat all tallied 2-2 and tied for 3rd place.
-George M

[WCC member, Ralph McNeilage also played in the event.]

2017 Club Championship Qualification Standings

2017 Martin Laine Memorial
Round 3 of 4

Carissa Yip, champion of the Wachusett Chess Club in 2014, was among the prize winners in the 26th Eastern Class Championships, held April 28-30 at the Host Hotel at Cedar Lake in Sturbridge, Mass. The 13-year-old Woman FIDE master from Andover tallied 3-2 (two wins, two draws, one loss) to tie for 4th place in the 22-player Master section of the 278-player tournament. In addition to sharing 4th-place prize money, Carissa also cashed in on 2nd-place prize money in the Mixed Doubles competition, where she and Class A section 1st-place prize winner Anton Barash (5-0) teamed up and scored 8 points out of 10. Carissa's total prize winnings exceeded that of three GMs with whom she tied for 4th place in the Master section. They included Georgian GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (2663) and GM Irina Krush (2513), both of New York, and Israeli GM Gil Popilski (2633) of Texas.
-George M

Carissa was among nine active & inactive WCC members who played in the 2017 Eastern Class Championships tournament held this past weekend.

2017 Club Championship Qualification Standings

2017 Martin Laine Memorial
Round 2 of 4

Round 1 of the Martin Laine Memorial will be played Wednesday, April 19, in Room C159 in the McKay Complex at Fitchburg State University. Players must be present by 7:10 p.m. in order to be paired for Round 1. Players running late who wish to be paired MUST CALL by 7 p.m. Players who know they won't be there and wish to receive a half-point bye, please let Larry Gladding (lgladding@msn.com) and me (miriling2@aol.com) know by 7 p.m.
-George M

Every once in a while, a chess related story shows up in mainstream media. Sometimes I catch them; sometimes I don't. Here's a few that may be particularly interesting.

♗ 60 Minutes: Chess in the Bible Belt
http://en.chessbase.com/post/60-minutes-chess-in-the-bible-belt-2
The television show 60 Minutes featured the chess program in Franklin County, Mississippi (MS). Over 15 million viewers watched that episode (original air date March 26, 2017), which featured Dr. Jeff Bulington along with his chess-playing students and their proud parents. Bulington's chess program began in August of 2015 and is sponsored for ten years by an anonymous wealthy benefactor.

♔ Boris Spassky 2016 interview
This interview was conducted by Yuri Golyshak and Sergei Kruzhkov for their column Friday Talk in the Sport-Express newspaper in early 2016.

♖ Nashoba Jr. Chess Club
[I couldn't resist this one! Dr. Imre Toth is one of the most outstanding & respected chess competitors in NEw England from back in the good old days when all chess clocks were analog & Bobby Fischer was still a kid.]
"Dr. Imre Toth, our resident Master of Postal Chess, teaches game fundamentals prior to each session. New players are treated to hands-on instruction at the Beginners' Table. Following instruction, the games begin!"
"Chess makes you smart and good looking." -Dr. Toth

2017 Club Championship Qualification Standings

2017 Evert Siiskonen Memorial
Round 5 of 5

Mascenic Chess Club Team Wins the NH State Championship!

On Saturday, April 8th, the Mascenic Chess Club traveled to Pelham to compete in the NH State Team Chess Championships. They played 4 rounds with our top four players battling against the top four players from other schools around southern New Hampshire. Mascenic entered three teams in three separate divisions, High School (grades 10-12), Junior High (grades 7-9) and Elementary (Grades 4-6).

The Elementary team placed 5th and the High School team placed 4th in their respective divisions. The Junior High team won its first three matches, and needed a draw or a win in their last match to secure 1st place. On the top two boards, Noah Rogers and Sebastian Tilton struggled with difficult positions against the Academy for Science and Design, and it looked like they would have to settle for 2nd place again this year. On boards three and four, however, Finn Rogers and Owen Hannah were slowly but surely grinding out winning positions, securing the draw for the team that ultimately earned them the 1st place trophy.

The junior high team collectively won twelve out of their sixteen games, beating out 2nd place World Academy and 3rd place Academy for Science and Design. Special recognition went to Finn Rogers for best performance on board three, winning all four of his games.
Congratulations to our NH State Champs & kudos to Boynton Middle School Chess Club Coach, Ed Rogers!
-Mascenic News

GM Arthur Bisguier Dies at 87: GM Arthur Bisguier GM Arthur Bisguier, one of America's greatest chess players of the 20th century, died on Wednesday at the age of 87 while in a care facility in Framingham, Massachusetts. The cause of death was respiratory failure. Arthur Bernard Bisguier was born in the Bronx on October 8, 1929. He was awarded the IM title in 1950 and the GM title in 1957. He was one of the dominant tournament players in America in the 1950s. After winning several U.S. junior titles in the late 1940s, Bisguier became U.S. champion in 1954 and U.S. Open champion in 1950, 1956 and 1959. He won the Manhattan Chess Club Championship in 1948, 1949, 1957-58, 1958-59, 1967-68, and 1968-69. He may have won even more, but served in the U.S. Army from 1951-1953. In 2005, he was awarded the honorific "Dean of American Chess" by US Chess, supplanting GM Arnold Denker, who had passed away that same year. Bisguier held the status until his death. He was the oldest of 20 living U.S. chess champions, but not the oldest living American grandmaster (GM Pal Benko was born one year earlier). GM Bisguier had been a regular active member of the Metrowest Chess Club in Natick MA until recently. For more coverage, visit: https://www.chess.com/news/view/gm-arthur-bisguier-1929-2017-9997 The Wachusett Chess Club celebrated Bisguier's 80th birthday in October-November 2009 with an Arthur Bisguier Octogenarian Tribute tournament. He also is known to have played in one or more of the WCC sponsored Central New England Open tournaments held from 1961 to 1986.

2017 Club Championship Qualification Standings

2017 Evert Siiskonen Memorial
Round 4 of 5

US Women's Championship coverage on YouTube
Carissa is at 1:15 (one hour, 15 minutes, lots of coverage), GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Maurice Ashley & WGM Jennifer Shahade covering, with post game comments from all the players.
-Joe Bennett

Fitchburg State University Math Club will be hosting a [presumably non-rated] chess tournament on Tuesday, April 4, in the Hammond Hall Campus Center [NOT the McKay building!] at the university. There may be an announcement about this event in the March 31 edition of the Leominster Champion.
The math club is offering a $25 first prize and a $15 second prize.
(Only FSU students & faculty members are eligible to win the prizes.)
Number of rounds & time control are TBD.
For details please contact Anthony Manganaro at: amangana@student.fitchburgstate.edu.

2017 Evert Siiskonen Memorial
Round 3 of 5

Round 1 of the Evert Siiskonen Memorial will be played Wednesday, March 15, in Room C159 in the McKay Complex at Fitchburg State University. The parking lot will be cleared of snow. Players must be present by 7:10 p.m. in order to be paired for Round 1. Players running late who wish to be paired MUST CALL by 7 p.m. Players who know they won't be there and wish to receive a half-point bye, please let Larry Gladding (lgladding@msn.com) and me (miriling2@aol.com) know by 7 p.m.
-George M

         Quinsigamond Community College  Intercollegiate Chess Tournament
         Saturday March 11, 2017
         Hosted by Jerry Williams, Quinsigamond Community College
         Tournament director: Joe Alfano, Assumption College
         The tournament had two separate sections: Students and Grownups.
                                 Round 1    Round 2    Round 3    Round 4    Total
                                 --------   --------   --------   --------   -----
         Grownups
   ( 1) Rob King           WCC   ( 6) 1.0   ( 4) 1.0   ( 2) 1.0   ( 3) 1.0    4.0
   ( 2) Brett Kildahl      WCC   ( 5) 1.0   ( 3) 1.0   ( 1) 0.0   ( 4) 1.0    3.0
   ( 3) Roger Cappallo     WCC   ( 8) 1.0   ( 2) 0.0   ( 6) 1.0   ( 1) 0.0    2.0
   ( 4) Joe Alfano         AC    ( 7) 1.0   ( 1) 0.0   ( 5) 1.0   ( 2) 0.0    2.0
   ( 5) Michael Stevens    GWC   ( 2) 0.0   ( 8) 1.0   ( 4) 0.0   ( 7) 1.0    2.0
   ( 6) Jerry Williams     QCC   ( 1) 0.0   ( 7) 1.0   ( 3) 0.0   ( 8) 0.5    1.5
   ( 7) Gary Orcutt        GWC   ( 4) 0.0   ( 6) 0.0   ( 8) 1.0   ( 5) 0.0    1.0
   ( 8) Joseph Garcia      SHS   ( 3) 0.0   ( 5) 0.0   ( 7) 0.0   ( 6) 0.5    0.5

         Students
   ( 1) Adam Maarij        SHS   ( 9) 0.0   (12) 1.0   (11) 1.0   ( 2) 1.0    3.0
   ( 2) Matthew Garcia     EMS   ( 8) 1.0   ( 7) 1.0   ( 3) 1.0   ( 1) 0.0    3.0
   ( 3) Alex Wheeler       DES   (11) 1.0   (13) 1.0   ( 2) 0.0   ( 7) 1.0    3.0
   ( 4) Nadia Ackerman     QCC   (10) 0.5   ( 5) 0.0   ( 8) 1.0   (11) 1.0    2.5
   ( 5) Noelle Hemdal      QCC   (12) 1.0   ( 4) 1.0   (WD) 0.0   (WD) 0.0    2.0
   ( 6) Bradley Pudsey     QCC   (13) 1.0   ( 9) 1.0   (WD) 0.0   (WD) 0.0    2.0
   ( 7) Diego Alonso       SHS   (14) 1.0   ( 2) 0.0   ( 9) 1.0   ( 3) 0.0    2.0
   ( 8) Herman Abalo       SHS   ( 2) 0.0   (14) 1.0   ( 4) 0.0   (10) 1.0    2.0
   ( 9) Ryan Lockhart      DES   ( 1) 1.0   ( 6) 0.0   ( 7) 0.0   (12) 1.0    2.0
   (10) Jackie Afriyie     QCC   ( 4) 0.5   (11) 0.0   (13) 1.0   ( 8) 0.0    1.5
   (11) Mara Rivera        SHS   ( 3) 0.0   (10) 1.0   ( 1) 0.0   ( 4) 0.0    1.0
   (12) Daniel Afriyie     QCC   ( 5) 0.0   ( 1) 0.0   (BY) 1.0   ( 9) 0.0    1.0
   (13) Bright Brimeng     SHS   ( 6) 0.0   ( 3) 0.0   (10) 0.0   (BY) 1.0    1.0
   (14) Camden Boria       SCE   ( 7) 0.0   ( 8) 0.0   (WD) 0.0   (WD) 0.0    0.0

         AC  = Assumption College
         DES = Douglas Elementary School
         EMS = East Middle School
         GWC = Greater Worcester Chess
         QCC = Quinsigamond Community College
         SHS = South High School
         SCE = Simonian Center
         WCC = Wachusett Chess Club
         USC = US Chess Federation
         1.0 = Win
         0.0 = Loss
         0.5 = Draw
         BY  = Bye: the player had no opponent.
         WD  = Withdrew.
      In each round, the player is listed with their opponent and final score.
      E.g. in Round 1, Adam Maarij played Ryan Lockhart (player 9) and lost.

Duncan Premus, a member of the Wachusett Chess Club, posted a perfect score of 4-0 to win first place in the Intermediate section of the Pelham High Scholastic tournament, held on Saturday, March 11, in the library of Pelham High School in Pelham, NH. The victory netted Duncan 160 rating points in the 15-player section. Other Wachusett CC players competing in the 18-player Open section of the event were Finn Rogers, who scored 3-1 to tie for 2nd-5th place, gaining 104 rating points, and Sebastian Tilton, who tallied 2-2 to tie for 8th-12th place, adding 15 points to his rating. The tourney drew a total of 53 players.
-George M

2017 Club Championship Qualification Standings

2017 George E. O'Rourke Memorial
Round 5 of 5

Mike Meehan, one of the Wachusett Chess Club's most active players, was among the prize winners in the 4th Queen City Tornado, held Saturday, March 4, at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, NH. Meehan, playing in the Under 1800 section, scored 3.5-0.5 to tie for 1st-3rd place with New Hampshire players Pascal Bakker and Sai Sneha Yerra. Meehan gained 61 rating points to boost his USCF rating to 1705. Other Wachusett CC players competing in the U1800 section were Mike Commisso, who tallied 2.5-1.5, and Jim Hankard, who finished at 2-2. Hal Terrie, assisted by John Elmore, directed the 60-player event for the sponsoring New Hampshire Chess Association.
-George M

Revised Projected Pairings for 2017 George E. O'Rourke Memorial Round 5 of 5

The 2017 World Amateur Team & U.S. Amateur Team East Championship, held Feb. 18-20 in Parsippany, NJ, had a number of players from Massachusetts participating in the 306-team event. Among them were three players who have played at the Wachusett Chess Club, including two who are former club champions. Wachusett CC players are listed in boldface. The following were the top Mass. scorers in the event:
Robert King (2189) - 6 points
FM Chris Chase (2399) - 5.5
David Xie (1841) - 5
IM Denys Shmelov (2505) - 4.5
IM David Vigorito (2451) - 4.5
WFM Carissa Yip (2370) - 4.5
WFM Roza Eynula (2167) - 4.5
Todd Chase (2080) - 4.5
Alex Yu (2038) - 4.5
Samuel Korsky (1723P10) - 4.5
Mark Butler (1630) - 4.5
[Other MA players at the tournament scored 4.0 or less.]
-George M

---

Hi All,
I was experimenting with the new Chessbase 14 and I've published 2 of my best games [wins against Fritz Gaspard (2079) & NM Lawyer Times (2248)] from the recent World Amateur Team East tournament. You can see the games here:
http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2017/2/22/Game98684671.html
There is a dropdown menu above the board to see the two games...
Take care,
Rob

2017 George E. O'Rourke Memorial
Round 3 of 5

The team "On Topalov Yo'Mamedyarov," headed by IM Denys Shmelov with former Wachusett CC champion Rob King on 2nd board, finished as the Best Massachusetts team in the 2017 World Amateur Team & U.S. Amateur Team East championship on Feb. 20 in Parsippany, New Jersey. The team, initially ranked 43rd in a field of 306 teams, had an average rating of 2122. It was also a personal victory for King, who ended up with a perfect 6-0 score and won 4th place on tiebreak for the best score on Board 2. [This performance brought Rob's rating up to 2189.
Carissa Yip, who finished with 4.5/6 also had a rather stellar performance consisting of wins over IM Shmelov & two 2300+ masters plus a draw with legendary GM John Fedorowicz.]

-George M

Carissa Yip at US Amateur Team East tournament Member of "YIP YIP HOORAY!" team at USATE Carissa Yip, champion of the Wachusett Chess Club in 2014, is another former WCC title-holder participating in the World Amateur Team & U.S. Team East Championship in Parsippany, NJ. The 13-year-old Woman FIDE master from Andover has her own team, called "Yip Yip Hooray!" in the 6-round Swiss event, which this year is setting a new record for attendance. It Is reported that the championship has more than 300 teams (1200-plus players), including quite a few from Massachusetts. -George M

Robert J. "Rob" King, champion of the Wachusett Chess Club in 2011 and currently a participant in the George E. O'Rourke Memorial at the club, will be among more than a thousand players taking part in the World Amateur Team & U.S. Team East Championship on Feb. 18-20 at the Hilton Hotel in Parsippany, NJ. The 33-year-old Framingham resident and USCF-rated expert will be a member of a 4-man team headed by IM Denys Shmelov of Newton, formerly of Pepperell, in a 6-round single-section Swiss tournament that has drawn well over 1100 players in the past four years. This will be King's fifth straight appearance at the World Amateur Team event.
-George M

Hello All,
Well, in a drastic departure from normal, I've managed to produce the video for last night's game against Dave Couture. Perhaps I was eager to get a slight sense of guilt over the rules infraction off my chest.
Hope you like it. https://youtu.be/dWXXOpYwbOU
-Roger
See this & all of Roger Cappallo's other videos at Roger's YouTube Channel

Hitler's Idiot Son: and his intervention in World War II - by Arthur Barlas Now available in paperback on Amazon What if you were the geeky son of the most evil man in the world? Talk about the ultimate dysfunctional father-son relationship! In this light comic novel, the hapless son of Adolf Hitler tries hard to please Big Daddy and become the racist ideal he was born to be, but the forces of tolerance, kindness, and love keep getting in the way. The son's misadventures take him from Nazi cults in Germany to an assignment as a saboteur in America, where he passes himself off as a Greek olive merchant, has a romance with the enemy, and is exposed to New York values and 1940's jazz culture. A hilarious remedy for feelings of despair in dark times.

"A first-rate farce worthy of Mel Brooks. I could easily see this novel being made into a movie or a play. My only disappointments are that it was over too quickly and that I couldn't find any other titles by the author. Hopefully more will be coming in the future from this author!" -Dave Couture

2017 George E. O'Rourke Memorial
Round 2 of 5

Carissa Yip, along with two other strong local youngsters, Jason tang & Anton Barash, has organized a Fundraising Tournament at the Boylston Chess Club in Cambridge, MA.

The tournament, which will be held on Sunday, February 12, 2017, includes a four round [G/40, d5] swiss run by Andrew Hoy, and a blitz tournament afterwards.
Registration: 9:15am - 9:45am
Round Times: 10:00am, 12:30pm, 2:15pm, and 4:00pm
Lunch will be provided along with snacks. Side events will include bughouse and a chess puzzle solving contest. GM Larry Christiansen will be available to analyze games.

2017 George E. O'Rourke Memorial
Round 1 of 5

2/2/2017: In a curious case at Gibraltar Masters, women's world champion Hou Yifan resigned in a mere 5 moves (against GM Babu Lalith), breaking the record previously held by Viswanathan Anand for the quickest loss by a grandmaster. The 'scandal' occurred during the final round of the Masters tournament, known to be the best Open in the world.

The game went as follows:
1. g4 d5 2. f3 e5 3. d3 Qh4+ 4. Kd2 h5 5. h3 hxg4 0-1

IM Marc Esserman, a frequent visitor to Harvard Square in days past & #75 seed in the tournament, has placed #61 after ten rounds in the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2017 - Masters tournament.

2017 Club Championship Qualification Standings

2017 Reggie Boone Memorial
Round 5 of 5

Ed Harris and Jim Hankard, two of the most active members of the Wachusett Chess Club, finished as runners-up in the 2nd Crazy Clock Open, held Mondays, Jan. 9-30, at the Knights Chess Club in Keene, NH. The WCC duo shared 2nd-4th place honors with expert Christopher Wood, co-champion of the Knights CC in 2016, by scoring 3-1 in a field of 18 players. Winning the tournament with a 3.5-0.5 tally was Class A participant Dave Kochman, whose last appearance at the Wachusett CC was the 2016 Reggie Boone Memorial, which he won with a score of 4.5-0.5.
-George M

Joe Bennett, a member of the Wachusett Chess Club since he made his debut at the club in the Edmund N. Wheeler Memorial in October-November 2005, captured first place in the Under 1700 section of the WN 2017 Winter Open, held Sunday, Jan. 29, in West Newbury, MA. Bennett scored 3.5-0.5 in a section that drew 15 players. A total of 29 players competed in the two-section, one-day event.
-George M

2017 Reggie Boone Memorial
Round 4 of 5

Hans Berliner, Master Chess Player and Programmer, Dies at 87: Arnold Denker, L; Hans Berliner, R. Vic DeLucia, NYT Photo Hans Berliner, a former world champion of correspondence chess who won one of the greatest games ever played on his way to the title, and who later helped develop game-playing computers, died on Friday in Riviera Beach, Fla. He was 87. In the early '60s, inspired by the work of programming pioneers in artificial intelligence, Mr. Berliner, who was working at IBM at the time, began writing a program to play chess. ... In spring 1985, the new computer, HiTech, made its debut. It quickly ascended to the rank of master and then to senior master, becoming the world's strongest chess computer. In 1988, it became the first computer to beat a grandmaster in a match, defeating Arnold Denker, 3.5 to 0.5, though Mr. Denker was well past his prime. ... In 1937, amid the rise of Nazism, Mr. Berliner's family emigrated to Washington, D.C. He learned to play chess at 13 during a rainy day at summer camp. He became a chess master at 20 and by 23 was good enough to be part of the United States team that played in Helsinki at the biennial Chess Olympiad. ... "Sooner or later, the moment of truth comes where you put them all together and see what it does," he said. "And from the very beginning, I could see that it had the potential - maybe not every single time - it had the potential to play better than any device that existed." -By Dylan Loeb McClain, NYT, January 16, 2017 CCRL 40/40 Ratings of top computer programs today

Geoff LePoer, champion of the Wachusett Chess Club in 1999 and currently an active member of the club, has brought to light that he interviewed the late Hans Berliner, who directed the development of the chess computer HiTech when he was a professor of computer science at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. Berliner passed away in Riviera Beach, FL on Friday, Jan. 13, 2017 - two weeks before his 88th birthday. LePoer, a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon in 1987, had the opportunity of interviewing Berliner for a writing class he was enrolled in. Berliner granted the interview because LePoer identified himself as a chess player. That made the difference! In the mid-1980s Berliner directed the development of HiTech, which was the first computer to attain a rating over 2400 in 1985. Besides his contribution to computer chess, Berliner is also known as the winner of the 5th World Correspondence Chess World Championship (1965-1968) and a participant in several U.S. Chess Championships in the 1950s. He was also on the U.S. team that played in the 1952 Chess Olympiad in Helsinki, Finland.
-George M

Sorry folks - I am afraid there is no trace of that Interview. It was my junior year - would have been fall of 85. I think I had a copy in my portfolio when I graduated, but that was 30 years ago!! It was never published - which was negligence on my part. My professor asked me to submit it to our campus paper and I just never got around to it. Too bad - would be a nice piece of nostalgia to share it.
-Geoff LePoer

Geoff,
You were fortunate to be at Carnegie-Mellon during a period when HiTech was the dominant computer program in the country, possibly in the world. HiTech prevailed from September 1985 (the start of your junior year) until around July 1988, a little more than a year after you graduated. And the fact that you met Berliner and interviewed him will be something you will never forget. Carnegie-Mellon made its mark in computer chess while you were there.
-George M

What a lot of folks don't know - even chess players - is that HiTech was one of two chess programs developed at CMU (what we called it before a marketing effort dropped the University, added a hyphen and converted our identity to Carnegie-Mellon). Deep Thought was also developed there at the same time. They competed against each other and Deep Thought eventually surpassed HiTech.
My recollection is that HiTech was built on a series of processors that calculated all the moves by squares. There was a processor dedicated to each of the 64 squares. But DeepThought was more of an algorithm based program and analyzed more by piece moves - more along the lines of how humans played. Of course - analyzing it at thousands of times faster and deeper than any of us can.
DeepThought was already strong program when I met Hans - but it had a different name then. I can't remember what it was originally - but by time it passed HiTech it was called DeepThought.
[DeepThought most likely was originally named "ChipTest". -PG]
-Geoff LePoer

I remember Deep Thought, because it was the computer that played in the 1988 U.S.Open in Boston that I directed. I cannot forget when it was paired against Igor Ivanov (R, pictured here with Alexander Ivanov, L), who was in a state of intoxication, in round 9 and defeated Igor in 29 moves of a Scandinavian Defense (See game here). Igor dropped out of the tournament right after that.
Igor Ivanov was no stranger to chess aficionados in the Fitchburg-Leominster area. He played in the Central New England Opens more than 30 years ago.
-George M
[More details of this fascinating & somewhat local story may be found in: AI Magazine Volume 10 Number 2 (1989) -PG]

Four Wachusett CC players, all residents of New Hampshire, competed in the Portsmouth Open, held Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 14-15, at the Holiday Inn in Portsmouth, NH. Ed Harris of Marlboro, Jim Hankard of Antrim, Mike Commisso of Brookline and Francois Gauthier of Francistown took part in the Under 1750 section of the 40-player tournament.
Harris, Hankard and Commisso all scored 2.5-1.5, while Gauthier tallied 2-2. None of the players gained rating points or won prize money. Hankard drew Commisso in round 3, while Harris finished the tournament with three blacks in a row!
-George M

Jon R. Edwards, a member of the Wachusett Chess Club in the early 1970s, is now a columnist for the new American Chess Magazine, published by the Chess Informant. Edwards, who lived in West Acton, Mass. during the period in which he played at the Wachusett CC when it was situated at the Fitchburg YMCA, is a well-known correspondence chess player. He won the 10th U.S. Correspondence Chess Championship in 1997 and the 8th North American Invitational Chess Correspondence Championship in 1999. A Senior International Master in the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF), the 63-year-old resident of New Jersey has written more than 20 books on chess. During his time at the Wachusett CC, he was greatly influenced by two-time (1973 & 1974) club champion Stephan Gerzadowicz, a noted correspondence player and author of several chess books. Edwards' column in the American Chess Magazine is titled "Chess Tech," In his first article, he introduces the readers to the wonders of ChessBase Account and plans in future columns to teach the intricacies of ChessBase 13/14.
-George M

2017 Reggie Boone Memorial
Round 2 of 5

Woman FIDE master Carissa Yip, champion of the Wachusett Chess Club in 2014, scored one of the biggest successes in her tournament career by tying as one of the runners-up in the 5th annual Boston Chess Congress, held Jan. 6-8 at the Hyatt Boston Harbor Hotel. Carissa, playing on top board in the final round of the event, drew GM Alexander Ivanov (2564), who clinched first place with a score of 4.5-0.5 Sharing the 2nd and 3rd-place prizes with Carissa with 4-1 tallies were Canadian grandmaster Eric Hansen (2659), IM David Vigorito (2448), and FM Chris Chase (2391). Also scoring 4-1 and finishing as a runner-up was Farzad Abdi (2246), who won the top Under 2300 prize, and M. Derek Meredith (2125), who won the 2nd U2300 prize.
Carissa started the tournament by defeating two high-rated experts in the first two rounds, then drew IM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2489) of New York in round 3, beat a frequent rival, master Grant Xu (2396), in round 4 before splitting the point with Ivanov in the final round.
The Wachusett Chess Club congratulates Carissa on her very fine finish.
-George M

2017 Reggie Boone Memorial
Round 1 of 5

CHESS WORKSHOP for youth and adults with George Mirijanian of the Wachusett Chess Club, 10:30 AM 'til noon, Saturday, January 7, 2017 at Fitchburg Public Library. Work on your game, and enjoy the company of other players. George (who is also my uncle) is the host and founder of "Chess Chat," the most popular chess show in the world, which originates at FATV. PLEASE share with students!!
-Sally C.

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Photo credits unless otherwise noted: Dave Couture
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2015 Web Site Design Revision & Maintenance: Paul Godin
Content: George Mirijanian, Paul Godin, Dave Couture, Arthur Barlas & other individual contributors
Tournament Results: Larry Gladding & George Mirijanian
Tournament Reports: Paul Godin
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