"Venio, Video, and Vinco!" claim the top 2 players of South Dakota (Alex Yermolinsky and Sandor Kustar) as they returned from their road trip out west into the deep southern parts of Wyoming with Mark Derby. In the first wild west chess tournament at the Saratoga Resort. Alex and Sandor had major competition from a strong IM from Texas (Jacek Stopa) with a rating of 2554.
Stopa had a draw with Kustar in the third round and a draw with Yermo in the forth so Alex and Sandor tied for first and second with 3.5 points and Jacek taking solo third place with 3 points in the open section. Sandor had a finish with the Colorado state champ in round four with a cramped space for the King. To see the games with Rypka comments go to: http://sdchess.org/chess_games/029_game_of_the_week/
The other SoDak in the tournament, Mark Derby, scored 2.5 points in the under 1800 section to finish just out of reach from third place. Unfortunately South Dakota with seriously under represented in the lower sections on the tournament which hopefully will be remedied in the years to come. Next years Wild West Chess tournament is scheduled for July 16-17, 2011 with a simul on the 15th.
Camilla plays in the 2010 US Womens Championship at the Chess Club & Scholastic Center of St. Louis. Camilla has a score of 2.0 after a draw with Irina Krush in round four of nine. It's the shortest game of the tournament with only 12 moves. Click here to see the game. See below for live broadcast or visit monroi to see the games.
2010 SD Team Championship
Written by Web Custodian
This year was only a four round tournament and had a 3 way tie for first. With tie breaks in place the winner was declared to team "Smarter than a fifth grader". Eleven year-old Michael Knudson who will be in sixth grade next school year had a strong performance on fourth board. Norky is working on a write up for the teams and others are still sending in photos and games in pgn format.
To see the games submitted thus far <click here> or see: http://www.sdchess.org/chess_games/027_game_of_the_week/
To see photos of the tournament <click here> or see: http://sdchess.org/photos/2010%20Team%20Championship/
To see the USCF crosstables <click here> or see: http://main.uschess.org/assets/msa_joomla/XtblMain.php?201006132181
What Smart Chess Players and Stupid Criminals Have in Common
Written by Bob Boland
When you’re a chess player and you come across a chapter in a book with a title like this, it’s certainly got to perk your interest. Well, that’s exactly the name of chapter 3 of the new book, “The Invisible Gorilla,” by authors Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, two cognitive psychologists, and chess players, whose book has stemmed from their now famous “invisible gorilla” experiment, a pioneering study that demonstrated very clearly how faulty our intuitions can be.
