Over President's Day weekend Alex Yermolinsky traveled east to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Milwaukee were 98 players forming 23 teams showed up for this year's edition of the US Amateur Team North. Click to see crosstables.
The young Trevor Magness, playing for Chicago Blaze, shot to NM status after his performance at the Teams North. His upset with over a 400 point difference against Yermo in round one was the start to his master run. Click here to see the game.
Alex didn't have an impressive tournament with draws in the rest of the rounds.
The Sioux Falls Open and Revival
Written by Steve Norquist
The Sioux Falls Open has a long history, including some in the 1960s which also determined the SD Chess Championship. Its “modern era” began with 3-time SD Champion Gerald Mortimer as the TD in 1972. He would invite grandmasters and IMs, including Korchnoi, Browne, Dzindzihashvili, Benko, Tarjan and Martz, to do simuls in conjunction with the tournament, often flying to Lone Pine, California (where in that era a strong GM tournament was being sponsored every year by famous concert cellist and chess fan Gregor Piatagorsky, and later by his wife doing business as the Piatagorsky Foundation) to recruit a GM by offering a weekend poker game along with the tournament and simul. Only Browne disappointed by canceling at the last minute. Mortimer ran the tournament from 1972 until 1981, when it died for a few years. Emil Knapp's SDCA Bulletin announcement in 1980, when Roman Dzindzihashvili appeared, stated that “after a warm-up tournament in Lone Pine, California,” Dzindzi won the tournament 5-0. I remember that tournament, in which Roman chain-smoked Marlboros in the Gilbert Science Center at Augustana College.
Jeff Barth and Wes Schmidt resurrected the SFO in 1985, with Jeff organizing the event and occasionally directing until the 1990s, when Wes pretty much took it over and began billing it as the “Revival of the Sioux Falls Open” every year through 2009. In the 1980s, NMs from Iowa & Minnesota would come to play, but never got in the top money. Those masters included Mitch Weiss, Cary Utterberg, and Randy Bauer. That changed in the 1990s when ND master Mike Sailer and Vermillion resident master Mark Bohannon each picked up a clear first for a Sioux Falls Open title. The 2010 event will feature GM and 2-time US Champion Alex Yermolinsky as the tournament director. Here are a few games; we hope to see you all at the 2010 Sioux Falls Open!
Facebook
Written by Mark Derby
South Dakota Chess (sdchess) has a Facebook page and if you have a facebook account please take a moment to become a fan and check out the videos, news feed and discussion boards.
Here's a sample video on the basics of the Scholar's Mate posted on Facebook.com:
2010 SECF Grand Prix Season
Written by Web Custodian
The Sioux Empire Chess Foundation announces other season of (Grand Prix) tournaments for 2010. Registration is discounted for those who sign up in 2009. Alex Yermolinsky will again be the TD for all tournaments in the Sioux Falls area. There are several sections for players K-8. For more info (click here) to see the handbill/registration form.
2009 K-12 Big Turkey Chess Classic
Written by Randy Christensen
The 2009-2010 Rapid City Scholastic Chess season kicked-off Saturday with the K-12 “Big Turkey” Chess Classic. The tournament was held at the Rapid City Public Library on November 21st with teams from South Canyon, Corral Drive and Grandview Elementary, Southwest and South Middle School, and Rapid City Home School. The tournament was hosted by Randy Christensen and Aaron Knudson.
