News

Congratulations to all teams who spent a full day playing chess and supporting their friends and many thanks to all the volunteers who made the GCA's record breaking 990+ player tournament a success! It felt like a National event (and good prep for our players going to Nashville in April).

The deadline to register for the Metro Atlanta K-8 State Qualifier has been moved forward to midnight Tuesday Feb 5th.  We apologize for this change but feel it is necessary to run a great tournament for all.  With 2 volunteers managing registration for over 1,000 players we need more time to prepare and contact coaches and parents with incomplete registrations.  Thanks for your understanding and please contact statequalifer@georgiachess.org if you have any questions.  Since this tournament date and location has been posted for months in advance we hope the deadline change does not affect too many.

A beautiful day at Whitefield Academy - thanks to all our volunteers and host school for a fabulous event.  Our service projects were a big success - over 75 backpacks for schools in need, care packages & snack packs for the homeless.  

I was Chief TD at the Georgia Junior Invitational this past weekend (2 sections, HS and K-8). Working with kids often brings out the unexpected/remarkable. In the K-8 section, black was down a rook in the last round, but fought valiantly with a king, queen and pawns versus a king, queen, rook and pawns. So much so that after much maneuvering, white inadvertently made a quiet move, losing tempo and allowing the black king to come down and check the white king on the 2nd rank with a forced draw by repetition in the offing. Any coach watching grimaced with chagrin as white allowed for a drawn position, being a full rook up [like I did recently when, after getting up to answer the phone and leaving my piping hot dinner en prise, the dog ate it within the 5 second delay it took for me to realize what had happened]. Then, the unexpected/remarkable happened: After pondering the position, black, out of nowhere, stopped the clock and extended his hand, resigning. Everyone looked on in sheer astonishment. I was perhaps the first to say out loud: "What? You had a forced draw!" "I know," he replied confidently. "I do not feel I deserved it.," muttering inaudibly about something that had happened earlier in the game. I guess it was why he felt that way, possibly what it was that caused him to be a rook down in the first place, yielding a sure lost position to a player who hadn't lost a game. Was it good sportsmanship, honor, a coach's nightmare,
the vagaries of youth, or just a plain "??" (terrible) move? That's for you to decide. For his visibly stunned opponent, he went on to a 4.0 score (3 wins, 2 draws) out of 5, in a 3 way tie for first place, 3rd place on tie breaks (a 4th grader). It came down to the last game of the last round in each section before a winner was determined and there were many good games and exciting finishes throughout the weekend. 

The deadline to register for the scholastic MLK tournament is Wednesday, Jan 16th. Also registration for the Feb 9th K-8 Team State Qualifier will be up next week...parents will be able to register their child and coaches/team parents will be able to register (and pay) for a team.

IM Irina Krush's loss with the white pieces yesterday came back to haunt her. In the rapid tie-breakers she lost the first game to WGM Huang Qian and could only draw the second, so her tournament is over. Also falling were GM Tatiana Kosintseva (2515, Russia) and GM Natalia Zhukova (2451, Ukraine). Tatiana lost to her older sister, Nadezha. Their first set of rapid games was split; Nadezha won the opener, but Tatiana came back to win the second one. In the second set of rapid games, Nadezha again won the first one, but this time held a draw in the second. Meanwhile Zhukova, who won a fine game yesterday to send her match to the tie-breakers, lost the first rapid game to WGM Ju Wenjun, and drew the second. So now the Quarter-Final matches are set. They are:
 
GM Antoaneta Stefanova (2491, Bulgaria) vs. GM Marie Sebag (2521, France)
WGM Ju Wenjun (2501, China) vs. WGM Huang Qian (2465, China)
GM Xue Zhao (2565, China) vs. GM Dronavalli Harika (2512, India)
IM Anna Ushenina (2452, Ukraine) vs. GM Nadezha Kosintseva (2539, Russia)
 
In the Semi-Finals, the winner of Stefanova - Sebag will meet the winner of the Ju - Huang match, and the winner of  Xue - Harika will meet the winner of the Ushenina - Kosintseva match.

-Scott Parker

Tonight's GCA Board Meeting is rescheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 28 from 7-9pm at the North Georgia Chess Center

Class Championship 2012 results

Five of the eight round 3 matches have been decided:
 
GM Stefanova Antoaneta (2491, Bulgaria) 2-0 over GM Monica Socko (2445, Poland)
IM Anna Ushenina (2452, Ukraine) 1.5-0.5 over WGM Natalija Pogonina (2478, Russia) GM Zhao Xue (2565, China) 1.5-0.5 over IM Mariya Muzychuk (2476, Ukraine)
GM Dronavalli Harika (2512, India) 1.5-0.5 over IM Lela Javakhishvili (2455, Georgia)
GM Marie Sebag (2521, France) 2-0 over IM Alisa Galliamova (2468, Russia)
 
Unfortunately, America IM Irina Krush (2470) could not manage to at least draw with the white pieces against WGM Huang Qian (2465, China), and their match is heading to the rapid games tie-breakers. Krush has played very well with the white pieces in this tournament, but not today. Sisters and GM's Tatiana (2515) and Nadezha (2539) Kosintseva of Russia drew again today, and they will also be heading for the tie-breakers. The best game of the day was the 93 move, must win effort of Russian GM Natalia Zhukova (2451) against Chinese WGM Ju Wenjun (2501). A sharp opening and middle game evolved into an ending where Zhukova had a Queen against Ju's Bishop and Knight. Ju constructed a fortress, but after much maneuvering Zhukova managed to breach it, and that match, too heads to the rapid games tie-breaker.

-Scott Parker

The first of the two classical games of round 3 is now in the books for all players, and the sole American left, IM Irina Krush (2470), is looking good. She defeated WGM Huang Qian (2565, China) from the black side of a Nimzo-Indian Defense in 57 moves. If she doesn't lose with White tomorrow, she'll move on to round four against the winner of GM Natalija Zhukova (2451, Ukraine) and WGM Ju Wenjun (2501, China). Ju won their first game today, coincidentally also in 57 moves, but Zhukova will have the white pieces in the rematch.