Game Of The Week
This week’s game is another example of the close-but-no-cigar ratings dilemma I mentioned a couple weeks ago when I beat National Master Josh Bloomer at a rating of 2197 (https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2006/03/gimme-three-points.html).
I got some feedback from a couple people with differing views about whether that counts as beating a master. I was hoping for more, but since I got both sides covered, I guess that is good enough. So, in an effort to not offend any of my readership, I am going to say they are both right.
How can I come down on both sides of this issue? Well, it is not easy riding the fence, but here goes.
I like Josh Smith’s comments about “once a master, always a master” because master is more than just a ranking, it is an official title given out by the USCF.
As I understand it, the USCF grants 2 master titles; National Master (NM) is awarded for achieving a rating over 2200, and Life Master (LM) is awarded for holding that rating for 300 games. There is also the possibility of an Original Life Master (OLM), which exists because some Life Master titles were given out before the current criteria were in place.
In any case, I don’t think the USCF police come banging on your door trying to get your certificate back when you fall below the 2200 mark, but I don’t know for sure. You’d have to check with Josh on that one.
On the other hand, I like Tim’s comments because a player’s rating is an estimate of their playing strength. There is more satisfaction to beating a master in his prime than when his rating has dropped well below the master rank.
Of course, none of this helps for this week’s game against Alexander Gitis. There is no title for expert, and while Alexander has usually been in the expert ratings, the one time he was not was when I got a win.
 |
| Black to move |
Where Is The Expert Title When You Need One?
[Event "Hillside Fundraiser"]
[Site "https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/"]
[Date "2003.04.05"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Gitis, Alexander"]
[Black "Anderson, Paul"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "1995"]
[BlackElo "1734"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2003.04.05"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. g4 Bg6 5. h4 h6 6. e6 fxe6 7. Bd3 Bf7 8. Nf3 Nd7
9. Ne5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Qc7 11. f4 g6 12. c3 Bg7 13. Qf3 g5 14. hxg5 hxg5 15. Rxh8
Bxh8 16. Qh3 Bg7 17. Qh7 Kf8 18. Bg6 gxf4 19. Bxf7 Qxe5+ 20. Kf2 Kxf7 21. Qh2
Nf6 22. Qxf4 Qxf4+ 23. Bxf4 Nxg4+ 24. Kg3 Nf6 25. Nd2 Nh5+ 26. Kg4 Nxf4 27.
Kxf4 Bh6+ 28. Ke5 Bxd2 29. Rf1+ Kg6 30. Kxe6 Bg5 31. Kd7 Rh8 32. Rf2 Rh7 33.
Ke6 Rh3 34. Kd7 Re3 0-1
This Week In Chess
Tuesday April 11, 2006
On April 4, the CSCC had 21 members in attendance. In the USCF-rated ladder game (G90), Tom “the cat” Mullikin mauled Jerry “the mouse” Maier. The rest of the participants played in the single round-robin blitz tournament (G5). Here are the results:
Player Score
Josh Bloomer 14.0
Larry Conforti 13.0
Bill Whinemiller 12.5
Buck Buchanan 11.5
Paul Anderson 11.0
Joe Fromme 10.5
Joe Pahk 9.0
Gary Frenzel 8.0
Virgil McGuire 7.5
Horst Wolf 4.5
Mike Voight 4.5
Chris McCarty 3.0
Fred Eric Spell 3.0
Nathan Bowles 2.0
Kathy Schneider 0.0
CSCC Second Quarter Schedule
By Buck Buchanan
Here is the new quarterly schedule:
http://www.foxfrenchtranslations.com/cscc/schedule.html
I'm not sure everyone got this announcement, so here it is again just in case:
TOURNAMENT ANNOUNCEMENT
August 5 - 6, Manitou Springs CO: PIKES PEAK OPEN
5-SS, 40/90 and G/1 for rds 1-3, 40/2 and G/1 for rds 4-5. Manitou Springs City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs. One open section. EF $30 if rec'd by 8/3, $35 at site. $8 discount for juniors, seniors, unrated. Cash prizes per entries. Register 8:30 - 9:30, rds 10, 2:30, 7; 9, 3. CSCA required, OSA. Entries to Richard Buchanan, 844 B Prospect Place, Manitou Springs CO 80829. E-mail buckpeace@pcisys.net (No e-mail entries, please.) or phone (719) 685-1984. . COLORADO TOUR EVENT.
Colorado Closed and Chess Festival 2006 Results
By Dean Brown
Colorado Closed (Tour) (25 Mar - 2 Apr 2006)
Hammersmith, James 4.0
Ramirez, Robert W 3.5
Hughes, Tyler B 3.5
Canney, Randy C 3.5
Bloomer, Josh S 3.5
Wall, Brian D 3.0
Hamblin, James E 0.0
Colorado Closed Scholastic (Tour) (25 Mar - 2 Apr 2006)
Tarasov, Dmitriy 6.5
Herbst, Richard E 4.5
Zax, Jacob M 4.0
Crockett, Curtis P 4.0
Talmage, Garrick 3.0
Twerskoi, David 2.5
Nemekhbayar, Amarjin 2.0
Lehti, Dylan M 1.5
Tour Weekender Open (25-26 Mar 2006)
Robb, Morgan T 4.0
Dasgupta, Samik 3.0
Zupa, Daoud G 3.0
Stoneking, Jason M 3.0
Splichal, LaMoyne 2.5
Kulbacki, James E 2.5
Pineda, Andrew 2.5
Tsend-Ajush, Batmunkh 2.5
Doykos, Ted K 2.0
Carson, Anthea J 2.0
Fisher, Timothy M 2.0
Sotaridona, Leonardo 2.0
Grimm, Paul M 1.5
Mc Roberts, Holly J 1.5
Walker, Brian L 1.5
Fromme, Joseph T 1.5
Martinez, River 1.5
Powell, Terry 1.0
Peterson, Christofer 1.0
Santiago, Roderick 1.0
Mac Neil, James C 0.5
Tour Weekender U1400 (25-26 Mar 2006)
Rountree, Robert 3.5
Le, Thao Uyen 3.5
Sherman, Mikal James 3.0
Mullikin, Thomas 2.0
Lim, Hoang U 2.0
Schneider, Kathy A 2.0
Mc Allister, Leslie Anne 1.5
Johnson, Ken 1.5
Varney, Michael C 1.5
Koenig, Susan D 1.0
McMahon Swiss (1 Apr 2006)
Wallace, David A 3.5
Sotaridona, Leonardo 3.5
Stark, Nathan A 3.5
Peterson, Christofer 3.0
Splichal, LaMoyne 3.0
Stoneking, Jason M 3.0
Martinez, Norbert 3.0
Mc Roberts, Holly J 3.0
Aragon, Joseph R 3.0
Parish, Eric J 3.0
Wise, Frank 3.0
Sherman, Mikal James 3.0
Martinez, River 2.5
Mullikin, Thomas 2.5
Munafo, Michael James 2.0
Robb, Morgan T 2.0
Mauger, Joseph Patrick 2.0
Varney, Michael C 2.0
Rountree, Robert 2.0
Lim, Hoang U 2.0
Leeds-Tilley, Kyle M 2.0
Johnson, Ken 2.0
Webb, Jayson 2.0
Tsend-Ajush, Batmunkh 2.0
Delaware, Renae D 1.5
Carson, Anthea J 1.0
Powell, Terry 1.0
Schneider, Kathy A 0.5
Twerskoi, Vladislav 0.0
Quads (2 Apr 2006)
Mac Neil, James C 3.0
Johnston, Christopher 3.0
Collins, Timothy A 3.0
Leeds-Tilley, Kyle M 2.5
Lundstrom, Brad 2.0
Deakins, Natasha 2.0
Stoneking, Jason M 2.0
Varney, Michael C 2.0
Slates, Derek W 2.0
Rountree, Robert 1.5
Keyston, Ron 1.5
Sherman, Mikal James 1.5
Mc Roberts, Holly J 1.0
Parish, Eric J 1.0
Lim, Hoang U 1.0
Schaeffer, Jay M 0.5
Splichal, LaMoyne 0.5
Mullikin, Thomas 0.0
Schneider, Kathy A 0.0
Lowy, Ben 0.0
Comments From Email
Tim, Tuesday, April 04, 2006 4:56 PM
I think that the person's official rating has to be master strength to *really* say you beat a Master. There is no fuzzy logic here. The person is either a Master or not a master at the time you beat him. But if you tell a chess player something like, I beat a 2197, it basically carries the same weight.
Chess players are great at qualifying and having excuses and explanations for everything. "Well it says his rating is 1651, but he REALLY plays like he is 1842. Damn Sandbagger. Probably because of all those kids in Arizona who are underrated and that dang blasted internet..."
or
"Well he was rated 1997 at the time I played him, in 2001, but I have been watching the MSA website for them to do a rerating from 5 years ago to see if he was REALLY a 2004 rated player, which according to my calculations he was. The events were rated out of order at the time, so the whole system in messed up. In that case I beat an expert! I am gonna stay up until 3AM when they update the databases! Sweet!"
[Comment is about this newsletter: (https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2006/04/just-call-me-check.html)]
Upcoming Events
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