Play Long And Checkmate

My Dad Was My Hero

by Brian Rountree

I'll always love you.  I was thinking about you driving home from work tonight.  I thought about you on Wednesday, when you were ill, and I had no idea.  I thought about my two cats that I had years ago, and felt that you might go soon, and wanted to visit you again this year, as I didn't get a chance to tell you how much you meant to me, except for that one time when I graduated from college.  I was hoping you'd make it another year.  I'm sorry you had to go 20 years younger than your father.  You will be missed, but you will always with me.  And lastly, you were a good man, and that had a profound effect on who I am today.  I wish I could have said one last goodbye, one last conversation, one last get-together.  Bye, Dad.

John Byrd Rountree

April 3 1941 - February 28, 2015

Game Of The Week

It has been a bit of a sad week hearing about Brian Rountree's father dying.  Brian is a good friend, a loyal reader, and a fellow officer of the Colorado Springs Chess Club.  I would like to extend my sympathies to him.  My dad is the main reason I play chess today.

We also lost Leonard Nimoy this past week, who played chess as well.  His character, Spock, was a chess master on the TV series Star Trek.

I was not a big fan of the Star Trek TV show, since it was before my time.  However, I did enjoy the movies that came out in the 80s.  So, I began to think about who at the chess club would fill the roles on the USS Enterprise.  Here is my idea:

• Captain Kirk (Commanding Officer) = Paul Anderson
• Spock (Science Officer) = Jeff Fox
• Scotty (Chief Engineer) = Buck Buchanan
• Ensign Chekov (Navigator) = Brian Rountree
• Lieutenant Uhura (Communication Officer) = Shirley Herman
• Dr McCoy (Chief Medical Officer) = Paul Covington
• Lieutenant Sulu (Helmsman) = Joe Pahk
• Data (Chief Operations Officer) = Dean Brown
• Quark (Bar Owner) = Alex Freeman
• Wesley Crusher (Starfleet Cadet) = Daniel Herman
• Redshirt Character (Always Dies) = Mark McGough

Of course, we saw that they did play chess on the Enterprise.  And we know Kirk beat Spock.  But if Kirk had to play Scotty, I think it would have gone something like this:

Black to move

Play Long And Checkmate

[Event "Cabin Fever Reliever"]
[Site "https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/"]
[Date "2009.02.10"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Buchanan, Buck"]
[Black "Anderson, Paul"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A10"]
[WhiteElo "2000"]
[BlackElo "1960"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2009.02.10"]
[TimeControl "1800"]

1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. Nf3 c6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. O-O Nh6 8. d3 O-O 9. Bf4 a6 10. Rc1 Nf5 11. Qb3 e6 12. Bg5 Qa5 13. Bd2 Qb4 14. Qxb4 Nxb4 15. Na4 Nc6 16. Nb6 Rb8 17. Bc3 Nfd4 18. Nxd4 Nxd4 19. Rfe1 Rd8 20. a4 Bd7 21. a5 Nb3 22. Bb4 Nxc1 23. Rxc1 Bc6 24. b3 Bd4 25. Bc5 Bxc5 26. Rxc5 Rd6 27. f4 Rbd8 28. d4 Bb5 29. Kf2 Rc6 30. b4 Kf8 31. e3 Ke7 32. Bf1 Bxf1 33. Kxf1 Kd6 34. Ke2 f6 35. Na4 Re8 36. Nc3 Rxc5 37. bxc5+ Kc6 38. Kd3 e5 39. e4 exd4 40. Kxd4 dxe4 41. Nxe4 Rd8+ 42. Kc4 f5 43. Nc3 Rd2 44. h4 Rc2 0-1

https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=100139

This Week In Chess

On February 24th, the Colorado Springs Chess Club finished the February Flash (4SS, G/24 d/5, $10 entry).  11 players joined.  Father and son battled for the top prize with the older generation taking home the glory.

Here are the results:

Tot Rtng Name Prize

3.5 1708 Duwayne Langseth $29.00 1st
3.0 1740 Rhett Langseth $20.00 U1800
2.5 1923 Earle P Wikle
2.5 1880 Paul Douglas Anderson
2.0 2047 Gunnar James Andersen
2.0 1556 Brian John Rountree $15.00 U1600
1.0 1909 Jeff Fox
1.0 1624 Mark McGough
1.0 1400 Dean W Brown
0.5 1666 Benjamin Maye
0.5 1511 David Silva

Chess Student

by Holly Nichols

I work with international high school age students who earn the opportunity to study in the US for a school year.  This opportunity is a very competitive scholarship through the Department of State.  The students come to school for one school year, live in an American host family and attend the local high school.

One of our applicants, a boy from Armenia, is an avid chess player and I would love to find a host for him that shares this interest and could help facilitate this hobby.

Host families can be married or single, with or without children in the home.  The students are covered by medical insurance and they receive a monthly spending money allowance.  The host volunteers to provide a bed (the student can share a room with a host sibling, but needs their own bed), meals and a nurturing home environment.

I am writing to see if you might consider hosting this student or might be willing to pass this information on to others in the chess community so they might learn about our need for a host family!

This student is coming in August, to spend the next school year, but we are needing to find a host as soon as possible in order to get him into an American school and finalize his placement.

I live here in Colorado Springs and can be reached using the contact information below!  I can be reached anytime for questions or interest in this student or in our program and can provide more details about this student to anyone interested!

Holly Nichols, hollyenichols@gmail.com
Regional Coordinator, World Link, Inc.
www.worldlinkinc.org
719-445-6USA
806-577-9533