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Chess Life Online 2009 July Kaufman on the Early Rounds of the World Senior
Chess Life Online 2009 July Kaufman on the Early Rounds of the World Senior | Kaufman on the Early Rounds of the World Senior |
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| By GM Larry Kaufman | |
| October 29, 2009 | |
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Most of the favorites won their first two games in the World Senior Championship (October 27-November 11), with the notable exception that in the Women's section, top rated Nona Gaprindashvilli, who was Women's World Champion for 17 years, lost quite badly in round two. I won both my games quite quickly, the first with a pretty queen sacrifice (too bad Jerry Hanken is no longer with us, he would have loved it), and the second in just 14 moves, despite playing Black against a 2200 rated opponent. Ed. Note- Larry also won his third round game: As for the other Americans, there are indeed eight of us, although Dan Mayers didn't make it here, but we have IM James Sherwin starting with two wins. Most players under age 60 won't know Sherwin except perhaps as the first victim in Bobby Fischer's "My 60 Memorable Games", but he was among the top players in the U.S. from about 1953 to 1966, frequently finishing third or fourth in the U.S. Championship. Despite his age (76) and low rating (2236) he is apparently serious about the tournament, as he brought a GM trainer. He's been living in England for over a decade now but retains his U.S. citizenship and chess affiliation. The two other American masters here are Jude Acers, who held GM Gutman to a draw in round two. Eduard Zelkind had 1 point after two rounds, having lost a tough game to GM Klovans in round 2. The other American players are Leonid Bondar, Hans Morrow, Natalya Zelkind, and Duante Catania. The total turnout of about 200 is way down from last year, when it was about 300 in the men's group and another thirty or so in the women's. I'm told this is mainly due to the fact that there are far more German chessplayers than Italian chessplayers. The location is a rather remote small village, but it is very scenic as we are completely surrounded by mountains! Jude Acers is quite happy about having to walk a mile or so to his hotel in this great environment, but I am not so lucky as my hotel is several miles away, too far to walk. Read Larry's initial thoughts on defending his title on CLO, check out the official website here , and you can also watch the top 30 boards online on the live games link. |
