GM Ben Finegold's Blog: Musings of a Grandmaster
Ben's Blog: Spring Spice Cup Begins
Sat., 3/13/2010 - 11:47 am — ben2600
Hello avid blog readers! The Spring Spice Cup starts today in beautiful Lubbock, TX. The event is a ten-player RR, with possible GM and IM norms. At the moment, the belief is 6 points will secure a GM norm, and, for Darwin Yang and Eric Hansen, the only FMs, each will need 4 points to earn an IM norm.
The event starts today at the beautiful campus of Texas Tech University. The games will be played in the English building. Opening ceremonies start today, March 13, 2010, at 1PM CST. I had to think a bit about the "CST", as tonight we move the clocks forward an hour!
Games will be broadcast live at www.monroi.com and there will also be moves and some analysis at Susan Polgar's blog: http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/ ...also, I will be blogging like crazy every day!
I am paired with IM Irina Krush in round 1, but, she will be arriving late tonight from another chess event, so, we will postpone the game, and likely play Tuesday.
Here are my pairings:
Rd 1 - IM Irina Krush-Finegold
Rd 2 - Finegold-GM Julio Becerra
Rd 3 - IM Gergely Antal-Finegold
Rd 4 - Finegold-IM Dean Ippolito
Rd 5 - IM Davorin Kuljasevic-Finegold
Rd 6 - Finegold-GM Jesse Kraai
Rd 7 - FM Eric Hansen-Finegold
Rd 8 - Finegold-FM Darwin Yang
Rd 9 - IM Gabor Papp-Finegold
Ben
Ben's Blog: Texas Trip and Skokie Sacrifices
Mon., 3/8/2010 - 8:06 pm — ben2600
Yo yo yo!!
Time for me to earn my salary, as I go to two big tournaments.
First, the strong Spring Spice Cup in Lubbock, TX.
Each year, SPICE puts on two strong tournaments, The Spring Spice Cup, and the Spice Cup (usually in September). The Spring Spice Cup is usually a Category 8-10 RR, whilst the Spice Cup in the Fall features at least two strong RR tournaments, with the "A" group average rating over 2625.
The 10 player RR features the following heavyweights (in drawing of lots order):
1. Irina Krush
2. Gergely Antal
3. Davorin Kuljasevic
4. Eric Hansen
5. Gabor Papp
6. Julio Becerra
7. Dean Ippolito
8. Jesse Kraai
9. Darwin Yang
10. Ben Finegold
The 2010 Spring Spice Cup takes place March 13-19, 2010.
After the last round in Lubbock, I will fly to Chicago for the 25th NACA Masters. The tournament is a nine-round Swiss, with at least 5 GMs, 5 IMs, and other assorted FIDE rated players. There will be GM and IM norm opportunities, and I expect 20-25 players overall. The NACA FIDE Masters will be held March 20-24, in Skokie, IL.
So far, here are the confirmed participants:
- GM Atanas Kolev (BUL) - 2571
- GM Ben Finegold (USA) - 2531
- GM Mesgen Amanov (TKM) - 2482
- IM Michael Mulyar (USA) - 2408
- IM Angelo Young (PHI) - 2334
- IM Arjun Vishnuvardhan (IND) - 2285
- FM Gauri Shankar (IND) - 2295
- Siddharth Ravichandran (IND) - 2458
- Adarsh Jayakumar (USA) - 2109
- Janyl Tilenbaeva (KGZ) - 2060
- Mariano Acosta (USA) - 2180
- Jose Perez Reisler (PUR) - 1900
- Timur Aliyev (ISR) - 2250
I will be back Friday, March 26th, just in time to see IM John Donaldson's great leacture, Saturday March 27!
Ben
Ben's Blog: Keepin' It Real
Tue., 2/23/2010 - 10:40 pm — ben2600
Hey avid blog readers! Sorry I have not posted in a while, but, I WAS BUSY! I mean, I was involved in many projects pertaining to chess and The CCSCSL.
A lot of people have been asking about my schedule, and, although they will still ask after I post it on ICC, Facebook, and the blog, well, I will post it anyways!
March 12-19: Spring Spice Cup, Lubbock, TX
March 20-24: NACA Masters, Skokie, IL
April 10-11: Saint Louis Open, Saint Louis, MO
May 13-25: U.S. Championship, Saint Louis, MO
June 11-13: National Open, Las Vegas, NV
July 31-August 8: U.S. Open, Irvine, CA
I will also be one of the commentators for the U.S. Women's Championship and U.S. Junior Championship, tentatively scheduled for the middle of July, held concurrently. Should be fun!
I have been working out and eating right the last 5 weeks, and have lost 18 pounds as a result. I have over 100 more to go! Hopefully, I will have lost 40+ by the U.S. Championship in May.
Peace.
Ben's Blog: Weight Update
Sat., 2/6/2010 - 3:30 am — ben2600
It has been a little more than 2 weeks, and so far I have lost 12 pounds. I go to the health club everyday, and work the treadmill for one hour. I listen to music and watch tv whilst I work out, so the time passes pretty quickly. I have been sticking to my diet of fruits, veggies, rice, and soup, and that has been easy as well.
I have been receiving a lot of congratulatory texts and emails due to being on the cover of the recent Chess Life magazine. Also, I am featured on the back cover of the latest issue of "New In Chess" magazine, in the column "checking in."
GM Robert Hess is coming to the club today at 2PM, where he will lecture and give a simultaneous exhibition. Robert was the runner-up in last years U.S. Chess Championship, and was Board 5 for the Silver Medal winning U.S. team in Turkey at the World Team Championships.
I hope to see many of our members later today, and maybe someone can give Robert a run for his money in the simultaneous!
Ben's Blog: Chess Life Cover
Mon., 2/1/2010 - 2:34 pm — mwilmering
The February 2010 issue of "Chess Life" magazine features yours truly on the cover, and I wrote a 6+ page article on my career and my GM norms. Chess Life Online, also known as CLO, has put the content on the USCF Website.
In other news, the GMs from the Silver Medal Winning World Team Championship have and will come to the CCSCSL over the next couple of months. Sunday, January 31, GM Yury Shulman lectured for over 2.5 hours, and everyone enjoyed his stories and games from the WTC. Saturday, February 6, GM Robert Hess will lecture at 2PM.
Arrive early and get a good seat, and use the lessons learned for our next event, The 2nd Annual Metro Saint Louis Class Championship held February 13.