Posts Tagged Michael Adams
Gibraltar Master Class
Jan 30
Back To School
Jan 20
The Chess in Schools and Communities Charity is an integral part of the London Classic event and has made great strides in it’s short existence, having introduced an ever growing number of teachers in many schools.
In the spirit of this, I read in Chess Magazine that Malcolm Pein had made a visit to Scott Lake Elementary School in Miami, a school whose chess club has performed well in schools’ competitions at National level under chess coach Cheryl Polite and Principal Valerie Ward. As we were dodging the English winter with some holiday time in Florida after the LCC I asked him if it would be useful for me to do the same. Malcolm visited in May of 2011 along with Jeb Bush, Jr. through whom Malcolm had learned about this school and who also stopped by to watch my attempt. Malcolm had warned me that a couple of the students were quite strong: fortunately I did not get to find out as they had since graduated. The present batch of kids did keep me pretty busy however, both in terms of the chess and also from a physical point of view as the simul was a little hard on the knees as the boards in the middle had the lowest table I ever encountered in a simul, great for little ‘uns but a little tougher for me even though I’m not a giant!
I decided to demonstrate my game against Kotronias from 1992 hoping to inspire another generation of Marshall players!
It seemed to go down okay despite being played long before my audience was born. I then finished with the simul against the students. I brought over a 2010 London Classic program signed by all the players plus 2 impressive bonus signatures of Kasparov and Korchnoi to award for the best game which was secured by Davar Francois, congratulations Davar, keep up the good work!
Dinner at Providence
Oct 25
Just prior to the start of the Metropolitan International in LA this August, organiser Ankit Gupta treated guests to what would have to rank as the best ‘Chess Dinner’ I have had the pleasure of attending at Providence in Hollywood. We were lavished with a 6 course tasting menus with matched wines. A picture is worth a thousand calories, so here are a selection of photos from the tournament’s official photographer Betsy Dynako
Photo Credits:
Of Course My Horse
Sep 18
Too soon after the conclusion of the British, Tara and I jumped on a plane to LA. Ankit Gupta, the organiser, had persuaded me, rather against my better judgement to act as instructor at a 4-day Chess camp. As I had never done anything remotely similar before, this was to say the least somewhat a daunting prospect not aided by a severe lack of preparation time. It was an interesting and highly educational experience (at least for me – not sure about the students) but in general didn’t go too badly apart from a sticky period towards the end of day 3 when I was running a bit low on material.
After a tough simul the following day and some whirlwind sightseeing it was time for the tournament with the common US timetable of 9 games in 5 days. I wasn’t too optimistic about surviving the demanding schedule as I was still having problems with jet lag and was a little fatigued.
A couple of lucky breaks early on changed the dynamic of the event. My first game began (I was Black) 1.d2-d4 Ng8-f6 2.c2-c4 e7-e6 3.g2-g3 d7-d5 4.Ng1-f3 d5xc4 5.Bf1-g2 a7-a6 6.0-0 Nb8-c6 7.Nb1-c3 Bf8-e7 (7..Ra8-b8 is the main theoretical move). Now 8.Qd1-a4 would have been errr.. a bit awkward but my adversary was hypnotized by my incompetence and passed up the opportunity. I wasn’t even aware of what had happened until someone mentioned it to me the following day.
I also had a bit of luck in the 3rd round. I actually got a good opening in this game but after slowly but surely dissipating my advantage I got away with a bad oversight around the time control:
After this things continued to go my way and I finished with a hefty 7.5/9 and took home a dazzling trophy.
Many thanks to Ankit for all his efforts in putting together this excellent event and I wish him the best of luck with his plans for the future.
Photo Credits:
England’s GM Michael Adams won the 1st Metropolitan International chess tournament on Sunday in Los Angeles, finishing clear first a full point ahead of the field. This video recap features interviews with GM Adams, GM Mesgen Amanov, GM Loek van Wely, GM Varuzhan Akobian, IM Jack Peters, and IM Andranik Matikozyan.
The tournament was organized by NM Ankit Gupta for Metropolitan Chess.
On August 17th, coincidentally former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik’s 100th birthday, 84 players began play in the strongest chess tournament in Southern California in over 2 decades.
Seattle Master Joshua Sinanan talks about his experience playing against GM Michael Adams.
Metropolitan Chess held the 1st Metropolitan International Chess Tournament in Los Angeles, August 17-21. 10 Grandmasters and over 50 titled players comprise the field, making it the strongest tournament in Southern California in over two decades.
This video contains interviews with Organizer Ankit Gupta, GM Michael Adams, GM Loek van Wely and GM Melikset Khachiyan.
