Ju leads Futurity after three rounds

New Jersey Futurity International (7-11 July 2007)

Evan Ju leads the New Jersey International Futurity after three rounds of the tournament, beating IM Zlotnikov. He has now beaten two IMs and drawn a GM for an incredible performance rating of 2709.

Play continues everyday at 10am and 4pm at the Sheraton Parsippany hotel in Parsippany, New Jersey.

ROUND 3
White --- Black

Panchanathan 1-0 Simutowe

Ju 1-0 Zlotnikov

Yudasin 1-0 Ippolito

Zaitchik 1/2 Bartell

Molner 1/2 Erenburg

Current Crosstable

##.Name Rate........... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Tot Perf
.1 Zlotnikov 2367 ..... x = 0 . . . . . . = 1.0 2227 (-140)
.2 Panchanathan 2486 .. = x . . . . . . = 1 2.0 2584 (+98)
.3 Ju 2173 ............ 1 . x . . . . 1 = . 2.5 2709 (+536)
.4 Molner 2293 ........ . . . x . . = 0 = . 1.0 2319 (+26)
.5 Yudasin 2550 ....... . . . . x = = 1 . . 2.0 2555 (+5)
.6 Zaichik 2473 ....... . . . . = x = . . 1 2.0 2590 (+117)
.7 Bartell 2398 ....... . . . = = = x . . . 1.5 2439 (+41)
.8 Ippolito 2395 ...... . . 0 1 0 . . x . . 1.0 2205 (-190)
.9 Erenburg 2565 ...... . = = = . . . . x . 1.5 2317 (-248)
10 Simutowe 2421 ...... = 0 . . . 0 . . . x 0.5 2175 (-246)

The New Jersey State Chess Federation website has the games. Click here or the NJ Futurity link at the top of the NJSCF page.

Futurity Results, Round 2

New Jersey Futurity International (7-11 July 2007)

Evan Ju and GM Gennadi Zaichik lead after two rounds of the tournament, with one win and one draw each. Zaichik beat IM Amon Simutowe in an unbalaced endgame (2 Ns + B vs. R + B), and Ju drew with GM Sergey Erenburg, a game in which Erenburg sacked a piece in the middle game, for some promotion threats, but wasn't able to pull it off in an endgame where Ereburg has three pawns to Ju's bishop and pawn, and both players were very low on time. New Jersey Knockout IM Dean Ippolito rebounded with a win over fellow Knockout Mackenzie Molner.

Play continues everyday at 10am and 4pm at the Sheraton Parsippany hotel in Parsippany, New Jersey.

ROUND 2
White --- Black
Simutowe 0-1 Zaitchik
Bartell 1/2 Yudasin
Ippolito 1-0 Molner
Erenburg 1/2 Ju
Zlotnikov 1/2 Panchanathan

Current Crosstable

##.Name........... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total
.1 Zlotnikov ..... x = . . . . . . . =   1.0
.2 Panchanathan .. = x . . . . . . = .   1.0
.3 Ju ............ . . x . . . . 1 = .   1.5
.4 Molner ........ . . . x . . = 0 . .   0.5
.5 Yudasin ....... . . . . x = = . . .   1.0
.6 Zaichik ....... . . . . = x . . . 1   1.5
.7 Bartell ....... . . . = = . x . . .   1.0
.8 Ippolito ...... . . 0 1 . . . x . .   1.0
.9 Erenburg ...... . = = . . . . . x .   1.0
10 Simutowe ...... = . . . . 0 . . . x   0.5

The New Jersey State Chess Federation website has the games. Click here or the NJ Futurity link at the top of the NJSCF page.

Futurity Results, Round 1, Ju leads!

New Jersey Futurity International (7-11 July 2007)

Evan Ju leads after one round of the tournament. He beat IM Dean Ippolito, when Ippolito lost the exchange, and was down in the endgame with no compensation.

Play continues today at 10am and 4pm at the Sheraton Parsippany hotel in Parsippany, New Jersey.

ROUND 1
White --- Black
Zlotnikov 1/2 Simutowe
Panchanathan 1/2 Erenburg
Ju 1-0 Ippolito
Molner 1/2 Bartell
Yudasin 1/2 Zaitchik

Current Crosstable

##.Name........... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total
.1 Zlotnikov ..... x . . . . . . . . =   0.5
.2 Panchanathan .. . x . . . . . . = .   0.5
.3 Ju ............ . . x . . . . 1 . .   1.0
.4 Molner ........ . . . x . . = . . .   0.5
.5 Yudasin ....... . . . . x = . . . .   0.5
.6 Zaichik ....... . . . . = x . . . .   0.5
.7 Bartell ....... . . . = . . x . . .   0.5
.8 Ippolito ...... . . 0 . . . . x . .   0.0
.9 Erenburg ...... . = . . . . . . x .   0.5
10 Simutowe ...... = . . . . . . . . x   0.5

The New Jersey State Chess Federation website has the games. Click on the NJ Futurity link at the top of the page.

New Jersey Futurity International

The New Jersey Futurity International will take place July 7-11, 2007, at the Sheraton Parsippany Hotel, in Parsippany, New Jersey. It is a nine-round round robin, and is being directed by International Arbiter, Glenn Petersen. It is being organized by Michael Khodarkovsky, president of the Kasparov Chess Foundation, Chair of the International Affairs Committee of the USCF, and Chair of the Master Affairs Committee of the New Jersey State Chess Federation.

This tournament is sponsored by New Jersey State Chess Federation and the New Jersey based International Chess School.

The participants are:

01 Mikhail Zlotnikov .... 2367 IM USA
02 Magesh Panchanathan .. 2486 GM India
03 Evan Ju .............. 2173 NM USA
04 Mackenzie Molner ..... 2293 NM USA
05 Leonid Yudasin ....... 2550 GM Israel
06 Gennadi Zaichik ...... 2473 GM USA
07 Tom Bartell .......... 2398 FM USA
08 Dean Ippolito ........ 2395 IM USA
09 Sergey Erenburg ...... 2565 GM Israel
10 Amon Simutowe ........ 2421 IM Zambia
All ratings are FIDE.

The average rating is 2412.1, making it (unofficially) a Category 7 tournament.

Opening Ceremony and First Round starts on Saturday, July 7, at 3:00pm. Time control is G/90 + 30 seconds per move.

First Round Pairings:

• Zlotnikov - Simutowe
• Panchanathan - Erenburg
• Ju - Ippolito
• Molner - Bartell
• Yudasin - Zaichik

Participants Evan Ju, Mackensie Molner, Dean Ippolito, Tom Bartell, and organizer Michael Khodarkovsky are all members of the New Jersey Knockouts. We wish them the best in the tournament!

Preview of Round 1

The four GMs all clash in the first round! So do the four members of the Knockouts! It should make for an exciting day.

By my reckoning, Yudasin and Zaichik last played in the 33rd National Chess Congress in 2002, where they drew in the last round to take a share of first place. They also played four times in the 1980s in the former USSR where Yudasin won two, Zaichik won one, with one draw.

It doesn't appear as if Panchanathan and Erenburg have ever played. However, at the Chicago Open this year, Erenburg beat two of the USA's rising stars, IM Josh Friedel and IM David Pruess in 26 and 25 moves respectively. Both Friedel and Pruess play for the USCL's San Francisco Mechanics.

Knockouts Evan Ju and Dean Ippolito played to a draw in the last round of the 2006 New Jersey Open, a tournament that Ju won. Evan also just won the US Cadet Championship last month.

Tom Bartell just beat GM Yury Shulman at the World Open. And Molner had a great start at the US Junior Closed last month, and finished with an even score. I wouldn't be surprised if they have played in the past, but I didn't find anything on it.

Watch this page for tournament updates!

Knockout schedule for 2007 season

The United States Chess League has posted its schedule for the 2007 season. The New Jersey Knockouts open the season against the Queens Pioneers on August 27th. The NJKOs entire 10 week schedule is as follows.

Mon Aug 27th - 7:00: Knockouts vs Queens Pioneers
Wed Sep 5th - 8:00: Tennessee Tempo vs Knockouts
Wed Sep 12th - 7:15: Baltimore Kingfishers vs Knockouts
Wed Sep 19th - 7:00: Queens Pioneers vs Knockouts
Wed Sep 26th - 7:00: Knockouts vs New York Knights
Wed Oct 3rd - 7:00: Knockouts vs Carolina Cobras
Mon Oct 8th - 7:00: Philadelphia Inventors vs Knockouts
Wed Oct 17th - 7:00: Knockouts vs Boston Blitz
Wed Oct 24th - 7:15: Knockouts vs Baltimore Kingfishers
Wed Oct 31st - 7:30: New York Knights vs Knockouts
- Team listed first has white on board 1 and 3.

Some observations about the schedule.

1. The season starts with a white, then three blacks in a row on board 1 and board 3.
2. Two matches against the Pioneers, the Knights, and the Kingfishers.
3. We have only two matches against a team from the Western division.
   

The schedule for the entire USCL can be found here.

UPDATE: USCL changed the schedule so that the Knockouts do not start with three successive blacks. The schedule above is revised to reflect that.

Prepare to be floored...

The New Jersey Knockouts are coming...

The KOs are a new team in the United States Chess League. The team's debut season starts August 27, 2007.

In early August, watch this blog for player profiles, previews, and reports on matches.

PREPARE TO BE FLOORED!