Countdown to the 1997 Interplay US Chess Championships

The 1997 Interplay U.S. Chess Championships:
Site Report

IA Carol Jarecki

International Arbiter Carol Jarecki is one of the most respected tournament directors in the world. The 1997 Interplay US Championships is also recognized by the world chess authority, FIDE, and part of Ms. Jarecki's duties are to ensure that the games follow international tournament requirements as well as American ones. Here she discusses how the local Arizona media are reacting to the presence of the country's top chessplayers.

Thursday, August 28th, Phoenix, AZ (after round 5)

Today chess hit the newspapers with large photo layouts and four different articles. One reporter even checked out the active Phoenix school chess programs for additional input. That, of course, alerted the TV media. Channel 5 arrived to do some filming for the 6 and 10 o'clock news presentations.

The young women were the primary targets of the cameras and the press seems to have more-or-less ignored the men. Nice, large, front-page color photo of 13-year-old Irina Krush making a move against 16-year-old Jennifer Shahade. Even the journalist's photo of the large room filled with concentrating chess players was taken from the women's end with Anna Khan in the foreground. All the games are played in one room which is very nice for spectators, players and arbiters, too.

Nick deFirmian (black) had a close call and a bit of luck in this evening's game against Alex Shabalov. Down to his last two minutes in the first time control he watched Shabolov use up his eight-minute advantage until they both had only seconds left. At the 37th move he didn't push his clock button down enough to start Alex's clock although he did stop his own. This might have given Alex the extra seconds to make time control but the flag fell on the 39th giving Nick a well-deserved win. By the way, Nick becomes a proud father on Dec. 18th.

The last game, Belakovskaia-Frenklakh, ended shortly before 8:30 so everyone gets a long evening to enjoy. Quite a difference from yesterday when three games went almost to the end of the third time control. The last one ended with a 50-move claim by Zamora with both his and Benjamin's flags hanging. The claim was denied because it was one move short. Zamora was docked half his time--difficult to do with non-digital clocks--and Benjamin received three extra minutes. Zamora's constant practice at blitz chess served him well as he was able to get in the 50th before his flag fell.

Our thanks to Ms. Jarecki for taking time from her duties as Arbiter at the event to give us a look from the participants' point of view!

In her first report from the site, Ms. Jarecki tells us about conditions for players and staff, and explains the real reason she was outside spraypainting chess set in 103 degree heat before the first round of the event.
More feature articles and annotated games
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