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Chess Life Online 2010 February Amateur Team Weekend Upon us!
Chess Life Online 2010 February Amateur Team Weekend Upon us! | Amateur Team Weekend Upon us! |
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| February 11, 2010 | |
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On President's Day Weekend (February 12-15), teams all across the country congregate for four National Amateur
Team Events, the USAT
North in Milwaukee, USAT
East in Parsippany, NJ, USAT South in Orlando and USAT West in
Woodland Hills, CA. These events include a number of titled and famous players. The average rating of all four players just has to be under the cap of 2200 USCF. CLO will bring you news from every event,
including US Chess Scoop videos from the US Amateur Team East, which will be
celebrating its Ruby Anniversary (40 years, corr.) Have something to
share about your participation in any of the four editions of this American
chess festival? Send stories, photos and/or games to CLO editor Jennifer Shahade at [email protected]. The East 
IM Dean Ippolito, Photo Betsy Dynako Chicago 2009
Dean, 31, is playing in his 25th straight Amateur Team. His first was on a Collins Kids team at seven years old. The Dean of Chess Academy is also bringing 14 teams. GM Robert Hess will lead another strong USATE team. Boards two and three, Andrew Ryba and Zachary Weiner are seniors at reigning National High school championship team Stuyvesant while board four, Richard Rivera is a freshman at college. Hess told CLO, " It's one of those events where you play to completely have fun. It's always great to see a GM play for fun, showing true love for the game. It also will be a great tournament for me, as my last was another team tournament- the World Team Championship. This one should be easier and much more relaxing." Robert did point out that his team, rated 2170, had high expectations, and that "Realistically, I will have to win practically all my games." 
GM Robert Hess at the World Team Championships, Photo Tony Rich for CCSCSL
A USATE team that would make the late Jerry Hanken smile is "Parting With the Lady." The team consists of Former USCF President WIM Beatriz Marinello of the US Chess Trust, USCF Executive Director Bill Hall, USCF Editorial Assistant and Clubs and Member Associate Alan Kantor and USCF Vice-president Ruth Haring. See Remembering YHR (Your Humble Reporter) in the February 2010 issue of Chess Life Magazine. Update: Another team led by a GM is Chess Mates NJ 2010. “Chess Mates NJ” a new chess business owned by Art Macaspac, is opening in Rahway, NJ in March 2010. Leonid Yudasin will be the resident instructor. The full squad line-up: Leonid Yudasin 2580 Art Macaspac 2120 Sam Barsky 2100 John Sheatsley 1757 SWarren Lohr 1710 See more details on the USATE event schedule here. West Take a look at all the teams pre-registered to play in the US Amateur Team West here. The lineups of the top two teams, Pawns on the Ground and ACA Monsters, are listed below. See tournament details on the website and keep an eye on John Hillery's Western Chess Blog for updates. Hillery will also contribute a wrap-up blog to CLO. 1 Pawns on the Ground (2198.5) JOEL BANAWA (2430) JOUAQUIN B BANAWA (2355) TAKASHI KUROSAKI (2156) DAVID BARAN (1853) MICHAEL AMBARTSOUMIAN (1828) 2 ACA Monsters (2197.3) IM ENRICO SEVILLANO (2552) IM ANDRANIK MATIKOZYAN (2547) ROB FELDSTEIN ESQ (2000) BRENDYN ESTOLAS (1690) North Check out pre-entries and look for updates from the North on the tournament site: http://iachess.org. Organizer Alex Betaneli told CLO, The snowstorm hit Wisconsin earlier this week, but by this weekend only the organizers from the East need to worry about the weather. True, the temperatures got to -2 last night, but this could never deter the solid folks of Midwest from playing Chess. The numbers are already higher than the total number of participants last year and the teams are quite a bit stronger! So far, the rating favorite is the Chicago Industrial Chess League with an average ELO of 2190. Their leader is the famous theoretician NM Steve Tennant. This is the first time since 1999 that the tournament will have two teams with Grandmasters: GM Gurevich joins forces with some of his strongest students, while GM Yermolinsky is making a drive from South Dakota to team up with Wisconsinites. IM Angelo Young is not going to miss any action and has a strong-looking team of friends. Also registered are powerful teams from Iowa and Indiana and we are waiting to hear from Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri! Enjoy the action! South Harvey Lerman, organizer of the US Amateur Team South told CLO that the top two teams to beat so far are, Piece Mongors II(2187.8) headed by Javad Maharramzade (2602) and Beasts from the Southeast (2174.0) headed by Jeffrey Haskel (2290). But don't count out the Larry Storch team (2143.5) of three old guys and a kid! Lerman said that a strong Miami team often just walks in to the event, but this year there's a rumor that they may not make it. Last year My Girl Is Pissed, from Miami won the event. The defending champions' team name refers to the fact that this year, like last, the US Amateur Team East overlaps with Valentine's Day. So a wise word to gentleman and ladies leaving your significant others at home for Amateur Team fun: Leave a box of chocolates before you go. Check CLO for wrap-ups of all the events and if you are playing on a team, CLO wants your perspectives for possible publication on the website! Send stories, photos and/or games to CLO editor Jennifer Shahade at [email protected]. |