There is no question that the electronic age, with its computers,
chessplaying silicon monsters, internet and the like, has forever
changed the way we look at the royal game, and indeed all human
endeavors. As a result, some lament the decline of chess, while
some find new challenges in it. So far, however, one constant has
been the weekend Swiss System tournament. Last month, one of
the largest tournaments ever held in New England, situated in the
northeastern United States, was held.

Glenn Budzinski was there and filed the following report for The
Chess Cafe...


"Chess for Dollars" 
by Glenn Budzinski

Long-weekend tournament chess in the US often can be compared
to Edward Lasker's book "Chess for Fun and Chess for Blood".
The "Chess for Fun" variety may still be quite serious chess
nonetheless; players participate in a tournament such as the U.S.
Amateur Team more for the camaraderie than the trophy and clock
prizes. 

Most holiday weekend tournaments, however, probably fall into
the second category, "Chess for Blood", which is akin, in many
ways, to the former television show "Bowling for Dollars". In
chess, like the TV bowling show, the higher you score, the better
your chances to win a cash prize. And, given the costs associated
with a three- or four-day tournament (sometimes longer) for
accomodations and meals, not to mention entry fees usually of
$100 or more, the pressures on a player to recoup expenses by
winning a cash prize inevitably lead to "Chess for Blood".

For the player entering one of these high stakes tournaments, the
location of the playing site is usually secondary. After all, playing
halls and hotel rooms tend to all look the same anyway, if one
never leaves the building. 

But, occasionally, even the inside of the venue is different enough
to be noticed by the tournament player. Such was the case at the
Foxwoods Open, held Easter weekend from 1  4 April at the
Foxwoods Gambling Casino located in southeastern Connecticut in
the U.S. Although a few tournaments every year are held in Nevada
where gambling is king, most notably the National Open in Las
Vegas and the Western Open in Reno, a casino is still an unusual
enough of a playing site to draw the attention of even the most
devoted chessplayer. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Foxwoods, it is owned by the
Mashantucket Pequot (native American Indian) tribe and is,
believe it or not, the world's largest casino (and also probably
Connecticut's biggest single employer, with a payroll of about
10,000 employees). The complex includes a shopping mall, movie
theater, a couple of dozen restaurants and a conference center, to
take chess players' minds off the 64 squares. The tournament itself
was held in the Grand Ballroom, a massive room worthy of its
name, with high ceilings and crystal chandeliers. 

One way or the other, the big attraction for chessplayers at
Foxwoods was the opportunity to perhaps strike it rich, whether
over the board or at the gaming tables. The tournament itself was
sponsored in part and directed by the Continental Chess
Association, perhaps the most active tournament organizer in
America. Its best known production is probably the annual World
Open held the first week in July in Philadelphia. Given the lure of
the casino, coupled with a projected tournament prize fund of
$50,000 - $30,000 guaranteed - meant that, in all likelihood, the
sharks would be out in full force.

When all was said and done, more than 460 players turned out,
making this one of the largest tournaments ever held in New
England. There were eight sections, divided by USCF Elo rating.
Getting an exact count proved a bit tricky, since either a three- or
four-day option could be chosen in each section, and re-entries
were permitted in all but the Open Section. (For those of you
unfamiliar with this unique concept, it works more or less as
follows: in the event that you lose the first game or two, you have
the option of re-entering for an additional fee, starting over, for
example, with a half-point bye instead of a zero for a loss. It keeps
you interested, in the tournament and generates more revenue for
the organizer.) Anyway, at least according to our reckoning, there
were 73 total participants in the Open, including about a dozen
grandmasters; the Under-2200 section contained about 45 players;
84 were in the Under-2000; 70 in the Under-1800 group; 67
Under-1600; 39 Under-1400; 48 Under-1200 and there were 25
players who were Unrated.

Of the six players who tied for first in the Open with 5« - 1«
scores, five were GMs: Alexander Goldin, Gregory Kaidanov,
Alex Yermolinsky, Alex Wojtkiewicz, and Igor Novikov, in
addition to Senior Master Angelo Young. Each took home $2,021.
Among those who didn't cash in were GMs Alexander Ivanov
(who lost three of his first five games and withdrew), Alexander
Shabalov and Georgy Timoshenko. 

As an observer, it was impossible to cover all the players and all
the games. However, one of the players that caught our attention
was eight-year-old Louiza Livschitz from Michigan. So small of
stature that she either had to kneel on the chair or stand up in order
to play her moves, she was hard not to notice. Rated 1156, Louiza
is a member of two U.S. Chess Federation Top 20 lists: Girls
Under Age 13 and Boys and Girls Age 8 and Under. At Foxwoods,
she entered the Under-1400 section and even stood at 3« - « after
her first four games! Here is one of her best games from the
tournament.

White: L.Livschitz Black: Ballman 1999 Foxwoods Open
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.e4 e6 6.cd5 cd5 7.Bd3 Ne7
8.O-O O-O 9.Re1 Nbc6 10.Bc2 a6 11.Bf4 Qb6 12.Na4 Qa7 13.Be3
b6 14.Qd2 Rd8 15.Bh6 Bh8 16.e5 Nf5 17.Bf5 ef5 18.Bg5 Re8
19.Bf6 Bd7 20.Qh6 Ne7 21.Ng5 1-0 [This is a pretty remarkable
effort for an 
eight-year-old!]
 
The hustle and bustle of the action at the gambling tables coupled
with the large prize fund seems to have made for a good time for
all. This was the first such tournament at this sprawling casino, and
we hope it is not the last. A few other games from the Open
section...

White: Filalov Black: IM Sevillano 1999 Foxwoods 
1.d4 c5 2.e3 d5 3.c3 Nc6 4.f4 Nf6 5.Bd3 Qb6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Nbd2
e6 8.Qa4 Bf3 9.Nf3 Bd6 10.Ne5 O-O 11.O-O cd4 12.Nc6 bc6
13.ed4 c5 14.dc5 Bc5 15.Kh1 Ng4 16.Qc2 Nf2 17.Rf2 Bf2
18.Bh7 Kh8 19.Bd3 g6 20.b3 Bh4 21.Bb2 Bf6 22.c4 Bb2 23.Qb2
Kg8 24.cd5 Rfd8 25.Qf6 Rd5 26.Bg6 Qd8 27.Qd8 Rad8 28.Bc2
Rd2 29.Rc1 Rc2 0-1 

White: Karklins Black: B.Smith 1999 Foxwoods 
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.ed5 ed5 5.Bg5 c6 6.Qd2 Be7 7.O-O-O
O-O 8.Nge2 b5 9.Kb1 Nbd7 10.Ng3 Nb6 11.Re1 Be6 12.f4 b4
13.Nd1 Nc4 14.Qc1 Nd6 15.Re5 Nd7 16.Be7 Qe7 17.Bd3
f5 18.Re2 Qf6 19.Qd2 a5 20.Re5 Ne4 21.Be4 de4 22.Rf1 Ne5
23.fe5 Qe7 24.Nh5 Ba2 25.Ka2 Qf7 26.d5 Qh5 27.d6 f4 28.Qd4
Qf7 29.Kb1 Qd5 30.c3 e3 31.Re1 Rae8 32.Ne3 fe3 33.Qd5 cd5
34.Re3 Kf7 35.d7 Rd8 36.e6 Ke7 0-1 

White: GM A.Ivanov Black: Belcher 1999 Foxwoods 
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Ne4 5.Ne4 de4 6.Bc4 c5 7.d5 ed5
8.Qd5 Qd5 9.Bd5 Nc6 10.Bf4 Bf5 11.Bc6 bc6 12.O-O-O Be7
13.Ne2 O-O 14.Ng3 Bg6 15.Rd7 Bh4 16.Re1 Bg3 17.hg3 Rfd8
18.Red1 Rd7 19.Rd7 Bh5 20.Rc7 Rd8 21.b3 h6 22.Rc6 Rd1
23.Kb2 Rg1 24.Rc5 Rg2 25.e6 Bg4 26.Rc8 Kh7 27.ef7 Bc8 28.f8Q
Bg4 29.Be5 Kg6 30.Qg7 Kh5 31.Qf7 Kg5 32.Bf4 1-0 

White: R.Bauer Black: R.Kaufman 1999 Foxwoods 
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 ed4 5.Nd4 Bb4 6.Nc6 bc6
7.Bd3 d5 8.ed5 cd5 9.O-O O-O 10.Bg5 c6 11.Na4 Be6 12.c3 Be7
13.Bc2 Qd7 14.Qd3 g6 15.Qd4 Ng4 16.Be7 Qe7 17.Rae1 Qd6
18.f4 Rfe8 19.Nc5 Bf5 20.Bf5 gf5 21.h3 Nh6 22.b4 f6 23.Re3 Nf7
24.Rfe1 Re3 25.Re3 Nd8 26.Re8 Kf7 27.Qe3 a5 28.Rh8 Kg7
29.Qe8 Nf7 30.Rg8 1-0