.: The House of Chess News :.
April On Saturday April 8 Grandmaster Shabalov will be here to talk about
chess with all chess enthusiaists here at THE HOUSE OF CHESS. Members
and non members are invited to stop by and take advantage of this
opportunity to talk chess with a Grandmaster. End of March results Bill Wright wins March 17th Action Tournament Pappu Murthy wins March 24th Action Tournament. Mikhail Oet wins Saturday Quad Bob Basalla Coming to the House of Chess Champ takes on 15 foes at once at North Olmsted chess house Sunday, January 22, 2006 Grant Segall Plain Dealer Reporter 
Sunday, January 22, 2006 Grant Segall Plain Dealer Reporter The champ bent over the board, her body still, her wide blue eyes darting from piece to piece. "She's tormenting me by thinking," Bill Furst whispered to an onlooker. Jennifer Shahade finally retreated her rook, then moved to the next board, body hovering and eyes flitting again. The New Yorker took on 15 foes at once Saturday afternoon at the new House of Chess in North Olmsted. Talk about tall odds: 15 amateurs against a two-time U.S. women's chess champion. Shahade, 25, wrote "Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport." The book reviews the shortage of female players from the top ranks to the bottom, and Saturday's simultaneous exhibition was a case in point. Only two of Shahade's opponents were female, and that includes Christy Surace, 17, whose father, Peter, talked her into playing and coached her all the way. People have ventured as many reasons for the imbalance as moves on the board: brains, bodies, egos, even subliminal patricide. Before the contest, Shahade said that women braving traditionally male fields tend to choose more practical ones than a low-paying game. Besides, imbalances are self-fulfilling: The fewer women stars, the fewer role models for young girls. She hopes her book will help by chronicling some impressive exceptions. She researched it partly at the Cleveland Public Library, which says it owns the world's most comprehensive collection of chess materials. Shahade urges both women and men to try chess. "You can lose yourself in this intense small world for a few hours," she says. Shahade livened up Saturday's contest by playing fast and varying her moves on different boards from the start. Several opponents fell behind early, but others fought on for a couple of hours.In the end, she beat 12 players, drew two, and lost to Raymond Bouyer."It was a bit of a shock," said Bouyer, 47, a Cleveland truck driver. "I was just playing not to lose." The proprietors say the House of Chess is a world first: a for-profit chess parlor and store in a mall. It belongs to a local amateur, Lary Rust, and a Pittsburgh grandmaster, Alex Shabalov, who has won three U.S. championships. In addition... New Great Northern store House of Chess to host female grandmaster
The Philadelphia-born Shahade, 25, is a comparative literature graduate from New York University and a two-time U.S. Women's Chess Champion. Semi-retired from playing professionally, she is now a frequent commentator and writer on the 1,400-year-old strategy game. The Manhattan resident also teaches chess to students in the New York school system. But lately she has won notoriety in black-and-white circles as the author of the tell-all with the catchiest title of recent nonfiction publishing. Oprah could do worse than devote a segment to "Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport." The 320-page hardcover relates Shahade's inner-circle view of the male-dominated chess world and the women who try to break through gender lines and play at the highest levels around the world, from China to Iceland to Eastern Europe. Part history, part tabloid-gossip, it's a volume that has rattled a lot of pieces and brought much attention on the topic of chess-girls-gone-wild. Many newspapers have even refrained from printing the transgressive-feminist title. "It wasn't such a smart idea, that title, in the United States," said Alex Shabalov. "In Europe it's a smart idea, and I think that's what she was aiming for." Shabalov is a ranked a Grandmaster chess pro, and he is also a business partner in perhaps the only suitable castle in all of northeast Ohio to host a "Chess Bitch" reception. It's a new Great Northern Mall tenant called the House of Chess, which opened last year in the storefront of a former Foot Locker. This is a chess store, teaching/tournament space and chess club, here in suburbia amidst the fast-food shacks and department stores. "The first House of Chess and the first store-slash-club of its kind, anywhere," said Shabalov. "That’s why everyone is so eager to see how it works out.” Shahade will reign here on Saturday at 2 p.m., for a book signing, a lecture and a "simultaneous exhibition" match. Time permitting, she may also play a few accelerated games against Grandmaster Shabalov, who is ranked one of the top 10 chess pros in the country by the United States Chess Federation. A simultaneous exhibition match, or "simul" is when a chess master plays a number of opponents at the same time, going from one table to the next and doing one move at a time in separate games. The House of Chess has limited this Saturday simul with Shahade to 20 boards, which are open on a first-come-first-served basis. There is an entry fee of $15 to participate in the game, but the lecture and spectating will be free. As Grandmaster-in-residence, Shabalov regularly plays simuls with no board limits when he commutes into town from Pittsburgh, where he makes his home. He opened the House of Chess in a partnership with Cleveland’s Lary Rust and San Francisco’s Alex Yermolinsky, another Grandmaster who sometimes visits and contributes to the club newsletter. There are many private chess societies behind oaken doors, activities-centers and after-school student groups, but nothing like the House of Chess, is open to visitors seven days a week, during regular mall hours, Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. “We let people come in and – if they’ve got somebody to play with – they play absolutely free,” Rust said. But this is indeed a club, and joining in a given tournament match or simul against the house pro usually runs $15. For membership fees ranging from $15 a month to a "mega membership" of $225 for two years (which also covers free lessons by Grandmaster Shabalov), chess aficionados can get a discount and other perks. The House of Chess also maintains a library of chess videos, software and books for sale and reference. It opened its doors in August, 2005. But why Cleveland for a venture unique in the field of chess? “After Chicago it’s the second most active city in the Midwest,” said Shabalov. “That’s my first impression.” Rust said they made a deliberate decision to open the club in a well-frequented suburban shopping center, for maximum exposure to foot traffic and turning shoppers onto the game who might otherwise not have sought out a more cloistered arena. “The mall has it all. So everybody goes to the mall.” The club accepts the beginning learner as well as the advanced strategist. Grandmaster Shabalov, a native of Riga in Latvia, certainly didn’t have a House of Chess where he grew up and studied the royal game in a Soviet state-supported environment under the illustrious Michael Tal. Tals, an eighth-ranked world player and six times a chess champion for the USSR, died in 1992, the same year that Shabalov emigrated to the USA. “It was in Russia. It was a completely different chess culture…I actually had a Grandmaster coach for all of my life without basically paying a cent for it. I really appreciate it now,” Shablov said. If the House of Chess is a success as its founders hope, they plan to open more of them, possibly starting in San Francisco, in Alex Yermolinsky’s territory. Membership has been picking up since the holidays, and there is plenty of room for more. Jennifer Shahade’s book-signing and talk is indeed timely, as Rust says that currently there are only about three full-fledged female club members For more information you can phone the House of Chess at (440) 979-1133 or log onto www.thehouseofchess.com. Saints Cyril and Methodious School visits House of Chess and Grandmaster Shabalov Brother Dennis Moses brought the chess club of Saints Cyril and Methodius School to the HOUSE OF CHESS to meet Grandmaster Alex Shabalov. A good time was had by all as the students found out first hand how a grandmaster can play many games all at once as they were treated to a simul by Grandmaster Shabalov. Below are some images:
National Master Robert Burns Dies 1948-2005 NM Robert Burns of Mentor,Ohio, who was the 1969 Golden Knights Correspondence Champion, died on October 23 at the age of 57. Burns,who was rated well over 2300 much of his career was on of the strongest players in 1970’s and a mainstay on the Cleveland teams in the US Chess league. An excellent analyst and opening theoretician, Burns seconded the late Milian Vukcevich who had high regard for Bob’s knowledge of the Dragon and Accelerated Dragon. Burns worked as a computer programmer long before this was a common occupation. He was not only a chess master but a first rate bridge player. I had the pleasure of traveling to tournaments with Bob who had a witty sense of humor and always knew the best restaurants. He had a sharp tactical style, probably influenced by hundreds of speed games with Vukcevich. He stopped playing in USCF tournaments in the late 1980’s. among Robert Burns victims over the board were Grandmasters Walter Browne and Anotoly Lein. He enjoyed the success of friends as much as his own, showing off their games more than his own. He will be missed by those who knew him.
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Chess
has been called the game of kings. Jennifer Shahade is coming to Great
Northern Mall in North Olmsted on Saturday to prove that there are
queens as well.
