Can Everyone Become Talented? - Story of the Polgar Sisters (animated)

Became 2019 US National Class Champion In Under 2000 Section

I became undefeated champion today in 19th US National Class Chess Championship organized by BayAreaChess. I played in A section (Under 2000) in 2 days format while Ahyan played in B section . (Under 1800). I won first 4 rounds and drew the final round to be champion. Ahyan didn’t get a good tournament this time as he is trying to settle in this relatively new B section. So far all my games were hard earned slow endgame wins, three times being a pawn down with slight or no compensation. I should receive $1008 first prize along with the champions trophy. 

You may find the final standings here. Also I have recorded below all the 5 games I played in this tournament.

Rohan Rajaram (1794) vs. Ashik Uzzaman (1947) 1/2-1/2

Hyatt Regency, Burlingame, California: US National Class Championship: 2019.09.29

In the final round I needed a draw while my opponent Rajaram needed to defeat me to be champion. He thought he got me in the bag after his 42. Kd2. I am going to soon loose my c2 or g6 pawn with a good chance for him to win. But my reply 42... g5! threw him out. I virtually sealed the draw there by ruining his pawn structure despite going a pawn down. I remember Tournament Director Tom (who was watching the game) asked me later, where did that g5 come from? Moves like g5 is not intuitive and easy to miss, so I was very happy when I found it!

Zodiac Sign

My Zodiac Sign is Libra, I feel I am a Libra.

Vote for Me in CalChess Board of Directors Election 2019

CalChess will be holding its annual general meeting in connection with the State Championship.

Besides general agenda items, elections will take place for 4 seats: 2 of them will be re-election, and 2 will be filling vacant positions.

We are calling all players or parents who are passionate about chess and the future of chess in Northern California. We need fresh, new and enthusiastic board members, who are ready to volunteer their time in order to improve the chess scene, bring new ideas to the table, and help execute them!

Read the bylaws here: http://www.calchess.org/governance/calchess_bylaws.pdf

Northern California State Affiliate - CalChess

General meeting & Elections for the Board of Directors

Date: Saturday, August 30th, 2019

Meeting time: 6PM

Location: Ballroom K in the Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA 95054

You may read the announcement here.

If you are current member of CalChess and over 14 years of old, you are eligible for giving a vote. You have to make sure your membership didn't expire before August 30th 2018. You can check the membership list below. To give the vote you have to be physically present in that location that day.

http://calchess.org/membership_list/membership_list.txt

If you are interested to run for the election yourself as one of the candidates, you will need to send an email to Dr. Judit Sztaray, Secretary of CalChess: judit@calchess.org. You should go through the updated CalChess ByLaws. And of course you have to ask the voters to vote for you.

I will be running for one of the 4 positions. I am a long time bay area resident, a chess parent and a USCF Candidate Master. If elected as a board member for CalChess, I will work along with other members to improve the presence of CalChess across Northern California both offline and online. This will include timely communication of CalChess activities via e-newsletter, facebook page, LinkedIn and twitter feed for CalChess. I will also work to attract Corporate Sponsorship from various Sillicon Valley software companies.

• Improving the CalChess Web Site
• Write article in CalChess Journal
• Chess Event Coverage
• Improve CalChess Social Web Presence
• Attracting Corporate World Into Chess

Last year I lost the election by couple of votes but hope to make it this time with your support.  Please vote for me in this CalChess Board of Directors Election 2019 as well as tell your friends to vote in my favor.

19th Addison Memorial Chess Tournament at Mechanics Chess Club

I and Ahyan played 19th Addison Memorial Chess Tournament at Mechanics Chess Club, San Francisco this weekend in 2-days schedule. I scored 3.5 our of 5 in under 2000 section while Ahyan socred 3 out 5 in Under 1800 section. Like our last week's Las Vegas National Open tournament, it didn't go well for either of us. But there are some interesting moments of chess that I would like to share with you.

After my 3rd round game, Paul invited me and my opponent to analyze our game live at twitch tv where top 10 boards in each round were being broadcasted.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/442840230

You may find my commentary at 1 hour 25 minutes portion of the above broadcast and Ahyan's at 3 hours 7 minutes. Other than twitch the games were also broadcasted in chess24.com and followchess.

Ahyan Became Jointly Champion In Best of The West Under 1800

Ahyan and I played the 2 days format of Best of the West chess tournament organized by Bay Area Chess over the memorial day weekend. Ahyan played one section up at Under 1800 instead of Under 1600. I played in Under 2000 section. Ahyan won 5 games and lost 1 while I lost first 2 games and won the rest 4 games. As a result Ahyan will be wining some $800 or so while I will probably just a bit for jointly being 3rd with a bunch of others. Here are some of our games from the tournament.

The full standings may be found here.

http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201905279402.3-15035222

http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201905279402.2-13178575

Tournament: Best of the West
Site: Santa Clara Marriott
SectionL Under 1800
Date: 27th May 2019
Round: 6
Board: 147
White: Ahyan Zaman (1568)
Black: Andrew Ng (1756)
Result: 1-0






Tournament: Best of the West
Site: Santa Clara Marriott
SectionL Under 2000
Date: 26th May 2019
Round: 4
White: Ashik Uzzaman (1950)
Black: Alvin Han (1664)
Result: 1-0


Tournament: Best of the West
Site: Santa Clara Marriott
SectionL Under 2000
Date: 27th May 2019
Round: 6
White: Ashik Uzzaman (1950)
Black: Chelsea Zhou (1727)
Result: 1-0



Here is a quiz from my 4th game where I checkmated my opponent with White to move. Can you find it?

My Loss against Ivanov in 2nd round of TNM anallyzed by IM Elioot Winslow in TNM Newsletter

(14) Uzzaman,Ashik (1931) - Ivanov,Aleksander (2171) [B23]
Mechanics' Spring TNM: 2000+ San Francisco (2.14), 26.03.2019
[Winslow,Elliott]

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bb5 Nd4 6.0-0 [6.Bc4; 6.Bd3] 6...Nxb5 [6...a6; 6...e6] 7.Nxb5 d5 [7...d6] 8.exd5 a6 9.Nc3 Nf6 10.d4 Nxd5 11.dxc5 Nxc3 12.Qxd8+ Kxd8 13.bxc3 Bxc3 [13...Kc7!? 14.Nd4 Rd8 15.Be3 Bf5] 14.Rb1 Kc7 [14...f6!?] 15.Rb3 Bf6 16.Bd2

I would like to ask both players if they knew what a theoretical rabbit-hole they went into with this line! There are over 60 games here! 16...a5 [16...Be6 has been most often played: 17.Ba5+ (17.Rb6!? a5) 17...Kc6 But this might well not be the best! (17...Kb8!! is Stockfish's adamant (and unplayed!) preference, with a slight plus! 18.Rd1!! b5!!) 18.Rb6+ Kxc5 19.Nd2 Bxa2! according to Stockfish the only 0.00 move (19...Bd5; 19...Bd4+ 20.Kh1 Bxa2 21.c3!N +-) ; 16...Bf5 17.Ba5+ Kc8 18.Rb6 Rd8 19.c6 bxc6 20.Rxc6+ Kd7 21.Rxf6 exf6 22.Rd1+ Ke8 23.Bxd8 Rxd8 24.Rxd8+ Kxd8 25.Nd4 saw White grind to the edge of a win and then miss; ½-½ (78) Keller,C (2200)-Leon Hoyos,M (2521) Metz 2010] 17.a4? Lets Black out. [17.Rfb1 Ra7 18.Rb5 (18.c6! (Stockfish 10) 18...Kxc6! 19.Be3 Ra6 remains tense but Black is no worse) 18...Bd7! 19.Rb6 (19.Bxa5+ Kc8 20.c6 (20.Bb6?! Rxa2 21.Ra5 Rxa5 22.Bxa5 Bf5 (22...Bc6=/+) 23.Ne5 Bxc2 24.Rc1 Be4 25.Rd1 Bxe5 26.fxe5 Bf5 27.Bb6 h5 28.Kf2 Be4 29.g3 e6 30.Rd6 Bc6 31.h4 Rf8 32.Ke3 Bd7 33.Rd1 Bc6 34.Rd6 f6 35.Rxe6 fxe5 36.Rxg6 Kd7 37.Rg5 Rf3+ 38.Ke2 e4 39.Rxh5 Bb5+ 40.Kd1 e3 41.Re5 e2+ 42.Kd2 Rd3+ 43.Kc2 Rxg3 44.Ba5 Kc6 45.Bd2 Bd3+ 46.Kc3 Kb5 47.Be1 Rh3 48.Kd4 Bg6 49.c6+ Kxc6 50.Re6+ Kd7 51.Rxg6 Rh1 52.Rg7+ Kc6 53.Rg6+ Kd7 54.Rg7+ Kc6 55.Rg6+ Kd7 1/2-1/2 (55) Lazar,A (2129)-Danner,G (2401) Pula 2012) 20...Bxc6 21.Rc5 e6 22.Bc3 Bxc3 23.Rxc3=/+) ] 17...Be6-/+ 18.Rb6 Rhd8 19.Rfb1 Bd5 20.f5 slightly suicidal [20.Be3 Rd7 (20...Bc6) ] 20...gxf5 21.Bf4+ Kc8 [21...Kd7] 22.Ne5 Bxe5 23.Bxe5 Bc6

Quite an amazing situation, that Black is as won as he is here. 24.Bc3 [24.Rf1] 24...Rd5 25.Re1 Kd7 [25...Rxc5!] 26.Re5 Rxe5 27.Bxe5 Ke6 28.Bf4 Rd8 29.Rb3 Rd4 30.Bc7 Rxa4 31.Rh3 Ra1+ 32.Kf2 a4 33.Rh6+ f6 34.Rxh7 a3 35.Rh8 a2 36.Ra8 Bd5 37.h4 Rc1 38.h5 a1Q 0-1

Became Joint Runner Up in 19th Max Wilkerson Memorial at Mechanics

I became jointly runner up in the 19th Max Wilkerson Memorial at Mechanics Chess Institute scoring 3.5 out of 5. In the 3rd round I drew again NM Eric despite being a pawn up. The game is given below. I went on to win again a candidate master in 4th round but lost the final round, missing the chance to be sole champion.

Chess Chat: Q&A with Ashik Uzzaman

Ashik Uzzaman was born and raised in Dhaka, capital city of Bangladesh. He finished his post-graduation in Economics from University of Dhaka while completing diploma in software engineering from NIIT. He came to USA with job as a java developer in 2005 and currently working as a Senior Software Engineer at Roku. He, along with his son Ahyan Zaman, is a regular participant in chess tournaments on the west coast.

How old were you when you first learned how to play chess? Who taught you?

– I was about 8 years old when I learned to play chess. I learned it from my cousin.

How has chess effected your decision making process off the board?

– Chess makes you efficient considering many possible outcomes in parallel. This helped me consider pros and cons of making any decision carefully. Chess also helped me learn when to take time, observe and weigh in detail before making any conclusions. So I think it helped me in my career choice, my education and my social skills. 

How did your earlier career choices lead you to where you are now?

– To accommodate my chess tournament schedules, I picked relatively easier subject (Economics) during under graduate program. But later I focused on building my career as a Computer Programmer leaving chess for a long period of time.

How would you define your chess style?

– I was initially very aggressive attacking player. But as I started reading lots of chess books, I progressed to be a strategic positional player. I like Capablanca or Karpov’s style of accumulating small positional advantages.

Does your chess style transfer over into your business decisions as well?

– Yes. I often make decisions that are good for my team in the long term instead of looking at the immediate task in hand. Also I do a lot of trade off comparisons while deciding which option to choose while solving a problem.

What has been your worst chess mistake which has given you the biggest lesson?

– My biggest mistake was not focusing on the end game which resulted in loosing lots of games despite having advantages in the middle game.

What has been your worst career mistake that has given you the biggest lesson?

– My worst career mistake was not moving into Engineering Management roles despite getting several opportunities. I have been comfortably working as a software engineer in individual contributor roles for 19 years now. I am glad to share that I have amended the mistake and joining a company next month as an Engineering Manager.

Do you think chess has helped you to become more resilient in life?

– Yes. Chess teaches us perseverance and endurance. When I am stuck with a problem, I dont give up easily. I patiently continue to retry until I succeed. This is a direct habit learned from playing long games chess with intense struggles.

What do you hope to achieve professionally during the next couple of years?

– I want to see myself making good impact in my new project and hopefully take the pre-IPO company I am joining to public.

What is the biggest challenge to achieving that goal?

– Meeting continuous aggressive deadlines of multiple software projects; hiring and retaining the best engineers of bay area.

How would you relate these goals and challenges to the chessboard?

– In chess we have to keep eyes on our own weak squares and king safety and at the same time exploit our opponents’ weaknesses all throughout the game without slipping. Just as challenging in life.

Could you please leave us with a favorite piece of chess wisdom to conclude this interview?

– “Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do; strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.” – Savielly Tartakower

Be sure to check out Ashik’s chess blog: https://dragonbishop.blogspot.com/

Source: https://chessmusings.wordpress.com/2019/02/26/chess-chat-qa-with-ashik-uzzaman/?fbclid=IwAR2GsSzCnBrzTCNajAM7jcx8ZQVHqPRU6zev5P2ZKOLiIbsJG5YBCRSmTQg

Ahyan Finally Defeated Me In A Competitive Chess Tournament

This finally happened. Ahyan defeated me for the first time in a competitive chess tournament despite my rating being more than 300 points than his. We are playing in 19th Henry Memorial Chess tournament today at Mechanics Chess Institute, San Francisco. This is a 5 round Swiss where after first 3 rounds both of us were at 2. Consequently I got white in 4th round against him. I gained a pawn putting some positional pressure and got greedy to get the second pawn. So I got into a long defensive position and miscalculated a pin which I thought I can defend. Well no. Ahyan piled all his pieces on the pinned Bishop despite having only 1 minute left in his clock. As it was a game in 40 with 5 seconds delay, seeing very low time in his clock, I didn’t resign until getting checkmated with the hope to flag him down on time. But we it didn’t work out for me. I have never given up any game in my life, and did my best to win. But kudos to him. Recently he had been crossing me in tactics multiple times (my chess.com puzzle rush best is 26 and Ahyan’s is 27 for example). The moves of the game is below but u will put a diagram tonight when at home. Ahyan will get some prize money if he wins the last round that we are about to head into.