Twice Transpiring Virtuosity

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?