Photo credit: ChessLecture.com
ALASKA GETS FIRST GRANDMASTER BRIAN SMITH …THIS JUST IN … as confirmed by Mr.John Donaldson, director of the Mechanics Institute Chess club of San Francisco .. .Alaska now has its first certified chess grandmaster, 33 year old Mr. Brian Smith … Chesslab note: this points out ABSOLUTELY the only dreadful weakness of the otherwise fabulous St. Louis-based $264,000 US Chess Championship (AND Sinquefield $400.000 cup qualifier!!!!) … there is absolutely no automatic invitation to one CHOSEN player from EVERY US state (ALL PLAYERS, PREFERABLY UNDER 50 YEARS OF AGE, PAYING ABSOLUTELY ALL THEIR OWN EXPENSES) IN A RAPID (25 MINUTE) 11 ROUND THREE DAY WORLD CHESS FEDERATION (FIDE RATED) “LAST CHANCE” QUALIFIER IN ST. LOUIS … 6 PLAYERS only GO ON TO THE US CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE EVENT AFTER … AND EVERYONE ELSE HAS THE ONCE A YEAR FABULOUS, PRECIOUS CHANCE TO GET A THRILLING WORLD FIDE RATED “RAPID”11 GAME pay your own expenses FIDE RAPID qualifier TOURNEY RATING AT THE LEAST ONCE A YEAR plus lots of memories for a lifetime…. mucho reasons for many to consider giving one’s estate to St. Louis for such get results action! … OF COURSE, so importantly, bypassing the horrendous “get permission” control of the mickey-mouse-do-nothing-lawsuit-plagued US Chess Federation joke entirely … Unless every area of the nation has “our guys-our girls” … players akin to past home town hero titans Kraii, K.R.Smith, Krush, Commons, Dlugy, MR.SIX TIME BROWNE, ALBURT, M.C.O. Defirmian, Benjamin, THE FED, A.Ivanov, Seirawan, Yermolinsky, Dzindzi, Root, THE SOLTIS, Peters, Anderson, Rizzitano, Bradford, THE SHAHADE DYNASTY, CARLIN, ROUSSELLE, BICK, SHULMAN, ANA, POLGAR, Christiansen, MARC “KEN SMITH WAS RIGHT!” ESSERMAN, Sir Donaldson,Tarjan, Becerro, Sevillano, Kaufman the Wizard, Ashley, Weinstein, Hall, etc. … entered in an every year/50 player–no cost to St. Louis–qualifier … PAY YOUR OWN EXPENSES last chance-3 day rapid FIDE rated (FIDE chess title qualifier!) … as I told Lisa’s favorite Grandmaster Jesse Kraii of New Mexico recently: “Presently, we now have only the skilled and the great champions of a bizarre hidden away elite chess rating garage, despite ALL OF REX THE GREAT HELP AND LOVE … for just three days only we do not reach out and touch absolutely everyone in every state … Therefore, almost no one cares, even hears news about our national chess championship in a nation with 300 million plus people. Amen” … Largely ignored, laughed at by national (USA Today) /local media unless world champion Carlsen is playing … make no mistake…we are absolutely right: the entire LEAD IN organization of the US chess championship is dead in the water, one hundred percent wrong … EVERYBODY IN EVERY STATE BY HOOK OR CROOK (NAME YOUR SELECTION PROCESS … we do not care…) … EVEN … JUST CHOOSE A PLAYER EVERYWHERE … IN A RAPID LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER you must use the new CHEAP FOR ALL PLAYERS WHAM! BAM! FIDE rapid 3 day tourney rating system as ALL CHESS IS LOCAL … MISSISSIPPI, ALASKA, HAWAII, AND IOWA ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE “THEIR GUY” … A STAKES HORSE IN THE FIDE RAPID QUALIFIER COMPETITION OR GOODBYE…..if every last US state is not involved … it is laughed at by local media. Sorry, St..Louis! Get those cellphones calling local media in every city … HOW IS OUR HORSE DOING? Make no mistake, friends and neighbors …We all still love you avid wonderkids for trying! No Sale … worst of all, we note there is only one St.Louis “magic trio” team–Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield plus THE Tony Rich–we totally disagreed with America’s world top ten super grandmaster H. Nakamura upon his wonderful flash visit to the New Orleans French Quarter visit three years ago … their is no apparent succession in St.Louis title structure, no preservation of heritage with REAL structure for a 50 state CHESS TO EVERYONE EVERYWHERE rated rapid qualifier in St.Louis … there is nothing, sorry … And when the MIGHTY TRIO pass on, their efforts will be long gone–with just a trace … BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN … as when 50 year chess master San Francisco Chronicle columnist and tourney organizer George Koltanowski died … all general media local chess coverage died … making it immeasurably easier to kill the sister city Los Angeles Times chess column … owners citing similar local general indifference there … the St.Louis Scholastic Center has wonderful millions of dollars, understands the heavy lifting necessary, omitting a moribund US Chess Federation … it does not have a volunteer, 50 state chess cheerleading army, recruited virtually gratis … and St. Louis will eventually lose the battle without fiery, enthusiastic recruitment of players/certain donors from throughout the nation. All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing, St. Louis. TO BE CONSIDERED BY ALL INCLUDE ALL. Yes, invite Mr. Smith.
— Jude Acers