Ray Robson of Florida has just won the Pan American Junior with a 8-1 score and in the process has won his third Norm, qualifying for the title of Grandmaster. He becomes the youngest Grandmaster in US history, just a couple of weeks shy of age 15. Bobby Fischer was 15 years 4 months plus when he got the title. Robson is this year’s winner of the annual Samford award. He was born in Guam and moved to the United States at the age of 5. His achievement is further testimony of the value of the Samford fellowships, awarded through the US Chess Trust, a creation of the Samford family of Georgia, which provide subsidies for promising young American players to enable them to devote their full time to chess for at least two years.
Here is a list of previous Samford winners: Joel Benjamin, Maxim Dlugy, Patrick Wolff, Alex Fishbein, Ilya Gurevich, Alex Sherzer, Ben Finegold, Gata Kamsky, Josh Waitzkin, Tal Shaked, Boris Kreiman, Dean Ippolito, Gregory Shahade, Michael Mulyar, Eugene Perelshteyn, Varuzhan Akobian, Dmitry Schneider, Rusudan Goletiani, Hikaru Nakamura, David Pruess, Josh Friedel, Vinny Bhat, and Irina Krush. Note that most are still playing in major chess tournaments, but the appearances of the older players have obviously dwindled. The winner who has progressed the furthest in world chess is Kamsky who played in the finals of the world championship, but failed to win it. Nakamura of New York is another successful Samford fellow. He will try for the world championship, and regards his most difficult opponents in the younger group of Grandmasters as Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian.
Notwithstanding the threats of the younger players, the world championship is currently a matter for Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov to settle.
Topalov qualified to play Anand by defeating Kamsky. The championship was scheduled for 2009, but Anand, pleading involvement in the title for three years, asked for a postponement to next year. He had placed fourth at Linares, in a tournament he usually dominates. Postponement of the title contest was granted and now Sofia, Bulgaria, has come up with a successful bid, backed by the Bulgarian government, of 3 million euros to cover the prize fund, player expenses, and FIDE costs. Anand, a veteran and a speed merchant who loves opposite castling positions, has been traditionally the favorite in these title contests. But this time he faces a higher rated opponent. Topalov, a highly energetic player, has a September rating of 2813, 32 points higher than Anand. This match is too close to call.
Brevity: Weaver Adams v. Edgar McCormick (c.1945). 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 c6 4.d4 Bb4 5.dxe5 Nxe4 6.Qd4 d5 7.exd6 0--0 8.Bf4 Re8 9.Nge2 Bc5 10.Bxf7+ Kf8 11.Qc4 b5 12.Qb3 Bxf2+ 13.Kf1 Nc5 14.Qa3 Nba6 15.b4 Kxf7 16.Kxf2 Ne4+ 17.Nxe4 Rxe4 18.Qf3 Qe8 19.Be5+ (1-0 as the Black Rook is lost)
Winners: Waltham CC Game/25 - 1st Todd Chase 3-0; 2d (tie) Nicholas Sterling, Edward Astrachan, and Benjamin Swiszcz 2-1. Max Malyuta Memorial - 1st Stuart Finney (14 years old) 4-0; 2nd Benjamin Goldberg 3-1. 76th Greater Boston Open - Open, 1st D. Shmelov 3.5; U2000, 1st S. Gueler 4-0; U1700, 1st R. Kahn 3.5; U1400, 1st S. Crawford 4-0.
Coming Events: Billerica CC Friday Night Swiss, Nov. 6, 13, 20, 27, contact Brad Ryan, 978-369-8533; 15th Boston University Open, Nov. 7, Sherman Union, 775 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, oresick@bu.edu; BCC Early Bird Wednesday Rapid Quads, Nov. 4, www.BoylstonChessClub.org; BCC Quads, Nov. 8, www.BoylstonChessClub.org.
