About Community Chess Club

The CCCR is USCF Affiliate A6000220 and meets Wednesday evenings (except holidays) from 6:30pm to 11:00pm at the RCC Rochester Chess Center, 221 Norris Drive, Rochester, NY 14610; Telephone: (585) 442-2430. CCCR annual membership dues are $25.00, or $35.00 per household.

A USCF-rated event is played every Wednesday at 7:30pm. The time control (TC) is game in 80 minutes with a five-second time delay. The entrance fee (EF) is $4 for CCCR members and $6 for non-members. Registration on Wednesday from 6:35pm - 7:15pm. USCF membership is required which gets you a USCF rating. [Upcoming USCF NYS tournaments]

Sets and boards are provided. Always post the result on the pairing sheet. Yes, even if you lost.

Officers: President (vacant); Ken McBride (Vice-president); Mike Lionti (Treasurer, Chief TD); Dr. David Worl (Secretary)

An excursion into club software ends

I'm playing less in-person chess now and coding web pages less frequently. Until recently, I maintained a web app that helped run the club weekly event.

But they prefer to address the tasks of accounting, maintaining the club membership list, pairings, and USCF rating reports using time-honored, traditional, old-school methods. Leaving them free to pursue a life of religious fulfillment.

"In general I consider that in chess everything rests on tactics. If one thinks of strategy as a block of marble, then tactics are the chisel with which a master operates, in creating works of chess art." (Petrosian)"

Is this the official CCCR website ?

Well, no. I'm 73.80 years old and a third-rate web developer. Too feeble to produce quality html code. COVID-19 left me largely disabled. The Rochester Chess Club Blog is excellent!

Most agree that his CCCR master site has a human touch that reveals a warmth, humanity and down-home, caring honesty. The sheer beauty and seamless eye-candy woven into the modern chess tapestry that becomes the perfect website is quintessentially bedazzling.

Did you know that the CCCR website contains some excellent chess poetry?

"It is the aim of the modern school, not to treat every position according to one general law, but according to the principle inherent in the position." (Richard Reti)"

Why isn't this site official?

While chillin' at the CCCR pool party in Vegas, admiring the flesh parade and pondering the wisdom of doubling down when the dealer shows a face card, it HIT ME ... CCCR is already a successful and popular chess club. We try to give the leaders autonomy and that generates pleasant people with a desire to accomodate the wishes of the membership.

Contributions to this website become my property. While gratefully acknowledged, they don't constitute an endorsement and no association should be inferred.

Editorial content is generally authored by me, Randy MacKenzie, President of the Hair Club for Cats. See an error? Sorry about that. We're committed to keeping this information accurate. Report the error here and we'll get it fixed ASAP.

Thanks to FIDE Master and USCF Senior Master Igor Nikolayev, FIDE Master and ICCM Isay Golyak, USCF National Master Matt Parry, and USCF National Master Stephen Capp for contributing many instructive games for publication. You'll certainly find Jim Trowbridge's excellent blog, Smoke the Pawn, interesting as well as informative.

The games database was updated July 30, 2022 6:46 PM and has 2037 games.

"I like the moment when I break a man's ego." (Bobby Fischer)"

Friends say "Goodbye!" to Isay Golyak

Isay Golyak

Isay Golyak has relocated to Florida. An entire epoch of Rochester chess is over. He was a prominent nuclear physicist in the former Soviet Union before emigrating to the U.S.A. He became a high-energy research physicist at the University of Rochester, Department of Physics and Astronomy.

And for about 70 years he has displayed a great enjoyment of chess, for which he retains all his youthful enthusiasm. As a FIDE Master and International Correspondence Chess Master he has played thousands of games, many against legendary figures, some of whom he knew personally. His postal games are often cited as masterpieces of correspondence chess.

Never one to suffer fools gladly, he graciously revealed the deeper secrets of the royal game for a quarter century at the Rochester Chess Center. We will always remember Isay for his forceful demeanor and honest approach, as well as his devotion to chess. With an appreciative smile we wish him "Good Luck! and Good Chess!" in his new Southern U.S. location.

"A sacrifice is best refuted by accepting it." (Wilhelm Steinitz)"

The Week in Chess Magazine

Weekly digest of chess news and games by Mark Crowther. Founded 1994. Visit The Week in Chess Magazine for more info and TWIC in ChessBase or PGN format. I use Linux and chessx pgn database and viewer to read TWIC pgn data files.

"Personally, I rather look forward to a computer program winning the world Chess Championship. Humanity needs a lesson in humility." (Richard Dawkings)"

blitz chess is evil incarnate but fun

Back in the 60's the Rochester Chess Club had a 10-second per move electric buzzer that was rarely used. Then we used chess clocks for 5-minute games. This remained popular for at least fifty years. Older players claimed it was harmful and ruined chess. Younger players scoffed and continued to win.

With the advent of the internet, chess servers are largely devoted to blitz and bullet games. ICC and FICS offer 5 0, 3 0, as well as 1 0 time limits.

5-minute chess is the fastest you can play without ruining your game. Most players who play 1 0 bullet chess find that their playing strength is permanently ruined. They will never be able to play good chess at standard OTB time limits again.

Today, Chess 1-2-3 is popular among young players aged five to twelve. Play two moves, and then exchange a piece or a pawn. Rinse and repeat. No planning or strategy is required. And yet, they win with it.

Some lessons from blitz, Does playing blitz chess really hinder your progression (sic) as a chess player?, Blitz Chess - Is it Ruining Our Minds?.

"Even in the heat of a middlegame battle the master still has to bear in mind the outlines of a possible future ending." (Bronstein)"

European tournament standards differ from American

In America, tournament directors are not held to the same annoyingly high standards as in Europe where all TD's are well-trained. You can't become a TD there by just paying fees. You study and pass multiple tests in front of a serious commission.

A chess TD in Europe is constantly vigilant and frequently intervenes, watching everything and noting violations, similar to American basketball, baseball, and football referees. But in American chess tournaments, the TD may see problems but doesn't interfere with play unless requested to by a player. Normal in USCF practice. It's practically a totally different chess culture in Europe.

Suppose a European Qualification Committee member, let's say in a Zurich chess club, noticed irregularities in a rated tournament. Players noisily eating potato chips, slurping soups over the board, almost using the board as a plate or a tray, talking during the game, not keeping score sheets, making moves with one hand and pressing the clock with the other, offering a draw more than once, etc. All of which regularly happens in RCC.

If the TD there condones that type of behavior, he would lose his TD certificate and the club would lose its license. They would be told, "You can have good time here socializing and playing chess, but forget about being affiliated with the national federation and FIDE. Just enjoy yourselves and you don't need any TDs at all."

The Rochester Chess Center must turn a profit to survive. But in a socialist country like Europe, businessmen are often well-dressed philanderers, supported by their rich contessa wives. What keeps the Rochester Chess Center afloat is snack bar sales. A genuine business, of course.

"Life like Chess is about knowing to do the right move at the right time." (Kaleb Rivera)"

You might be a low master if you...

"It is not enough to be a good player... you must also play well." (Siegbert Tarrasch)"

You might be a high master if you...

"A Chess game is a dialogue, a conversation between a player and his opponent. Each move by the opponent may contain threats or be a blunder, but a player cannot defend against threats or take advantage of blunders if he does not first ask himself: What is my opponent planning after each move?" (Bruce A. Moon)"

Free Internet Chess Server -what a joke!

FICS or the Free Internet Chess Server, the oldest chess server, was started in 1992. The code powered many national chess servers as well as the ICC Internet Chess Club. It's a dopey, quaint relic from the past. Understandably not much serious chess is played. Most FICS players don't necessarily like chess, but prefer to chat with friends and form relationships. It's next to impossible to get a game or find a worthwhile opponent. The client interfaces are not even browser-ready.

Channels include: Books and Knowledge ● Computer Games ● Movies ● Quacking & Other Duck Topics ● Sports ● Music ● Mathematics & Physics ● Philosophy ● Literature & Poetry ● Politics ● The Chat channel ● The Youth channel ● The Old Timers channel ● The Guest Chat channel ● The Chess channel ● Beginner Chess ● Discussions on coaching and teaching chess ● Computer Chess ● General computer discussions ● Macintosh/Apple ● Unix/Linux ● DOS/Windows 3.1/95/NT ● VMS ● Programming discussions

If you want to play chess online for free in a sensible environment, instead select a modern, well-designed chess server like lichess.org. There will be 1000s of players there. And no BS.

"Why must I lose to this idiot?." (Aron Nimzovich)"

CCCR buys building in Rochester

Community Chess Club has announced the acquisition of a building in downtown Rochester, Minnesota, an area with a more understanding tax environment. The concourse has shops, restaurants, and a health bar. One hundred and fifty individual units will house chessplayers at a room rate of $5.00 USD per day. Extended stays are OK, provided that your CCCR, RCC, and USCF memberships are current, and that your USCF rating doesn't decrease by more than fifty points in any three month period.

The present occupancy rate is 75%, and consists of businesses renting office space at premium prices, which defrays our costs. But chessplayers have exclusive use of seven floors for skittles, bughouse, serious tournament play, or just lounging around and eating pizza. No smoking, no alcohol, no drugs, no religion. Use of the sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, and wifi-ready recreation area is included.

Demographic projections show that a proposed Las Vegas-style Nightly Chess League (NCL) will draw a weekly total of a thousand (1000) players, Monday through Friday. It'll be played in three sections: open, under-1800, and unrated. We believe that an upscale clientele will prefer our events to the bar and restaurant scene in recessionary times. Rochester, Minnesota is a bit like Bagdad but without all the glitter.

"If you can memorize and make twenty book moves, it doesn't mean you know how to play chess." - David Bronstein."

Grandmaster Kenneth Rogoff

ken_rogoff

American chess grandmaster Kenneth Rogoff grew up a mile from the Rochester Chess Center. His comments on his chess career and chess games are available. The Boylston Chess Club Weblog has an Up Close & Personal story.

He was chief economist of the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2003, and is now an economist at Harvard University. His views on the current (2008) financial crisis and other financial matters are widely aired on National Public Radio and the BBC Radio World Service. His economic insights appear regularly in Newsweek, New York Times, and The Financial Times. He served as an economics adviser to the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, U.S. Senator John McCain.

In 2010 he co-authored This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly with Carmen M. Reinhart, reviewed by the New York Times Business and Economy section. Elsewhere he writes of the imminent Chinese Property Collapse and wonders, "Can Good Emerge From the BP Oil Spill?"

On April 27, 2010 the National Academy of Sciences announced the election of 72 new members, including Professor Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard's Department of Economics. Professor Rogoff will join the Academy's 2,097 active members as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. Bloomberg has some accounts of Rogoff's recent activities. CSPAN has hosted some of his panel appearances and lectures.

"When I asked Fischer why he had not played a certain move in our game, he replied: ‘Well, you laughed when I wrote it down!'" (Mikhail Tal)"

Matt Parry plays chess in Vung Tau, Vietnam

[Oct. 4, 2008 Matt Parry Vietnam Tournament] CCCR supported Matt's trip representing the USA at the World Junior Chess Ch. in Vung Tau, Vietnam. Three round Swiss System (2pm, 4pm, 6pm) G/60. Special Entry Fee $20.00, $10 donated to the Parry family, $10 to prizes. Matt won the tournament, the cash prize and got $200.00 to help defray costs of the trip. Update 10/24/2008: At the event midpoint, Matt is doing well, winning when expected to, and losing games to much higher rated titled players, GM/IM/FM. He finished with +5 =0 -6.

Matt Parry has contributed his trip summary from the 2008 World Junior Chess Ch. in Vung Tau, Vietnam.

"Many Chess players were surprised when after the game, Fischer quietly explained: 'I had already analyzed this possibility' in a position which I thought was not possible to foresee from the opening. (Mikhail Tal)"