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National News:
Chess World Mourns Loss of Grandmaster Igor Ivanov

Tournament Membership Offers Low Cost Option for Rated Play

USCF Revises Olympiad Qualification Rules

World News:
Nakamura Eliminated in World Cup; Ivanchuk Trails in Second Round

Mamedyarov, Paehtz Score World Junior Titles

Chess In the Media: Chess Stories Across the USA and Around the World

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National News

Chess World Mourns Loss of Grandmaster Igor Ivanov

Born in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) on January 8, 1947, Igor learned chess at age 5. By age 14 Igor was not only an accomplished chess player but talented with playing the piano and the cello. The death of Igor’s mother resulted in him being placed in an orphanage at age 14. His recognized musical talents afforded him many privileges which allowed him more time to study chess. Igor chose at age 18 to pursue a career as a chess professional.

Ivanov was offered a position as a professional chess player in which Tajikistan which he quickly accepted. Ivanov went on to beat reigning World Champion Anatoly Karpov in 1979. This victory earned Igor his first trip abroad to play in the Capablanca Memorial in Cuba in 1980. On the return trip which had a stopover in Newfoundland, Igor asked and received political asylum by the Canadian government.

Igor moved to the United States, settling eventually in St. George, Utah. Among many events which Igor participated in he won nine of the U.S. Chess Federation’s Grand Prix series only to realize 24 years later, in 2005, he actually achieved his Grand Master title.

GM Ivanov succumbed to cancer November 17 in St. George and is survived by his wife, Elizabeth. Igor’s determination proved to be remarkable with his playing this year in the National Open in Las Vegas, Nevada in June and the U.S. Open in Phoenix, Arizona this past August.

Funeral will be held for Igor in St. George on November 28 and there will be a tribute to him at the St. George Chess Club the evening of December 16 followed by a chess tournament in his honor on December 17. For additional details contact Alan Crooks at alan@alancrooks.com.

Tournament Membership Offers Low Cost Option for Rated Play

The Tournament Membership (TM) is back! An idea last tried 15 years ago, it has returned in an improved form that we expect will stimulate rated activity, especially helping chess clubs and smaller tournaments.

The TM is available for $10 to satisfy the USCF membership requirement for any USCF-rated event of four rounds or less. Longer events qualify for this TM only if they are quick-rated, or if all games are played on weekdays. For events that do not qualify for the $10 TM, a $20 TM is available.

Each TM entitles the player to one issue of Chess Life (US, Canada or Mexico addresses only), plus the option of applying the TM fee, within 90 days, to a one-year Adult, Promotional Adult, Senior, Sustaining or Life membership. No more than one TM fee may be applied to the cost of any one-year membership.

Note that in addition to the TM, other reduced dues options remain in effect: 1) New members and those whose memberships last expired 2004 or before may join for a year for $38 ($36 online). 2) Anyone may join through an affiliate for 6 months for $27. Both of these options include a monthly Chess Life.

USCF Revises Olympiad Qualification Rules

The USCF Executive Board approved the following changes to Olympiad qualification rules at its November 5-6, 2006 meeting. The first paragraph applies to other invitational events as well, and is unchanged except for the revision date.

USCF INVITATIONAL EVENT REQUIREMENTS - (revised November 2005)
The following are the general requirements for USCF national and international invitations. Contact the USCF office for more details. Whenever possible, invitations shall be issued several months prior to the scheduled beginning of the event. Eligibility for USCF invitations shall be based on several factors including: rating, age (if applicable), activity, and residency. Players must be USCF members in good standing at the time of invitation. Reasonable efforts shall be made to accommodate players with expired memberships who would otherwise qualify for USCF invitations.

RATING
Players shall be ranked by invitational rating, calculated as follows:
3. FIDE Olympiad and FIDE Women’s Olympiad:
For all except one team member, the following method shall be used: Average of the 1) current published USCF rating at time of invitation; 2) current published FIDE rating at time of invitation; 3) average of peak published USCF rating and peak published FIDE rating, both going back 24 months from time of invitation.

After invitational ratings have been calculated for the highest rated players for all but one spot on the team, the following method shall be used to determine the final spot: Average of the 1) current published USCF rating at time of invitation; 2) current published FIDE rating at time of invitation. To this number shall be added the following adjustment points based on the player’s age as of January 1 of the Olympiad year: 5 points for age 25, 10 points age 24, 15 points age 23, 20 points age 22, 25 points age 21, 30 points age 20, 35 points age 19, 40 points age 18, 50 points age 17, 60 points age 16 or below.

NOTE: For the 2006 Olympiad only, instead of using published USCF ratings as part of each formula, the latest ratings at uschess.org/msa as of March 17, 2006 shall be used. If any contending players have games played but not yet rated as of that date, they should notify the USCF office of these results by March 22, and the office will adjust the March 17 MSA ratings for invitational purposes based on these games.

BOARD ORDER
Board order for the teams shall be determined by the team captain.

QUALIFICATION OF US CHAMPIONS
Automatic qualification of the U.S. Champions is currently not in effect, but the issue will be reviewed after we have a decision on the date and format of the 2006 U.S. Championship.

ACTIVITY REQUIREMENT
In the 12 months prior to computation of invitational rating, players must have completed at least one FIDE-rated or USCF Grand Prix tournament of 6 or more rounds in the United States. Half point byes are permissible so long as 6 games are actually played, or are unplayed wins. Tournaments rated only by the USCF’s Quick Chess rating system do not count toward the activity requirement.

For the 2006 Olympiad only, a FIDE-rated or Grand Prix tournament of 5 or more rounds is acceptable.

ACTIVITY POINTS
During the 12 month period prior to the computation of invitational rating, players should have played at least 30 games against opponents rated 2200 or above (2100 or above for the Women’s Olympiad) in FIDE-rated or USCF Grand Prix events. Foreign tournaments are acceptable. For opponents with no established USCF rating, those with a FIDE rating of 2100 or above (2000 or above for the Women’s Olympiad) are counted. Tournaments rated only by the USCF’s Quick Chess rating system do not count. Unplayed games do not count.

Players who complete all games in the US Open without taking byes are guaranteed a minimum of 6 credits. While unplayed wins are not credited, they are adequate toward having completed the tournament.

Players who do not play sufficient games will have one invitational rating point deducted for each game by which they are short of 30 games.

For the 2006 Olympiad only, the standard shall be 20 games rather than 30. One invitational rating point shall be deducted for each game by which the player is short of 20 games.