It may interest the chess world to know that this sort of thing is
more-than-common in bridge.

Of the top 16 teams in the U.S. Championships (which are not limited
to U.S. players, and draw many of the strongest players in the world)
13 or 14 will consist of 3 to 5 hired professionals and one paying
sponsor. Putting it in a a chess context, I would say the amateurs
vary in skill from around 1400 to 2400.

Indeed, 4 such sponsors have won the world team title (the team title
is considered the most prestegious in bridge) and another sponsor has
a silver and a bronze.

Of course, bridge is different in that:

a) Each player must play 1/2 of the time in US championships, 1/3 of
the time in world champsionships. So with 4 playing at a time, any
player can in effect be as little as 1/12 of the team.
b) Bridge remains a game of probabilities. It is not a game where one
little slip against a stronger opponent means inevitable defeat.
c) It is a partnership game. While you can't coach your partner while
playing, you can play in such a way as to give away small amounts of
equity to give your partner easier decisions. When playing with
weaker partners, the pros routinely do this.

Alas, though, bridge teams are invariably known by the name of the
captain (or the country if playing in a world championship where teams
are restricted to one or two entries per country). They don't let us
get imaginative with names.






On Feb 19, 10:30*pm, samsloan wrote:
"No Longer Searching for Bobby Fischer" wins "Best Team Name" Prize at
US Amateur Team East

Contrary to expectations, the US Amateur Team East Championship, also
known as the World Amateur Team Championship, held February 16-18,
2008 in Parsippany NJ, set the attendance record for this type of
event. There were 1248 players and 291 teams, both records, which
proves that the financial difficulties and other problems the USCF is
facing is not having a dampening effect on the membership.

The GGGg team won first prize in the chess championship. The prize for
"Best Team Name" was won by "No Longer Searching for Bobby Fischer".
It was also one of the strongest teams and one of the leaders up until
the end.

The most controversial team and also the winning team was GGGg. This
shocking team consisted of three Super-Grandmasters and one child who
was a complete beginner. The grandmasters were Zvaid Izoria, rated
2714, Eugene Perelshteyn, rated 2592, and Roman Dzindzichashvili,
rated 2586. The child-beginner was Stephen Fanning, age 6, rated 178.

The rules of the US Amateur East are that the average rating of all
four players must be under 2200. There used to be an additional rule
that the board four player could not be rated more than 1000 points
below the board three player. However, that rule had been forgotten
and not published for several years, so there was nothing to stop the
team consisting of three grandmasters and a beginner from entering.

That rule will certainly be changed for next years tournament.

Had that rule been in effect, Stephen Fanning would have been counted
as a 1586 player and the average rating of all the players would have
been 2371, far above the limit.

However, the GGGg team was not guaranteed of victory. If even one of
the grandmasters lost a game, then a match would have been at best
drawn. The grandmasters had to win or at least draw all of their 18
games to be guaranteed victory.

As it turned out, none of them lost a game. Dzindzichashvili won all
six of his games. Izoria and Perelshteyn won five and drew one each
but the draws were not in the same round so the team won all six
matches.

The intrepid New York Times Reporter, Dylan Mc Clain, rated 2304,
played on a team while taking notes for what will no doubt be a report
about this event in the New York Times soon. He scored five wins and
one draw.

There were a few controversies. Jerry Hanken got into an unusual two
bishops against king endgame (the first one I had ever seen in my
entire life). When his opponent, Rilwan Ameen, 1884, mistakenly
announced that it was stalemate, Hanken got upset. Hanken then missed
a mate in three but managed to find a mate in 5.

Then, in the next round, USCF Master Daniel Yeager, 2304, had a bishop
and knight against king endgame against Igor Schneider, 2389. Yeager
obviously did not know the technique. He foundered around and seemed
to be on the verge of exceeding the 50-move rule. Fortunately for him,
Igor Schneider did not seem to be playing the best defense, so Yeager
checkmated him just under the 50-move limit. Yeager scored a perfect
6-0 in the event.

The US Amateur Team East is normally also an informal congress of
Chess Politicians. Almost every year, the USCF Executive Director and
several of the board members and candidates for office have attended.

However, this year NONE of the current board members nor the Executive
Director attended, except that USCF President Bill Goichberg came
before round four to make a brief speech asking for donations to
support Gata Kamsky in his preparations for the matches for the World
Chess Championship and also to ask for donations for the College Chess
Tournament of Champions Goichberg is organizing this year.

There did not seem to be much enthusiasm for Goichberg's pitches for
funds.

As a joke, one of the players pointed out to Goichberg that he had
forgotten to bring the plaque to award Sam Sloan for "Shining Light on
the United States Chess Federation". Sloan had been awarded that honor
at the 2007 US Amateur Team Championship. Goichberg did not consider
that attempt at a joke to be funny.

Although NONE of the current board members attended USATE, many former
board members and former presidents were present, including all of the
board members who had been voted out of office in the 2007 elections:
Don Schultz, Beatriz Marinello and Sam Sloan. Other former presidents
or board members present included Frank Brady, Steve Shutt, Steve
Doyle, Leroy Dubeck and Joe Ippolito. In addition, former Executive
Director Al Lawrence was present and playing on a team.

Sorry, but we just cannot fail to mention the pulchritude parade.
There was an exceptional number of very beautiful women present. A
heated debate was going on as to whether Ettie Nikolova, rated 2032,
is the most the most beautiful girl in the entire world, or just the
most beautiful on the right side of the tournament playing hall.
Because, if the left side of the playing hall is considered, there was
Magda Matyszewska and also Alena Kuzniatsova playing on a team
provocatively named REAL GENTLEMEN WOULD RESIGN.

The *Alena Kuzniatsova team won the Prize for the Best All-Girls Team.

Perhaps you will have noticed something about the names of these
future chess-beauty contest winners. They don't grow them like that in
America any more!

Sam Sloan