"Rules of the Game" - by Amy Tan - 1.6 MB PDF
A 5 - 7 minutle download with a 56K modem.

"Planet Kirsan" - by Michael Specter from The New Yorker, April 24, 2006 - 4 MB PDF
A 13 - 15 minutle download with a 56K modem.

Well, another school year has almost come and gone. With that, another chess season full of the most important tournaments for all scholastic players, the National and State Championships, has passed us by. Although I hope that most of you will use this summer as an opportunity to jump a level, I know that vacation time is the main thought on most people's minds. So before you jump on the boat that sails away from the land of chess for a few months, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge a few of the outstanding performances, the funny moments, and the overall progress that was made by the "Master Trekkers" over this past year.

Unlike many of the previous years, this chess year started with a bang of energy and exuberance at the first Trek of the season on September 10th. Many of the regulars made their presence known early in the fall by coming back from summer vacation with some new found experience under their belt. Some had attended the Western Invitational Chess Camp and played in the Ye Olde Pueblo Open in Tucson. Others had journeyed to Vegas for the National Open, and just about everyone played in the U.S. Open, which was held in Phoenix for the first time in 25 years. School had begun, and as many players started their fall off with some strong performances, it became clear to ACE that we would have to provide some opportunities for these young chess-crazies to gain rating points and up their level of competition. Adults were (and still are) given a cheap registration fee in exchange for offering up some rating points and experience to the masses.

By October 29th the Master Treks were in full swing at Arizona State University's Tempe Campus. Gary Adams and Michael McGrath had quickly become regulars at the Treks, but although they seemed to be enjoying themselves, the veterans were yet to have any great performances to remind the kids who was boss. Just when it seemed as though youth would overtake experience, two other local veterans, Derek Mead and Larry Roberson, impressively won all four games in their respective sections, surprising the kids and everyone else in the process. It was on!

Steve Stubenrauch	Manolito Ferrer	Wesley Fullmer

Most of the younger players who would be traveling to Denver opted to take the next weekend off for rest, but there still were a couple performances at the Governor's Cup worth noting. Kevin Mead dominated the K-3 section by scoring a perfect 9 wins and no losses, while John Williams won the Junior High and High School combined sections with 7.5 out of 9 with three draws and no losses.

It would be hard for the top Primary and Elementary players to out do their State Championship performances at the Nationals in Denver, but they almost did just that. Starting again with the youngest sections, Max Bannister went 6 and 1 and came in 5th place. His only loss was to the highest rated player, 7 year old and 1580 rated Christopher Wu. After suffering the loss to Christopher, Max was paired in the last round with my only other student in the section, Andrew Zhao (it was a shame). After losing, Andrew ended with a score of 5 and 2 and tied for 25th place. The other two Arizona State Co-Champions, Antonio Ferris and Yash Pershad, were also paired with each other in the last round. After a long game that ended in a draw, they finished in 14th and 15th place respectively.

In the K-3 section, Brennen Lee was the top Arizona finisher. He ended with a 6 and 1 score which included 2 draws. This put him tied (along with 9 others) for first place. He had good tie-breaks because of the competition he faced, and therefore was given the 4th place trophy. Shunta Hashimoto was not far behind with 5 and 1/2 out of 7 as he grabbed the 11th place trophy. Although the rest of the Rancho Solano Greenway team, Connor Davis and Kevin Mead, did not have their best tournaments, they finished solidly with 4 points each. This helped their team to come in the top 10 at 8th place. One of the highlights of the K-3 section was Shunta's upset of the #2 seed in the 4th round, where he crushed 1760 rated Fernando Mendez as white.

The K-5 section may have been the most exciting of all with three Trekkers (Richard Ding, Peter Fenger, and Nathan Ogata) all with a chance to win the tournament. Nathan had already drawn one of the top players, and he won his 5th round to head into the last day with 4 and 1/2 points out of 5. Richard won his 5th round game to stay perfect, but Peter lost a tough game on board 3 of that section. Unfortunately, Richard lost his morning game on Sunday, but he finished strong with a 6 and 1 score to grab 3rd place. Peter drew his morning round, but won his last to finish with 5 and 1/2 out of 7 and take 15th. Nathan, by winning his morning game, put himself with a chance to take the National Championship. However, after missing a crushing chance in the Giuco Piano opening, he had to fight all game from a worse position. In the end, he was unable to hold on. He finished, like Peter, with 5 and 1/2 out of 7 and took 10th over all.

Finally, the K-6 was not our best section. The Arizona favorites, Ryan Mead, Manoj Pannikar, Michael Prem, and Mark Webb, all finished with 4 and 1/2 out of 7; however, Randel Eng had a good performance and finished with 5 out of 7, which was good enough to tie for 25th place.

I know that for me, this was a year full of many changes in both my professional and personal life. My marriage to Shauna and the birth of our baby boy (Nash!) were just a couple of the minor changes. After being forced to take a year and a half sabbatical from my own mission of becoming a Grand Master due to medical issues, I am now back on the road to chess excellence. It was hard at first, but since I never stopped teaching I was able to stay in touch with my goals. For this, I need to thank my students for sticking with a coach that might or might not have been on the road to burning out. As a younger and clearly less experienced coach than many others around the state, I am under no illusion as to what one of my main connections with my students is. They recognized that I, like them, understand what it is to be in a pressure filled over-the-board situation. I am still trying to become "All I Can Be", and they know that I will continue to do all I can to help them improve not just as their coach or teacher, but as their partner...