Another look

(Photos sourced from lizzyknowsall.blogspot.com and Metro Chess FB account)

BY: BOBBY ANG

(As published in Chess Piece, BusinessWorld, 11 March 2011

Jimmy Quon Memorial
California Market Center, Los Angeles, USA
January 19-23, 2011

Final Standings
1. GM Mark Paragua PHI 2520, 7.5/9
2. GM Melikset Khachiyan USA 2518, 6.0/9
3. IM Mackenzie Molner USA 2458, 5.0/9
4-7. GM Dejan Bojkov BUL 2544, IM Jacek Stopa POL 2451, IM-elect Daniel Naroditsky USA 2419, IM Zhanibek Amanov KAZ 2421, 4.5/9
8. IM Tim Taylor USA 2314, 3.5/9
9. IM-elect Robby Adamson USA 2349, 3.0/9
10. NM Alessandro Steinfl ITA 2209, 2.0/9

Let’s dwell just a little bit more on this tournament victory of GM Mark Paragua. It was held in memory of Jimmy Quon, a very well-liked chess coach and blitz player extraordinaire. He is proof that chess is not only about playing the game -- it is also about instruction, enjoyment, journalism, theoretical research, etc etc .... and a very much ignored and quickly forgotten discipline -- chess organization.

This tournament is not only a memorial to Jimmy Quon but also a testimony to the hardworking chess organizer National Master Ankit Gupta.

NM Ankit Gupta is a United States Chess Federation Life Master that learned to play chess at the age of seven. He was born in New Delhi, India, and currently resides in Los Angeles, California. He emigrated from India with his family to the United States in 1991, and more recently moved to the greater Los Angeles area in 2006 for his academic studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. He originally learned chess under the tutelage of NM Michael Arne and reached the 2100 level under Arne’s guidance. Ankit took a hiatus from chess for a few years before returning to tournament play in 2009. That same year, he started taking lessons from Grandmaster Ronen Har-Zvi, the U-16 World Youth Champion in 1992. Within 11 months, Ankit has increased his rating by more than 250 rating points, and is now rated over 2300 USCF and 2250 FIDE. He attributes much of his recent rating increase due to the constant guidance of his instructor and friend, GM Har-Zvi.

Ankit has an interest in various research fields especially those involving the polymer chemistry industry. Recently, he has been collaborating with GM Ronen Har-Zvi on a chess book, "Playing the Petroff," under the publication of Everyman Chess that will be released in the Spring of 2011. Recently, together with Michael Belcher, formed Metropolitan Chess, an organization based in Los Angeles to promote the game and offer chances at GM/IM norms, and high-level chess tournaments in an effort to bring greater chess opportunities to Los Angeles, California, USA.

You know how to jumpstart (once again!) chess development in the Philippines? Encourage private organizers like Mr. Gupta is doing in Los Angeles. Why should the NCFP be the one to do all the organizing?

Without organizers like him we will not have great chess like this.

Paragua, Mark -- Bojkov, Dejan [B14]
Jimmy Quon Memorial Los Angeles, 22.01.2011
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Is a bad plan better than no plan at all? The debate goes on, but the following game can be used in defenxe of this theory. In a Caro-Kann White ran out of ideas, started shuffling his pieces back and forth, and rather than agree to the draw Mark finds a way to go for the king.

This is not to say that White is a weak player. Mark’s opponent in this game, Zhanibek Amanov from Kazakhstan, was the silver medalist in the 2009 Asian Junior Championship, behind India’s Aswin Jayaram.

Amanov, Zhanibek (2421) -- Paragua, Mark (2520) [B18]
Jimmy Quon Memorial Los Angeles (5), 21.01.2011
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