The Midland County Chess Club is a group of chess enthusiasts that meets every Monday night at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 2617 West Loop 250 N, Midland, Texas 79705. We are an informal group, and one and all are welcome to participate. We are an affiliate of the United States Chess Federation. Please feel free to come to our meetings or contact us via email.

2009 Adult Champion Charles J. Vetter	2009 Junior Champion Jared Culpepper
2010 Adult Champion Bruce McAdoo	2010 Junior Champion Joel Cortez

2009 Adult Champion Bruce McAdoo	2009 Junior Champion Joel Cortez
2010 Adult Champion ?	2010 Junior Champion ?

Results of Gnomatic Importance:
Congratulations and fanfares go to Bruce McAdoo who won all six of his games last Monday night to take a clear first place in the 2010 Laughing Gnome Open. That victory proclaims Bruce the Five Minute Champion of the Midland County Chess Club for 2010.

This is Bruce's second consecutive title in the club as he is currently also the holder ofr the Bill Knight Memorial Cup signifying the club's 29 Minute Champion. He won that month long tournament last September.

Yet titles or no, Bruce remains the same Bruce, kind to newcomers and willing to show young and old alike whatever that weird opening it is that he plays.

Bruce went into the final week half a point behind Rory Valle 15.5 - 15, but it was a rough final week for Rory. Rory missed the first round of week six due to an accident tying up traffic in Odessa. That put him a point and a half behind Bruce when they played in round two. Bruce clinched the Gnome with his two victories over Rory in round two, and then in round three Rory fell to third pl;ace when he dropped two to Charlie Vetter who used a 6-0 final night to vault into second place.

Joel Cortes easily won the kids section with 14.5 points and finished fourth overall.

Over twenty five different players participated in the 2010 Gnome.

In the "what could have been" department young Carter Maddox was a stranger until the last week of the Gnome, and then won all six of his rounds on Monday.

Here's the Top Ten Standings (kids underlined)

The gnome now goes back to his lair until next February when Bruce will defend his prestigious Laughing Gnome Open Title.

Midland College:
is scheduled to hold its intramural championship on March 23. Anyone associated with the college can play.

See you all Monday night at 7.

The Laughing Gnome Open Entering Final Rounds:
With onenight to go in the Laughing Gnome Open, the Midland Chess Club will name its five minute winner for 2010 after the final six rounds this Monday night. Rory Valle has moved back in front with 15.5 points due to his perfect 6-0 score last week. He moved half a point ahead of Bruce McAdoo who went 5-1, splitting two games with third place Charlie Vetter, who has fallen out of the running with 12 points.

Bruce and Rory will play each other in the first two rounds Monday night starting at 8:15.

In the scholastic division, it is all over with Joel Cortes so far ahead with his 9.5 points that he can coast on his laurels.

See you all at the Final Round of the Gnome.

Scholastic Tournament Results:
Peter Rodenko, a sixth grader at Trinity school won all four of his games to win the Permian Basin Chess Club's most recent scholastic tournament held this Saturday in Odessa. Wolfgang Simmons, a sixth grader from Lubbock took second place to Peter who gained a nice 201 rating points in his second tournament.

The best game of the tourney was when the first and second place winners fought it out. Peter had a very strong attack against Wolfgang's king, but Peter's king was stuck in the middle of the board and if Peter's attack faltered for a move it could have been him checkmated. In the end the attack led to mate and Peter's big tournament. When he got home even his two llamas, Machu and Pichu were spitting their congratulations.

The Gnome Continues:
We're halfway through the Laughing Gnome Open, the Midland Chess Club's annual five minute championship, and the pressure is starting to get to some of the competitors. Two of the top contenders for the youth championship have reported bouts of sickness the past week. Is it the cold and flu season, or is it the pressure we all know that comes with competing for the Gnome?

In the adult section, there's a new leader this week as Bruce McAdoo has vaulted into first place with 10 points of a possible 12. Bruce moved into first by posting five wins in his six rounds last week His only blemish was a loss to Rory Valle who had first place after week one. Rory is now half a point behind with 9.5 points after getting clipped with two losses out of six this week. He had the one loss tho Bruce and Joel Cortes also clipped him for a point.

With the pressure building between the two Permian Basin behemoths, bad feelings is only to be expected, so Bruce was asked about his first place standing. "Yeah, I got lucky tonight," he said, but the real fury came when deposed leader Rory was informed that Bruce had passed him. "Yeah, he sure did," Rory said, adding "he really playedwell tonight." (As a journalist I must interpose that quotes like those just make me sick. We're trying to write a story here people. Help me out a little.)

Charlie Vetter is a point and a half behind the leader with 8.5 points and Paul Newbury is 2.5 points back at 7.5.

In the Division of Utes, Joel Cortes has vaulted into first place with 6.5 points gaining four of six in week two. He's opened a 2.5 point gap between Adam Ball and Darren Maguire each tied with four points.

So far 19 players have taken part in Gnome 2010.

Week Three of The Gnome continues on President's Day at 8:15. Don't dare miss the pressure that is the Gnome.

Kid's Tournament:
The Permian Basin Chess Club is hosting their next kids' tournament this coming Saturday at the church in Odessa. Check out their website for details at pbcc.50gigs.net for the gory details. It's a four rounder with trophies at stake for a $5 entry fee starting at 10 am.

Club News:
Even the President has gotten into the excitement that is the annual Laughing Gnome Open to crown the Midland Chess Club's five minute champion.

After the first week, it's Oddessan Rory Valle who's dancing in the garden with a 5.5 score out of 6. Rory has a clear first place with three weeks to go. In round one he got 1.5 points from Scott Ohlman before reeling in four wins in a row against Paul Newbury and Willie Callo. When asked how he could play so well, the Odessan said "well who can't get up to play his best for the Gnome?" And isn't that the question we all should ask ourselves every day of the year.

Midlanders Bruce McAdoo and Charlie Vetter are 1/2 point behind Rory with five points each after splitting their two games. When asked why he lost the first game to Bruce, Charlie scoffed, "like you didn't see my horoscope. Yeah, right."

Tied for third and fourth are Scott, and Adam Ball with four points each. Adam leads the ute category, ahead of Joel Cortes' 2.5.

Don't miss week two of the Gnome. Games start at 8:15. It's practice from 7-8:15 and 9:15 to closing, but from 8:15 to 9:15, come join us for the Gnome. You'll be glad you did.

Odessa Tourney:
The Odessans held their monthly adult tourney today, and it was a Lubbockian Josh Osbourn who came away with highest laurels. Odessans Steve Dudley and Ignacio Garcia tied for second place.

Kids Tournament:
The next youth tourney will be Saturday, Feb 20 in Odessa. If you're a kid, this is your chance to get in some rated games.

Club Finances:
We got our statement from Edward Jones. Thanks to the President's prudent handling of the national budget, our investment account has gone up from $ 913 to $ 919. On the other hand, the club's stimulus package, which consisted of buying a dozen fancy digital clocksand paying our $ 40 annual dues to the USCF, has left our rolaids bottle of petty cash in the hole for about $190. I'm going to try to pay down the interest free loan little by little rather than have to cash in part of our investment account. Our money is in an asset allocation mutual fund with Putnam Investments with Troy Keel as our broker.

Special Announcement of Enormous Importance:
This week will bring the return of the most anticipated tournament of the Midland County Chess Club. This Monday starts the four week Laughing Gnome Open which will crown the 2010 Midland Chess Club five-minute champion. Everyone is not just invited, but expected to be there. You don't want to have no answer when you're asked where you were when the Gnome began.

Club News:
Who could be creative with only one week to go before the Gnome, so with a very big turnout, the club organized a hasty Mad Scramble. The Mad Scramble came down to a tie with Bruce McAdoo and Joel Cortes each sporting an amazing eight wins each. With Barnes and Nobles announcing the store closing shortly, normally we would have left it at a tie, but with a week to go before the Gnome, could a tie be good enough? Nay said the club and a five minute playoff was fought while the rest of the club picked up equipment and chairs. And in the end it was Bruce with an overtime win in the last meeting before the Gnome.

Quotes Coming in:

President Obama "Originally we were going to move the Gnome to New York, but costs and security concerns have made us change our mind so the Gnome remains in Midland where it belongs."

Peyton Manning "It's just hard to concentrate when everyone's asking me about the Gnome.I feel like my great grandfather Peyton Manning at Chickamagua when he saw that hole in the Yankee line. I think he'd tell me to forget my responsibilities and charge right to Barnes and Nobles"

Conan O'Brien "Thirty three million dollars AND I get time off to watch the Gnome. Can life get any better than this?"

Last Year's Gnome: Early betting lines are looking for new champions this year. The adult Gnome was won by fan favorite Charlie Vetter, but current Las Vegas oddsmakers had Rory Valle the likely champion this year though a late charge of support has come in for Bruce McAdoo since his win in the Mad Scramble. In the junior division, Joel Cortes is the early favorite to depose Jared Culpepper from his Gnomatic title. When asked his opinion, Joel stopped and gathered his thoughts before controlling his emotions enough to offer his opinion. Finally his prediction came out and it was just two words. "Shot Up," he said with a nod.

Time and Place:
The Gnome begins at 8:15 and goes six rounds a night for four Mondays. You can't play the same person two weeks in a row. Pairings will be like a normal Swiss Tournament. Please no bribes or payola attempts. We don't want any of the ugly incidents that the Gnome has been known for over the years to reappear and bring state interference once again into the club.

New Chess Club:
Hillander School had its first student chess meeting this week thanks to new coach Scott Ohlman. The club is for fourth through sixth graders and hopefully we'll soon be seeing the best of those rotten kids at the club.

See you all as the countdown gets closer to Monday night.

Club News:
It's good to be back home at Barnes and Nobles. Last week they put us in the back away from our usual side spot by the science fictions. It was a good turnout, especially for a holiday, and hopefully everyone found us. If you're worried about holidays, we'll pretty much always be meeting each Monday night unless it's Valentine's Day or Christmas Eve.

We bought a dozen new digital clocks for the club over Christmas. The clocks are just the same as the ones the Odessa Club has been using, but ours are much nicer.

Laughing Gnome Open:
We're just a week away from the 2010 Laughing Gnome Open. That prestigious tournament coronates the Midland Chess Club's five minute champion. For each of the meeting dates in the month of February we'll play the Laughing Gnome Open starting at 8:15. Each night you play three different opponents two games each for a total of six five-minute games a night. You can't play the same opponent two weeks in a row.

If your brain is slow and your five minute game is out of practice, this week will be the last chance to practice for the Laughing Gnome Open.

Last year's champions were Charlie Vetter in the adult section and Jared Culpepper in the kids' section, but early lines in Vegas put Rory Valle and Joel Cortes as the early favorites for this year's prestigious matchup.

West Texas Regionals:
Thirty one of the best scholastic players from West Texas came to Midland for the Texas Chess Association's West Texas Regionals recently.

Joel Cortes of Trinity School in Midland finished with five wins in five games to claim the title of 2010 West Texas Scholastic Champion. Joel played very well and was at his combinational best during the tourney. When asked why he did so well, he said "It's because I'm so smart."

There was a three way tie for second - fourth place between defending champion Jonathan Barrington of Lawn, Texas, and Carter Maddox and Jared Culpepper, both of Trinity School in Midland.

The tournament went very well with lots of extra things like basketball in the gym, rock band, a live rock band at lunch, and a scavenger hunt. Thanks to Trinity and the Trinity teachers who volunteered to make sure no kids had any tragic chess injuries, and thanks to Giri Dragun for working out a healthy, yet tasty lunch for the kids on site. There were a lot of moving parts that came together for the tournament to work well.

Get Smart - Play Chess:
SPICE in Lubbock held their Spring Get Smart - Play Chess kids tournament this weekend and it got off to a very delayed start, and there's only one excuse for a tournament starting this late. Their excuse was they were expecting 30-40 kids and over 100 showed up. That's a pretty good excuse.

Congratulations to Susan Polgar on the growth of the Lubbock program for scholastic players. It was wonderful seeing so many happy kids using their brains without hit points being involved. They ran out of sets, clocks and space, but the Lubbock group reacted well, especially the college kids. Sets were borrowed, another room was found, pizza was brought in, and the world got happier. Best wishes for Chase Watters who had to do the pairings for a 100 + kid tournament when they were expecting half that number. Hopefully he's not seeing half point byes in his sleep.

Trinity School in Midland brought a five man team and we did very well. We played up in the high school division, and Joel Cortes won the high school title with a 4-0 record.

Adam Ball had his best ever tournament finishing with three wins and a loss and was really thinking very deeply into the positions.

Moving up into the high school division was a very good move as all five of the Trinity kids had tough matchups each game. It might not have been fair to Peter Rodenko, a sixth grader playing in his first tournament against high schoolers, but he did very well finishing 2-2.

It was also good to see endgames in these games, some of them very difficult ones. In the last round both Jared and Anthony Culpepper were saddled with long endgames that went right down to the end. For Anthony, it ended up with a stalemate when he couldn't finish off the rook and king versus rook endgame.

For brother Jared, 2-1-1, it was rook against knight and pawn. Jared worked so hard and eventually won the pawn on about his 115th move, and then when his opponent was down to 15 seconds left, he had his rook and king forked for the draw.

Trinity took first place in the high school team division, finishing just ahead of Lubbock Estacado HS.

Robert Sturgeon, RIP:
The West Texas chess scene lost a tireless advocate when Robert Sturgeon passed away recently. Robert was the head of the San Angelo Chess Club, and was also the head of The West Texas Region of the Texas Chess Association. Many of us have known Robert for 30 years. He was a valued friend and important figure in West Texas Chess, especially always willing to help get kids programs started. Rest in peace Robert.

See you all Monday night.

• January 9, 2010 - Saturday
• Time Control: Game/30
• Chief TD: Charles J Vetter
• 5 Rounds, 31 Players, 74 Games, Swiss

The Promised Land:
We've gotten the news that we can return to Barnes and Nobles this next Monday night, so the club has now ended its unhappy exile.

Club News:
While away in exile at Charlie's office, new member Rory Valle introduced us to Fischer Chess. That's where the pieces are placed randomly on the back row instead of in their normal spots. I actually liked it. I was surprised at how quickly the game became a regular chess game, but it took away the opening lines we've all memorized. That Fischer guy wasn't so dumb.

West Texas Scholastic Regionals:
January 9th, we'll be hosting the biggest scholastic event in 20 years in Midland. We need some volunteers, so let me know if you can help out on Monday. We don't have any idea how many kids will be coming, but I've heard from interested people in San Angelo, Abilene, El Paso, Odessa and Lubbock. The tournament is open to any students K-12 and will crown the champions of The Texas Chess Association's Region IX champions in K-5, 6-8 and 9-12th grades.

We're also trying to make the day more than just a chess tournament for the kids who come by.. The gym will be open as will the library. We'll all have lunch at the site and we'll hopefully have other activities for kids who have time between rounds such as Rock Band, live music, a library search and campus search.

The tournament will be at Trinity School in Midland. Contact Charlie Vetter via email for more info.

Laughing Gnome Open:
We'll be holding the Laughing Gnome Open, which is the Midland Chess Club's five minute championship throughout the month of February. See you all Monday as we begin another year at the club.

Chess Club In Exile:
During the Christmas season, the chess club continues to meet each Monday, but we are playing in Charlie's office at 3211 W Wadley (Edward Jones office) in the same shopping center as Murray's Deli. While Barnes and Nobles works hard during their big selling season, we can only looksadly at the book displays where we used to play. Happily, we'll be back at the bookstore when the new year begins. Until then, we'll be trying to play through the tears in our clubhouse away from home.

Leaving In Protest:
Member of the Midland chess team that beat Abilene and lost to Lubbock, Adam English came by for the last time to our club in exile this week. Adam is so upset about the Barnes and Nobles situation that he's moving to Louisiana, and who can blame him? We wish Adam and his wife all the best as they start a new life and new job in that lesser state to the east.

Odessa Kids Tournament:
Trinity student Jacob Maddox took first place in the most recent scholastic chess tournament held in Odessa recently. Burleson School of Odesssa student Michael Lara finished second. Jacob finished with three-and-a-half points out of four with his only blemish a draw against fellow Trinity student and third place finisher Anthony Dragun.

Jacob Maddox

Michael Lara

Region IX Scholastic Regionals:
We're getting close to the Regionals which will be on Saturday, January 9th at Trinity School. We're going to need some volunteers to help us work the tournament, so if you're able, please volunteerize to me through e-mail or at the club. We're hoping to make the day more than a chess tournament, but an experience for the student players by having lunch at the playing site and lots of stimulating events to keep the kids engaged while they're waiting for their next round. I don't have any idea yet how many players to expect, but we've already gotten registrations and we've heard from scholastic teams in at least four different cities.

Laughing Gnome Open:
We're not too far away from the Laughing Gnome Open, which is Midland's five minute championship held through the month of February. Last year, we were all relieved and singing joyful songs when the LGO was won by Charlie Vetter, but this year Charlie will have to defend his title not only against the usual tough players, but two new tough guys in Rory Valle and Bruce McAdoo. The scholastic title was won by Jared Culpepper, but he will have a tough time too defending his title against new player Joel Cortes who wants to make his opponents take note of his fine play and "shut up". The Laughing Gnome Open is named for one of Midland's greatest ever scholastic players Josh Nash, who earned the solemn yet acclaimed title "The Laughing Gnome" on a car trip to Lubbock. Josh still checks in once in a while to Midland. He's currently a surgeon in Ohio.

See you all on Monday.

Club News:
We are good this week at Barnes and Nobles, but this week will be the last there for the rest of 2009. Since Christmas season is the vital time for our favorite bookstore to make money, we're being booted in favor of extra display area until January 2010.

So, we're at Barnes and Nobles on 11-23. From 11-30 to 12-28, we'll meet at Charlie's office. Luckily Monday doesn't hit any holidays so we can meet each week. Charlie's office is at 32ll West Wadley. It's the Edward Jones office in the Imperial Shopping Center, which is where Murray's Deli is.

Let's not let this change of venue mess up our attendance. We have to stay in shapesince the Laughing Gnome Open will begin shortly after the new year begins back at Barnes and Nobles, and you don't want to be caughtunprepared for the Laughing Gnome Open.

New Chess Clocks:
I just spent about $ 240 of the club's money to buy 10 digital clocks. They're the little blue ones, the same as the Odessa guys have, except think of how much newer ours will be than their months old clocks.

West Texas Chess League:
How's about those Abilenears tying the sorry Lubbockians who beat us up so badly? That tie ends the first ever season of the West Texas Chess League, and I'm sorry to say that Lubbock wins the first ever Paul Alexander Trophy with their record of one win, one draw and no losses.

Midland's finest came in second with a win and a loss, and while we may be second in the standings, I think all three teams would eagerly agree that if the score was based on which team was the nicest, kindest and best-looking, Midland would be the clear winner.

Abilene finished with one draw and one loss.

Congratulations to Chase, and his wholebunch of Lubbockonians on their historic first ever championship title.

We'll be back next season with hopefully additional teams from San Angelo and Odessa.

Upcoming Tournaments:
December 5th will be an exciting day. Odessa will host two, count 'em two tournaments. One will be an adult tournament, and the other will be a scholastic effort. See the Permian Basin Chess Club's website for the gory details, at pbcc.50gigs.net

The scholastic chess scene will get exciting on January 9th when we'll be hosting the West Texas Regionals. Please encourage all your scholastics to play in this event which will be the biggest scholastic event since we hosted the state championships back in the late 80's. The Regionals will be at Trinity School and we're trying to make it an event as well as a tourney. We'll have lunch between rounds at the site, and we're looking at all kinds of added things to keep the kids interested between rounds including video games, live music, sports, art and science. Try not to miss this one if you're a scholastic.

Club News:
Two real good attendance weeks to talk about at everyone's favorite chess club.

Last week it was the Mad Scramble that brought the crowds out, and it was a big night for Paul Newbury who had eight wins, far ahead of the rest of the crowd. Said the first place Paul, "how can you not be psyched up for Mad Scramble Night?"

This week was kids night out as student players showed up from all different schools throughout the Tall City. And wasn't it fitting that the winner of our Swiss Tournament, held after most of the kids went home, was a kid himself, Joel Cortes, who beat his much older opponents even though they were also much wiser - not that we're bitter.

Upcoming Tournaments:
Lots going on in the next few weeks.

This Saturday is a tournament for adult players in Odessa. Check out the Permian Basin Chess Club's website for details.

Saturday Dec 5 there will be two tournaments in Odessa. The first is their normal adult tournament, but the second one is for kids. The kids tournament will be a four round Swiss, G/30, and will be our first scholastic tournament in a while.

Saturday, January 9 is the West Texas Scholastic Regionals at Trinity School in Midland. We're hoping to make the Regionals an event this year, not just a tournament. We're hoping for between-round interesting activities at the school to keep the kids interested. We'll have lunch, and hopefully stuff like a kids band at lunch and Guitar Hero between rounds. Hope everyone can make this one.

Clocks:
I'm going to be sending out a big order to buy those blue digital clocks for the chess club in about a week. It's the same one the Odessa Club has. If anyone would like to buy one for yourself, let me know. might as well save money on Shipping and Handling if you want one anyway. I'm figuring it will end up about $25 a pop. Maybe a little less.

See you all on Monday.

Lubbock reminds me of a simile - or two:
The Midland versus Lubbock match caused a lot of pain. I'm not going to go through this pain by myself - the rest of you guys need to share it with me, and when I think of painful reading, I think of bad smilies. So no one gets to stop reading. Take your punishment like men.

The Lubbock team came from all over the world, was as different from each other as chalk from cheese, yet the result to Midland when the Lubbockiners took the board was as damaging as a tornado going through a chainsaw factory, a solid 20 - 12 win for the visitors from up north.

The Lubbock team dominated from the top down with top rated Chris Cohen calm as a millpond as he compiled a 3.5 score while second rated Chase Waters was happy as a rat with a gold tooth as he won three of his four games. The Midlanders found beating Rebecca Lelko (3.5 points) as hard as putting a six legged cat in a pail of water, while Konstantin Parkhomento (3 points) was as cold as a brass toilet in the Yukon.

For Midland it was all funny as a rubber crutch, and now there's nothing left but to apportion the blame.

Charlie Vetter's problem was time management as he took so long thinking that he ended up playing each of his endings like a cheetah on a motorcycle.

For Willie Callo the problem was that his castled king position was like a letter, not any good unless it was opened.

On the positive side, we all I think had a fun time and the library was a good place to play. How's about the newspaper giving us two days worth of coverage? And who expected a four foot by three foot page one color picture of Bruce in Sunday's paper?

Our kids also did well. Joel Cortes won two games, trailing only Bruce (2.5) and Charlie (2.5) and was the only Midlander to beat Dneprovosk's Konstantin and Jared had a wonderful win against an adult player.

So in short, wait till next year.

Club News:
I was worried that our poor showing would leave a dejected small turnout at the club on Monday night, but the opposite happened - we had a dejected large turnout. Actually 19 players was about as big as we've been lately. On the negative side I forgot to put out the dues bucket. We could have taken in a big night of $ 2 or $ 3 bucks. I blame the Lubbock team for my memory lapse as i was still defending a pawn storm in my head.

With such a large turnout, I think there's no choice but to move right to a "Mad Scramble" this next Monday. Don't be scared, but starting at 8 it will be the "Mad Scramble." Don't miss this week, lest you miss the "Mad Scramble." See you all this Monday.

Financial Update:
We got an update on our finances, and thanks to the President's stimulus package, we haven't lost any jobs at the club. We have $ 72 on hand but we have two expenses coming up. The Lubbock drubbing cost us $ 8 in ratings fees, and our affiliate membership ( $ 40 ) needs renewal this month.

Our investment account at Edward Jones is up to $ 881.38. Before January I'd like to buy some digital clocks. I think we can all agree that the reason we lost to Lubbock was that some of them brought cool digital clocks and how can we be expected to play our best when we're envying their clocks. I'm looking to buy about 10 digitals before January which will probably cost us $ 250 or so. We appreciate the people who've been putting a quarter in the pot for the last 20 years so the club can buy stuff like this once in a while. Thanks to the voluntary dues, the chess club is in much better shape than the budget of the Golden State, and we don't even have taxing authority.

See you all Monday.

Club News:
Trying to get people to think outside of the box, this week at the club each player had a secret instruction to follow in their games. Some had to castle queenside, others couldn't castle at all. Some could only open with three straight pawn moves. So who has the most flexible minds in the club?

It was the team of Paul Newbury, Steve Dudley, Keith Hall, Adam English and Ignacio Garcia who proved to have the most nimble minds. But wouldn't we have guessed that in the first place?

What I learned was that fianchetoing my king bishop first was not the swellest idea when I had to castle queenside. I got myself all pretzeled up.

West Texas Chess League:
We're less than two weeks away from our next match against West Texas' lesser city to the north of us. The Lubbockoginians have sent us their lineup, and our lineup is almost finalized too. Remember it's Saturday, Oct 24 in the downtown library. Rounds are at 11, 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30.

The Lubbockonians have asked if they bring nine players could we play 9 X 9 and I told them that we likely could.

Our lineup (underlined confirmed)

1. Paul Newbury 1969
2. Bruce McAdoo 1921
3. Charlie Vetter 1888
4. Guillermo Callo 1590
5. Steve Horn 1535
6. Joel Cortes 1382 (Kid)
7. Adam English 1350
8. Randy Shannon UNR
9. Jared Culpepper 693 (Kid)
10. Adam Ball 669 (Kid)

1. Chris Cohen 1946
2. Chase Waters 1914
3. Tommy Polgar 1754 (Kid)
4. Rebessa Lelco 1700
5. Konstantin Pakhomenko 1634
6. Brett James 1500
7. Shane Metzler 1450 (Kid)
8. Terrance Benally 1190
9. Shail Shah 1190

A Hallowed Eve: To the young and young at heart, some Halloween costume ideas.

• A bad bishop.
• A forked queen.
• A chess boxer (look it up on google)

Club News:
It was a big night at the chess club this week. With the Cowboys on tv, there was worry that the attendance would be down, but we were pleasantly surprised by a 16 person night.

In a 7 on 7 matchup, it was a big night for the Good Guys as the team of Charlie Vetter, Randy Shannon, and youngins Joel Cortes, Chance Dewall, Anthony Dragun, Adam English and the mysterious guy named Nick won a 7.5 - 5.5 victory.

It was good to see the club unified in celebration that the right team won for a change.

West Texas Chess League:
The date is set for our next match. We'll be playing the hated team from Lubbock on October 24 here in Midland. The rounds will be at 11 am, 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30.

I have some ideas for a playing site, but I was hoping to find a really pretty site. I asked the college if we could play in the AFA art gallery, but I haven't heard yet. They were actually talking about a cost. A cost? Can you believe that. I told them we took in about $ 1 a week in club dues.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know. We could use my office or church, but I'm looking for a nice venue where tv might come and get some nice pictures.

Here's the proposed team. Please let me know if you're available on Oct 24. If you're not on this list, expect to be asked anyway as we're sure to have someone busy that weekend. If everyone can make it we'll do some substitizing.

1. Paul Newbury (confirmed)
2. Bruce McAdoo
3. Charlie Vetter (confirmed)
4. Guillermo Callo
5. Steve Horn
6. Randy Shannon
7. Adam English

1. Joel Cortes
2. Adam Ball
3. Jared Culpepper

Correction: In last week's newsletter I spoke of the cool tournament Lubbock had going with all the young masters and grandmasters. I said the US junior champion was only 14 years old, but I typoed his rating. It was actually 2527, not 1527. I wonder if that was a subconscious error saying kids shouldn't have 2500 ratings.

Anyway, see you all on Monday.

West Texas Chess League:
Our next grapple is supposed to be with the hated team from Lubbock, and they're studying all the games they can find of Midland's finest players up there in West Texas's lesser city, but the Lubbockers have a scheduling conflict with October 3. Believe it or not, there is a chess event happening at the Tech game that weekend that all the Aggie chessers are supposed to go to.

We'll play for sure as soon as we can get a date worked out from the e-mails flying back and forth. In the meantime, lots of sit-ups. Taking those weighted pieces can be tough on the abs so let's play in our best shape.

Steve Dudley has put up a few games from the Midland-Abilene match on the Permian Basin website.

More Lubbockizing:
Lubbock has an amazing tournament going on right now. A dozen young players rated 2500 and above in a weeklong tournament, one the USA's current junior champion, rated 1527 at age 14. To kick off their SPICE Cup events, Lubbock held a scholastic team tournament. There were elementary, junior high and high school divisions with about 50 kids total. The rules were teams could have any number of members, but only the top three scores were counted.

Midland was represented by a three man team from Trinity School, and eighth graders Joel Cortes andJared Culpepper and sixth grader Jacob Maddox moved up to the high school division and finished first. Lubbock Estacado High School was second and Lubbock High School was third. Joel also finished first overall with a perfect four wins in four games.

The event was cool for the kids who saw so many young grandmasters up close. There's a great picture of the three Midland kids playing Siamese with Tom Polgar (who didn't play in the kids tournament). I'll try to post the picture if I can figure out how.

Club News:
After the cool match against Abilene, attendance has been down at the club the last two weeks. I know it's tough with the kids needing help with their homework and Monday night football and whatever else, but please come by if you can. We need you. After all, did General Custer stay away from Little Big Horn just because his wife told him to? Did Pickett cancel his charge just because General Longstree4t said it was suicide?

I want to organize an Opening November at the club. I'd like some of our most notorious players to take 15 minutes one week at a time to explain the ideas behind an opening they like. For instance I'll take one week and spend 15 minutes explaing the ideas around the French Defense. I'm hoping Bruce will take a week on the Caro-Kann. Who else is willing to be teachable?

Now let's see if I can figure this picture thing out... I think I have them attached .

See you all Monday night.

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