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| May-25-15 | | TheFocus: <Fusilli> Chess in Hawaii seems to be geared towards the scholastic arena too. There are no good tournaments scheduled here and relatively very few masters and experts. |
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May-25-15
 | | Fusilli: <The Focus> There are enough masters and experts in Nashville to have a nice small round-robin. I have suggested to the NCC to organize a low-key tournament... say, playing once a week only, since most of us are busy adults. But there was no interest... So, when I have time and decide I want to play a tournament, I hit the road for one of those grueling weekend Swiss opens. I hate playing twice in the same day, but I have no other options. |
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| Aug-08-15 | | pazzed paun: Benjamin has a lopsided score against yasser
Even when Yasser would have been the higher rated player
Why? |
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Jan-13-16
 | | perfidious: <Fusilli....From my reading of (<American Grandmaster>), I felt that GM Benjamin resented the massive immigration of players from Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union. That surely brought stiff competition to him and the rest of US-born and raised GMs, but arguably it gave a good boost to the quality of American chess.> My own view of this in those days:
<<The US is a nation of immigrants. There is nothing wrong with a bulk of foreign born players.>Indeed not, though as far back as the 1990s, I recall Patrick Wolff and Joel Benjamin objecting to the numerous foreign-born players who competed in US championships even then.> US Championship (2014) |
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| Mar-11-16 | | TheFocus: Happy birthday, Joel Benjamin. |
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| Mar-11-16 | | Howard: Ditto ! I still remember the first time he was pictured in Chess Life & Review, back in 1975. He was 11 at the time. Coincidentally, I'm playing over one of his games right now from the recent New Jersey Open. |
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| Mar-11-16 | | Shams: <Fusilli> <I think his take on the state of chess in the US for players is a bit too negative, although he does have a point when he says in his book that chess is becoming a game for kids, and even more so for little kids.> What a strange criticism. He knows those little kids are going to grow up, right? |
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Apr-14-16
| | Fusilli: <Shams> <What a strange criticism. He knows those little kids are going to grow up, right?> Yes, and the large majority will have quit chess by then, or keep playing but stop being the focus of attention. I think the point is that the lion's share of tournament organizing and chess activity targets kids. Scholastic members are 50% of USCF members, and most people who make some money from chess do it from coaching kids. |
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| Apr-15-16 | | JimNorCal: Yeah the kids play, their ratings are way lower than their abilities. They suck rating points out of the system, then they move on to other interests before giving back.
For adults it means rating deflation and no tournaments to play in. US chess will survive, of course, but for now it's an awkward dynamic. |
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Mar-11-17
 | | eternaloptimist: Happy birthday to the 3-time US Chess Champ Joel Benjamin! |
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Mar-11-17
 | | HeMateMe: In his excellent book "American Grandmaster" Benjamin notes that the only chess trophy or memorabilia he has on display in his home is a framed draw against Kasparov at Corus in Holland, one year. This was the year that Kasparov went nutts and won every single game he had with white except--the one against Joel! Benjamin beat Short 3 1/2 -- 1/2 in a four game match, too, although Short had zero preparation time for that match. |
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Mar-11-17
| | perfidious: If Benjamin wrote that the game with Kasparov was played in the Netherlands, his recollection was incorrect--the draw was contested in Horgen, Switzerland. |
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Mar-11-17
| | HeMateMe: probably my mistake. I thought it was a reference to Corus, a more prestigious event. To go near all wins with white at Corus would be quite the achievement! |
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| Mar-10-18 | | zanzibar: A profile of him as a very young 11 year-old, written by his Dad (note - not from ICQ (1976), but ICQ (1975)): http://www.chessclub.org/news.php?n... (item #3) A game from an unknown round (help, <phony>!): <
[Event "76th US Open"]
[Site "Lincoln, NE USA"]
[Date "1975.08.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Benjamin, Joel"]
[Black "Harkins, Jim "]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUSCF "1655"]
[BlackUSCF "1906"]
[ECO "E61o"]
[EventDate "1975.08.10"]
[Source "Indiana Chess Quarterly (Oct-Dec 1975) p6"] 1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e3 d6 5.Be2 Nf6 6.O-O O-O 7.d4 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 a6 9.b3 Nc6 10.Bb2 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Bd7 12.Qd2 Bc6 13.Rad1 Re8 14.
Rfe1 Rc8 15.Bf1 Qc7 16.e4 Qb8 17.Nd5 Nd7 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.g3 Bxd5 20.
cxd5 Rc7 21.Bh3 b5 22.f4 Qb6+ 23.Kh1 Rec8 24.Re2 Rb8 25.e5 Rbb7 26.
Qb2 Kg8 27.e6 Nf6 28.exf7+ Kxf7 29.Be6+ Ke8 30.g4 1-0 >
Now you now why USCF had to adjust the k-factor! |
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| Mar-10-18 | | zanzibar: Another interesting game from his very early days: <
[Event "National Jr. High School Chess Ch"]
[Site "Waltham, MA USA"]
[Date "1976.06.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Rizzitano, Jimmy"]
[Black "Benjamin, Joel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B09j"]
[EventDate "1976.06.??"]
[Source "Boston Globe 1976-06-13 p A9 (Dondis)"] 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.O-O Bg4 8.
Be3 e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.f5 gxf5 11.exf5 e4 12.Nxe4 Nxe4 13.Bxe4 Qe7 14.
Qd3 Rad8 15.Bg5 f6 16.Qc4+ Kh8 17.Bxc6 fxg5 18.Qxg4 Qc5+ 19.Kh1 Qxc6
20.Nxg5 Bxb2 21.Rab1 Bf6 22.Ne6 Rg8 23.Nxd8 Bxd8 24.Qf3 Qxc2 25.Rxb7
Qxa2 26.Rb8 Qf7 27.Rd1 Bf6 28.Rxg8+ Qxg8 29.Qb7 Be5 30.Qxa7 Qe8 31.
Rb1 Kg7 32.Qe3 Qe7 33.Re1 Kf6 34.g4 Qd6 35.Qh6+ Ke7 36.Qxh7+ Kd8 37.
Qg8+ Kd7 38.Qf7+ Kd8 39.Qe6 Qd4 40.Qg8+ Kd7 41.Qe6+ Kd8 42.Qxe5
{and White wins} 1-0
> |
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Mar-10-18
 | | Phony Benoni: <Zanzibar> I have the Harkins game in my working file. It's not from the bulletins, and the only source information I have is the same as yours, the ICQ. Unfortunately, the crosstable in CL&R (December 1975, p.829-830) gives full results only for the first fifty players Neither Benjamin nor Harkins was in that group, so the round remains unknown. It was probably an odd-numbered round, but not (1) or (5). |
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| Mar-11-18 | | Ironmanth: Happy birthday, GM Joel! Thanks for so many years of inspiration at the NY and World Opens! Keep on making contributions to our royal game, sir! |
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Mar-11-18
| | HeMateMe: American grandmaster is a terrific book, Joel B's auto bio. |
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| Mar-11-18 | | zanzibar: What is he up to these days? He was playing regularly over the summer, but seemed to have stopped in September. |
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| Mar-12-18 | | Howard: I've always been a fan of Benjamin's, personally. We've even exchanged a couple email, plus I've met him a couple times, too. He's not as active, as he used to be, but then he's not exactly young anymore. |
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Mar-12-18
| | Fusilli: For a good number of years he has hosted a weekly video on ICC on the highlights of the week. Last one was a very nice tribute to GM Lein. |
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| Jan-13-22 | | pazzed paun: To bad that Pal BENKO DID not use Joel Benjamin to update his skill set and computer knowledge
Benko kind of lacked the competive drive to win and got lost in those fantasy endgame problems of his |
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| Jan-13-22 | | Granny O Doul: That's been bothering me, too. |
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Oct-15-22
 | | PawnSac: < pazzed paun: Benjamin has a lopsided score against yasser Even when Yasser would have been the higher rated player Why? > the database may be lopsided. It probably doesn't have all the games they've played. but one observation is..
Joel has white in 13 of the 19 games listed. |
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Oct-15-22
| | HeMateMe: Benjamin did complain in a chess life interview about the wave of iron curtain immigrants being allowed to immediately compete in the closed US championship. In the same article JB did say that he gave a simul at Yale (Benjamin is an eli), the proceeds given to recent GM arrived Boris Gulko, an extremely strong player and threat to win the USA ch. |
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