By Jeff M. Hardison The following stories were written by me in 2001. I am posting them on the web now.
Beyond a national chess tournament that happened in St. Petersburg on Sept. 1, there was a 49-state tournament and the annual Florida State Chess Championship held Aug. 31 through Sept. 3.
More than $10,000 was given away in prize money through the series of tournaments at the Hilton Hotel in downtown St. Petersburg from that Friday through Monday.
Just as St. Petersburg Chess Club President Andrew Scherman had predicted, this was the greatest weekend of chess in Florida history, according to past and present leaders of the Florida Chess Association and U.S. Chess Federation.
There were 217 players in the annual state championship at St. Petersburg, said Florida Chess Association President Robert Persante of Tampa.
"This was the best turnout ever for a state championship," Persante said, "plus there were side events for players. We rotate around the four regions of the state every year to decide where to have the tournament. Last year in Orlando, there were only 125 participants."
Bob Smith of Pompano Beach, who was the 1999-2000 U.S. Chess Federation president, and who was the Florida Chess Association president from 1992-1998, and is currently on the FCA board of directors as well as being secretary of the USCF, said state history has been made with the series of tournaments held at the Hilton in downtown St. Petersburg during Labor Day Weekend.
"This is the biggest tournament ever, to the best of my recollection, and I have been around for a number of years," Smith said.
Scherman was the organizer for the event. Gary Sanders of St. Petersburg served as chief tournament director. Gary Bryant of Sarasota also served as a tournament director. The 2002 Florida Chess Tournament was supposed to be in St. Petersburg, but some wrangling from other interests moved that state tourney.
There are four regions in Florida and there is a five-year rotation. At the Florida Chess Association annual meeting Sept. 2, 2001, a vote of members showed St. Petersburg as the winner. This occurred only after a strong contingent from Orlando fought for the tournament.
When all was said and done, it went to Orlando in 2002.
As for the 2001 tournament, it was a winner. Chief Tournament Director Sanders said there were some slightly late starts in the early rounds, but the state tournament went smoothly. The players were happy with the Hilton Hotel, he said, and visitors found downtown St. Petersburg to be pleasant.
One young St. Petersburg player, Adam Rosenthal, came in second in the under 1400 category, Sanders said.
This is great for St. Petersburg, he said, because in that rating it means one of the best chess players lives here in St. Petersburg, where Florida chess history was made on Labor Day Weekend.
By Jeff M. Hardison
A 33-year-old Miami man beat a 48-year-old St. Petersburg man Aug. 31 in the annual Florida State Quick Action Chess Championship.
Blas Lugo, Southern Regional champion, garnered $150 as well as the title that Friday evening when he beat Gary Sanders, Western Regional champion. Although Sanders is not originally from St. Petersburg, he graduated Boca Ciega High School. Lugo is originally from Cuba.
Competitors from the Northeast, Northwest and Central regions of Florida failed to compete in the regional tournaments leading up to the Quick Action tournament in St. Petersburg. Lugo is an International Master and has a U.S. Chess Federation rating of 2440. Sanders is a Senior Master with a USCF rating of 2402.
Lugo said he won his first tournament in St. Petersburg six years ago. He has been playing chess for 20 years. The St. Petersburg Chess Club hosted a series of tournaments Labor Day Weekend in what has become known as the "Greatest Weekend of Chess in Florida History." All of the games were at the Hilton Hotel in downtown St. Petersburg.
Like most of the competitors during the four days of tournament action, Lugo was impressed by the organization and expanse of the tournaments. "It is interesting because you have two national events and other games," Lugo said. "There are many serious players here."
The Quick Action chess champion said his strategy for winning was complicated, and he preferred not talking about it Friday night. His fallen opponent spoke about the overview of the two games. After two games in two hours, Lugo's strategy had paid off. Sanders said the first game between them was close.
"In the second one," Sanders said, "I walked into it. When I was gasping and blue, I resigned. I need to learn the Polish Opening."
Sanders had retired from tournament play for the previous five years, and this little foray into the arena heralds his only planned competition. He served as chief tournament director over two national championships, and the state title tournament during Labor Day Weekend.
By Jeff M. Hardison
Click, click, click, click. This was the only sound reverberating through the air while chess players tapped their clocks, when they made their lightning fast moves on Aug. 31 (2001) in the Dali Room of the Hilton Hotel in downtown St. Petersburg.
The blitz action went from Friday night into the wee hours of Saturday morning as 44 players competed in the Florida State Speed Chess Championship Qualifying Tournament. This event was held to determine which four players would compete against previously determined champions from the various geographical regions of Florida for the title of Florida Speed Chess Champion.
Each player had a total of only five minutes to complete his or her games. There were five rounds of games played among entrants in the Friday night event, and Renier Gonzalez, Blas Lugo, Marcel Martinez, and Stephen Muhammad emerged from the qualifier to playoff against Western Region representative Andrew Scherman, who also was the chief organizer of the Labor Day weekend events.
Renier Gonzalez, 28, of Miami earned the title. He walked away with $100 as well as the Florida State Speed Championship. Gonzalez said the win felt good, as he spoke in Spanish. Did Gonzalez feel pressure? Yes, a little bit.
Gonzalez’s U.S. Chess Federation rating was estimated at 2480, the customary 50 points above his internationally established rating of 2430.
"I had to put my best into every move," Gonzalez said.
This was his first tournament win in the United States, although he has taken championships in Spain, Cuba and Colombia.
Stephen Muhammad, 39, who is a senior at Auburn University in Georgia, placed second. He earned $75 as a result. Muhammad had won the speed-qualifying tournament, but after losing two games in the final for the title, he placed second. Gonzalez won all of his games except for two draws with Blas Lugo and one draw with Andrew Scherman.
In chess, it is a matter of time. Tournament play is timed. In the speed contest, five minutes is the limit of time per-player, per-game, to make all of the moves.
Time came into play in another way for Muhammad. He may have felt tired after driving seven hours from Georgia and arriving in St. Petersburg one-half hour before the blitz games began. Blas Lugo of Miami finished third and garnered $50 in the speed tournament.
Coming in fourth in the state speed competition was Marcel Martinez, 21, of Miami, a Senior Master and former U.S. Junior Champion who also won the U.S. National G/15 Championship the next day. Andrew Scherman, 42, the president of the St. Petersburg Chess Club, was fifth.
Gary Bryant, 38, of Sarasota served as tournament director for this event, one of the many during a series hosted by the St. Petersburg Chess Club. Gary Sanders was the chief tournament director for the entire series of events that weekend.
Florida Chess Association President Robert Persante of Tampa and Senior Master Mark Ritter, at 2466 the 80th highest rated player in the United States, were among the many extremely strong players who failed to qualify for the finals.
By Jeff M. Hardison
Marcel Martinez, 21, of Miami narrowly beat Ron Holt, 42, of St. Petersburg in a chess game during the fifth round of competition for the national Game-15 title on Sept. 1.
Holt tied with three others for 2nd through 4th. Stephen Muhammad of Georgia, Renier Gonzalez of Miami, and Robert Persante of Tampa all earned $150 for their efforts.
In all, 32 players competed.
Prizes were awarded to competitors with a U.S. Chess Federation rating below 2000. There was a three-way tie among Britt Ryerson, Corey Acor and Robert Sinn. Each took $50 home.
Acor was the youngest winner. He is 12 years old and lives in Brandon. Sinn and Ryerson are University of Florida students from Gainesville.
Martinez won the title of U.S. National Chess (G/15) Champion, a beautiful trophy, and $500. He has been playing for 13 years. He found it exciting to play in St. Petersburg for a national title.
Four years ago, Martinez came to Miami from Cuba. He won a national chess title, a scholarship to a university, and he is among the contenders to represent the United States at the Olympics in chess.
Martinez quickly became totally fluent in English and is now starting as a freshman at Nova Southeastern University, where he hopes to earn his undergraduate degree and then go on to law school. Martinez is able to attend college thanks to a chess scholarship, he said. He teaches chess to elementary children to earn his tuition at Blas Lugo's renowned Miami International Chess Academy.
"It (winning the title) feels good, I guess," said the soft-spoken young man."
By Jeff M. Hardison
Except for the exclusion of players from Idaho, a tournament Sunday could have been called a national title. Having successfully bid on the National G/15 tournament, the St. Petersburg Chess Club had been told by the United States Chess Federation that they had already awarded the National G/10 Championship to another organizer. This was done well before the bidding on events was supposed to close.
Undaunted, the St. Petersburg Chess Club scheduled this tournament as an additional side event along with the Florida State Chess Championship held over Labor Day Weekend at the St. Petersburg Hilton.
Chief organizer Andrew Scherman, president of the St. Petersburg club, decided that since Idaho had the fewest United States Chess Federation members, Idaho residents would not be eligible to win the trophy, but he would certainly let them be eligible for all prize money, and indeed Idaho residents could play for free.
Others would have to pay a $45 entry fee. Twenty-seven players competed for more than $1,000 in guaranteed prize money and the title of "49-state G/10 Champion."
International Master Blas Lugo and Renier Gonzalez, tied for first, and both earned $375. Lugo won the title and the handsome trophy on tiebreaks. A three-way tie for third-place prize money between Wilmer Chavira of Orlando, Marcel Martinez of Miami and Haroldo Obando of Miami earned those three $41.66 each.
Goran Markovic of Sarasota took home $100 as the class prize reserved for those rated under 2000.
The two top finishers in this tournament are friends. Lugo and Martinez play against each other often at Lugo's world-famous Miami Chess Academy. Speaking in Spanish, both men said they were very happy to have tied for this title. Lugo said he beat his final opponent in the tournament because the other player made many mistakes.
Each player had a maximum of 10 minutes to make all of the moves in each game.
Nobody from Idaho showed up to compete.
By Jeff M. Hardison
The winner of the 2001 Florida State Championship title and trophy was a 16-year-old boy from Boca Raton.
Daniel Fernandez, an 11th grader at St. Andrew's School, earned the title and trophy as the highest finishing Florida resident.
The actual winner of the tournament, however, was Stephen Muhammad. This 39-year-old man is a senior at Auburn University in Georgia. He was ineligible to be the Chess Champion of Florida, because he is not a resident of Florida.
While Muhammad did not take the title nor did he go home with the trophy, he drove back to Georgia with $700. Fernandez earned $500.
Each walking away with $116.66 in a three-way tie for third place, were Wilmer Chavira of Orlando, International Master Blas Lugo of Miami, and Senior Master Marcel Martinez, also of Miami.
In the final game between Muhammad and Lugo, Lugo sacrificed the exchange for a mating attack. However, his own king was too exposed and after some really sharp tactics, Muhammad emerged with a winning advantage.
State Champions in six other rating categories were crowned. Wayne Ballantyne, 46, of Fort Lauderdale won the under 2200 title. Charles Galofre of Miami won the under 2000 title. Chris Glawe won in the under 1800 division. Danny Tsai, 14, of Gainesville won the under 1600 title. His sister, 16-year-old Cindy Tsai, won a prize as the top female in the Open division. She has a U.S. Chess Federation rating of 2176. Jonathon Buchmann, 12, of Miami won the under 1400 title. Calvin Dahl of Orlando, won in the under 1200 division.
By Jeff M. Hardison
Four years ago, Marcel Martinez, 21, came to Miami from Cuba. He won a national chess title, a scholarship to a university, and he is among the contenders to represent the United States at the Olympics in chess.
Martinez quickly learned English. Now, he is starting as a freshman at Nova Southeastern University, where he hopes to earn his undergraduate degree and then go on to law school. Martinez is able to attend college thanks to a chess scholarship, he said.
He teaches chess to elementary children to earn his tuition.
"It’s great. I love to teach the children," he said. "I have established relationships with them and their parents. I feel the love around them."
When a child loses a game, Martinez says he reminds them to hold their head up, learn from the experience and try to win the rest of the games.
Ted Goldstein, 51, of Broward County, said he knows Martinez and other Miami players who were at the Florida Chess Association’s tournaments, because Ted’s son Brian Goldstein, 13, plays chess at the Miami International Chess Academy.
"Marcel takes guys and gals, there are a couple of masters down there (in Miami) and he helps them find things to do. He keeps them out of trouble. He gives them something beyond just working," Goldstein said. "My son lives, eats and breathes chess. He goes down there and practices for tournaments. He doesn’t mind if he loses. It’s a learning experience. All of the kids know the only way to learn, is to take your lumps to get to the top."
Blas Lugo, an international chess master, is the director at the academy.
Brian Goldstein seems to have picked up a good lesson from his experiences at the academy in Miami.
"Playing chess is great," he said. "It’s fun. I love to play chess. When you win, you win. When you lose, well it happens. You get used to it."
Ted Goldstein said the players from the academy are the best in the state. They play every day. Results from the Labor Day Weekend of tournaments in St. Petersburg supports his statement.
Martinez took the title as national chess champion in the 15-minute game. Blas Lugo became the Florida State Quick Action Chess Champion. Renier Gonzalez won the Florida State Speed 5-minute Championship. Lugo and Martinez tied for first place in the 49-State Chess Championship in the 10-minute game.