Jewish Chronicle Layout - Chess

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THE JEWISH CHRONICLE AUGUST 23, 2007

Style Checkmate ... and mate and mate and mate Chess grand master takes on 24 opponents at Shaare Torah exhibition BY TOBY TABACHNICK Chronicle Correspondent

There are those children who, at the tender age of 7, can say they play a mean game of Shutes and Ladders. Then there are those children who at the age of 7, or 9, or 11, can say they matched wits playing chess against a grand master of the game. And not just any old grand master, but four-time American champion, Alexander Shabalov. Shaare Torah Congregation hosted Shabalov Sunday night for a “simultaneous exhibition,” in which Shabalov played 24 games of chess at the same time, two of them “blindfolded.” Shabalov’s opponents included a Kollel fellow, an optometrist, an accountant, a graduate student and several children, including one 7-year-old. Most of the players were members of Shaare Torah. The blindfolded games are a “circus act,” according to Shabalov. Though they are not that difficult, he said, they are “impressive” for the audience. Although Shabalov is not actually blindfolded for these matches, the chess board is completely hidden from his view by a shield; Only his opponent can see the board; Shabalov must retain mental images of the locations of all the pieces, while engaged in 22 other matches at the same time. Tables were set up in a square in Shaare Torah’s social hall, with Shabalov’s opponents sitting along the outside of its perimeter, a chess board in front of each challenger. Shabalov played the white pieces in each of the 24 games. He walked along the inside of the square, quickly moving pieces successively, leaving each opponent free to contemplate his or her next move until Shabalov made his way around the square again. When he got to a “blindfolded game,” his opponent would inform him of where the last black piece was placed, and Shabalov would instruct his opponent on where to move his white piece. One has to qualify to play opposite a blindfolded player, proving his or herself proficient enough in the game to properly report the chess notations. Opposing Shabalov in one of the blindfolded games was 9year-old Jacob Mayer, a tourna-

ment champion in his own right. Mayer, who has been playing since he was 5, only smiled and shook his head when asked if he thought he might beat Shabalov. Alex Sax, the organizer of the contests, has played Shabalov himself. “It’s ridiculous,” he said. “It’s like boxing Mike Tyson.” A Latvian Jew, Shabalov was born in 1967 and came to Pittsburgh in 1992. He began playing chess when he was 7 years old. “Everyone starts at 7,” he said. “Some people start at 5.” He first learned the game from watching his father play with his friends to pass the time. Then, he said, he “got lucky.” “I got an extremely good teacher,” Shabalov recalled. That teacher was 1960 World Chess Champion Michael Tal. “I owe everything to him,” Shabalov said. Although he was never the Lat-

typically prepares for tournaments with the help of his computer; specifically, a database that holds more than 3 million games, beginning from ones played in 1850 through the present. Shabalov owns The House of Chess,

vian champion (“I was second many times”), Shabalov was the Soviet Union under 16 champion. “This was quite a serious title back then. The Soviet Union was the number one country for chess back in 1982.” Grand master is the highest ranking one can achieve in chess, and Shabalov has held that rank since the age of 20. “It used to be an exclusive category,” he explained, but now there are about 600 grand masters in the United States, and it is now common for someone as young as 12 to hold that title. More and more people are becoming proficient in chess because of the proliferation of computer programs and databases, which facilitate mastery of the game. Although Shabalov did not prepare for Sunday night’s exhibition, he

which is a combination retail store and chess club, but the store will close this week in Ross Park Mall. Shabalov is looking for a new location in Pittsburgh. He also has a store in Cleveland, and will open one in Chicago this fall. Because he is an active tournament player, Shabalov has few students. But he is Chronicle photos by John West Chronicle art by Jane Muder excited about one Top: Alexander Shabalov studies the move of Ken Feldhamer young man he has been training here in of Squirrel Hill. Pittsburgh who Sha- Bottom: Shabalov, grand master chess player and current balov says is “very 2007 champion and holder of four U.S. chess championships, greets players before making his first move at the chess promising.” He is currently one competition that was held at Shaare Torah Congregation in Squirrel Hill.

of the U.S. junior champions, and Shabalov says he “will be much stronger in years to come.” Right now, he is only 11. (Toby Tabachnick can be reached at [email protected].)