A Tale of Two Cities

Gavin Newsom has problems with chess players.

Charles Dickens penned “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” as his opening line in his masterpiece A Tale of Two Cities. I found myself pondering Dickens work and applying the opening line to the plight of the poor chess players in two Bay Area cities.

As many of my reader are aware, San Francisco has recently closed down the traditional street chess games on Market Street near the BART station.  It seems that the city government of San Francisco is playing a gambit against the city’s homeless and the removal of the chess games is yet another move to sacrifice the lowest of pawns. My “Open Letter to Gavin Newsom” remains unanswered and I am getting the feeling that Mr. Newsom has no intention of addressing San Francisco’s attack on one of the most harmless activities that the “street people” amuse themselves with. Perhaps the city has justifiable reasons for its removal of the chess games on Market Street. The fact that I have received no response from the mayor leads me to believe otherwise.

Across the bay there is another city called Oakley. It was here, on July 3, that I was given permission to set up chess tables for the annual cityhood celebration.  Oakleys Mayor, Pat Anderson, made the many chess players feel welcome and took the time to steer us into the right avenues toward finding a regular place to hold a city chess club. Chess is a new addition to the young city but based on the response it received on July third, I imagine it will soon be  another Bay Area chess success story. 

If you are one of the many disenfranchised chess players in San Francisco, please take the time to contact Gavin Newsom and suggest that he should take a lesson from Pat Anderson on how to run a city that is fair to all its citizens… even its chess players.

San Francisco’s Chess Blunder Continues to Receive Negative Press

I was very pleased to find that NBC Bay Area has run a story on San Francisco’s decision to close down the famous chess games on Market Street.  Here is the link to the article entitled “Chess Games a Pawn in San Francisco Redevelopment. Perhaps with more attention being focused on this issue from main stream news sources, San Francisco will see that their ban has made chess players and citizens angry. I hope some of my readers take the time to leave comments on the NBC Bay Area page and also email Gavin Newsom about the need for San Francisco to reverse this decision. Mayor Newsom’s email is gavin.newsom@sfgov.org. I have yet to receive response from him in regards to the open letter I sent last week.

San Francisco Chess Players No Longer Welcome on Market Street

Since my initial letter to Gavin Newsom expressing concern over San Francisco’s Market Street chess ban, a web-based movement has quickly developed and caused growing concern among chess players internationally. It is our belief that San Francisco’s anti-chess stance was made without regard for the scores of individuals who have benefited from the chess games on Market Street over the last three decades.   Below is a list of articles written on the matter:

A man in wheelchair looks for a chess game on Market Street.

Market Street Chess Games Shut

An Open Letter to Gavin Newsom

Chess Disappears from Market Street

Market Street Chess: San Francisco

Chess Under Attack In Bay Area

Chess Disappears from Market Street

Chess on Market Street in San Francisco.

Many large cities have a special place for chess enthusiasts to play outdoors. For example in Boston chess players play at Harvard Square. New Yorkers can always find a good chess game at Washington Square Park. For San Francisco, we used to play on Market Street near the Bart Station. Sadly, this San Francisco claim to fame has been shut down by the city. Please see “An Open Letter to Gavin Newsom” for my response to this recent tragedy. Below is a blitz chess game I played against Sam on Market Street in San Francisco.  

[Event “Market Street Chess”]
[Site “San Francisco”]
[Date “2009”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Chris Torres”]
[Black “Sam ?”]
[Result “1-0”]
[Opening “Bishop’s Opening”]
[TimeControl “5 Minutes”]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 {This is a good “street chess opening.”} Nxe4?
{Black needed to play exd4.} 4. dxe5 Bc5 5. Bxf7+! {This is my method for
punishing players who play 3…Nxe4. 5. Qd5 also would have worked fine for
white.} Kf8 {If 5…Kxf7 then I would continue 6. Qd5+ Kf8 and then 7.
Qxe4.} 6. Qf3 d5?? {A terrible blunder. 6…Ng5 would have been black’s
best choice. Of course I would have continued 7. Bxg5 Qxg5 8.Bd5+} 7. Bxd5+
Nf6 {This move looks bad but is objectively best.} 8. exf6 Qxf6 9. Qxf6+
{It is good to trade while ahead.} gxf6 10. Bh6+ Ke7 11. Nf3 Bg4? {11…
Nc6 is better.} 12. Bxb7 Bxf3 13. gxf3 Nd7 14. Bxa8 Rxa8 15. Nc3 Bd4 16.
Nd5+ Kd6 17. O-O-O Kxd5 18. c3 c5 19. cxd4 cxd4 20. Be3 Rc8+ 21. Kb1 Ke6
22. Bxd4 Kf7 23. Rhg1 Rc4 24. Bxa7 Rc7 25. Be3 Ne5 26. Bf4 Ke6 27. Bxe5
fxe5 28. Rg4 Rf7 29. f4 exf4 30. Rd4 Ke5 31. Rgxf4 Rg7 32. Rde4+ Kd5 33.
Rg4 Rf7 34. Rgf4 Rg7 35. Rd4+ Ke5 36. Rfe4+ Kf5 37. f3 Rg1+ 38. Kc2 Rg2+
39. Rd2 Rg1 40. Rd5+ Kf6 41. f4 Rg2+ 42. Rd2 Rg1 43. Re5 Rg4 44. Rd6+ Kf7
45. Rf5+ Ke7 46. Rh6 Rg2+ 47. Kc3 Rg4 48. Rxh7+ Ke6 49. Re5+ Kf6 50. Rh6+
Kf7 51. f5 Rf4 52. f6 Kf8 53. Re7 *