For the first time in many years, the United States championship (not to be confused with the U.S. Open) was conducted on the knockout system.
It was held during the first two weeks of August at the Jacksonville Hotel in Jacksonville, Fla.The 16 entrants were paired off for two-game matches played at the rate of 40 moves in two hours. The loser was eliminated.
If the score was 1-1, then two tiebreakers at the rate of all moves in 30 minutes for each player was scheduled. If these did not break the tie, then single tiebreakers at the rate of 15 minutes for each player for all moves were scheduled.
"Usually, I have one good tournament a year. A lot depends on the opponents' play."
That was how Lev Alburt explained his winning the 1990 championship.
The 45-year-old New York grandmaster remarked: "Yes, my theoretical preparation was good, but it has been good before without doing me any good.
"My opponents would have avoided my secret plans for reasons unknown to me. My luck changed in Jacksonville."
Alburt defeated the Seattle grandmaster Yasser Seirwan, 2-0 in Round One; the Englewood, N.J., grandmaster Maxim Dlugy, 4-3, in Round Two; and the Oakland grandmaster Nick De Firmian, 1 1/2- 1/2 in Round Three.
In the final round, which was played as a four-game knockout, Alburt vanquished the New York grandmaster Larry Christiansen, 3-0, to take the championship and the $10,000 prize. It was his third U.S. title.
- BRILLIANCY - It used to be that no one would submit a game for the brilliancy prize if he knew that his opponent had a drawing line, Robert Byrne, chess editor of the New York Times, recently wrote.
The ideal was for the attack to feature a string of inescapable combinations leading to victory.
"But you cannot restrict yourself that way anymore," said the Oakland grandmaster Nick De Firmian.
"Especially with black," he said, "you have to be satisfied to create an ingenious attack that does allow a draw or an equal position, if the opponent is up to finding his way through the complications.
"The level of play nowadays is so high in defense and technique that you just cannot blast the opponent off the board without contributory errors once your combination has started.
"You cannot shun ambitious attacks on solid positions without letting opportunities to win get away."
De Firmian was explaining why he entered his game against Tony Miles, a British grandmaster, for the brilliancy prize in the Interzonal Tournament that concluded July 4 in Manila.
The winner of the award will be announced in mid-November.
Byrne observed: "De Firmian's combinations were beautiful and capable of dazzling the most stalwart."
- TOURNAMENT - If you hurry, you can play in the 1990 Weber Open Tournament that is being held this weekend. The first game will be played at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 1. The second game is scheduled for 2 p.m.
The three other games will be played Monday, Sept. 3, at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. The tournament is being held in Ogden City's Newgate Mall community room.
John Minnoch is serving as director.
There are guaranteed prizes for first place and the highest scoring players in each section: A, B, C, D, E and unrated.
Fee for the tournament has been set at $10. For non-members of the United States Chess Federation (USCF), there will be an additional fee of $7.50 so that the tournament can be officially rated.
- CONGRATULATIONS to the solvers! - Hal Harmon, Kim Barney, Brent Terry, Stanley Hunt, Vali Kremer, William DeVroom, Covert Copier, Ann Neil, Michael Brough, Ronnie Millet, Eugene Wagstaff, Aaron Brough, Richard Adams, Gordon Green, Raeburn Kennard, Dean Thompson, David C. Kirck, Scott Mitchell, Donovan Weight, Stephen Kirk, David Ferguson, George Stucki, William D. Price, Kevin Smullin, Kay Lundstrom, Ted Pathakis, Joye McMulland, Glennin Cloward, Jack Crandall, Edwin O. Smith, Monroe Iversen, Peter Rogers, Tim Painter, Paul R. Lindeman, John Nielsen, Nathan Kennard, David L. Evans, Ken Frost, Jim Turner and Dale Brimley.