Monday, May 6, 2019

Chess Photo Shoot by Steven Elleman! October, 2018 Berkeley, California



Indoor setting

Demonstrating one of my games!



Cafe Strada, Berkeley
Campus, University of California Berkeley


Monday, November 5, 2018

2017 California's Women's State Chess Championship

After a long debate about whether to participate in the California's Women's State Championship or not, my desire to defend my title from the previous year was inevitable. Due to the overwhelming schoolwork, I wasn't playing active chess in 2016 and 2017. However, having participated in the US Amateur team west championship tournament a month prior to this event helped me to take some rust off and gain more confidence. Luckily, I was able to score 5.5/6 to win the tournament and defend my title.  Read more about my 2016 women's championship experience: https://uyangabyambaa.blogspot.com/2016/

Become the Back to back California's Women's State Chess Champion! March, 2017
Thank you Elizabeth Shaughnessy for organizing this wonderful event and giving out a generous prize fund!
Tournament Trophy with the name of the winner engraved


Studying some tactics before the event....

Result:
Pair | Player Name                     |Total|Round|Round|Round|Round|Round| 
 Num  | USCF ID / Rtg (Pre->Post)       | Pts |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  | 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    1 | UYANGA BYAMBAA                  |4.5  |W  11|D   3|W   7|W   2|W   6|
   CA | 14271351 / R: 2218   ->2232     |N:C  |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    2 | NATALYA TSODIKOVA               |4.0  |W  22|W  13|W   6|L   1|W   3|
   CA | 12634942 / R: 2197   ->2204     |N:C  |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    3 | SAIKHANCHIMEG TSOGTSAIKHAN      |3.5  |W  15|D   1|W   5|W   4|L   2|
   CA | 16309084 / R: 2067P11->2087P16  |N:1  |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    4 | RUI YANG YAN                    |3.5  |H    |W  21|W   8|L   3|W  13|
   CA | 15462690 / R: 1886   ->1894     |N:2  |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    5 | LAUREN GOODKIND                 |3.5  |X    |W  19|L   3|D  13|W   9|
   CA | 12778910 / R: 1858   ->1849     |N:3  |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    6 | TSEGMED MUNKHCHULUUN            |3.0  |W  20|W   9|L   2|W  10|L   1|
   CA | 16231142 / R: 2159P17->2132P22  |N:2  |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    7 | SIMONA NAYBERG                  |3.0  |H    |W  12|L   1|W  20|D   8|
   CA | 14373224 / R: 1806   ->1822     |N:2  |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    8 | BARBARA GOODKIND                |3.0  |W  16|D  20|L   4|W  12|D   7|
   CA | 12778604 / R: 1800   ->1795     |N:3  |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    9 | JESSICA T LAUSER                |3.0  |W  23|L   6|W  15|W  16|L   5|
   KY | 12593821 / R: 1649   ->1641     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   10 | ELIZABETH SHAUGHNESSY           |3.0  |W  17|W  14|H    |L   6|H    |
   CA | 12254060 / R: 1528   ->1529     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   11 | BRENDA K MUNOZ                  |3.0  |L   1|L  17|W  14|W  15|W  16|
   CA | 13986033 / R: 1160   ->1154     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   12 | KIMBERLY LIU                    |2.5  |H    |L   7|W  21|L   8|W  20|
   CA | 14268494 / R: 1842   ->1814     |N:4  |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   13 | TING LIANG                      |2.5  |W  18|L   2|W  17|D   5|L   4|
   CA | 12780639 / R: 1576   ->1582     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   14 | JACKIE COWGILL                  |2.5  |H    |L  10|L  11|W  23|W  17|
   CA | 14105570 / R:  950   -> 947     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   15 | FIANNA PAULINE MCCARTY-SNEAD    |2.0  |L   3|W  18|L   9|L  11|W  21|
   CA | 14948296 / R: 1000   ->1028     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   16 | ANA HATARIK                     |2.0  |L   8|W  23|W  19|L   9|L  11|
   CA | 15375065 / R:  949P13-> 939P18  |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   17 | TALLULAH ANTOI MCCARTY-SNEAD    |2.0  |L  10|W  11|L  13|W  25|L  14|
   CA | 14948301 / R:  626   -> 694     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   18 | CONSTANCE BRAND                 |2.0  |L  13|L  15|W  23|W  24|U    |
   CA | 16334238 / R: Unrated-> 662P4   |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   19 | VICTORIA ACOSTA-FEREZI          |2.0  |W  25|L   5|L  16|H    |H    |
   CA | 16121037 / R:  382P19-> 391P22  |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   20 | ENKHJIN ERDENEBILEG             |1.0  |L   6|D   8|H    |L   7|L  12|
   CA | 15616172 / R: 1446   ->1453     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   21 | RENATE OTTERBACH                |1.0  |H    |L   4|L  12|H    |L  15|
   CA | 14565208 / R: 1237   ->1199     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   22 | NATALIE BALDACCI                |1.0  |L   2|H    |H    |U    |U    |
   CA | 13115670 / R: 1132   ->1132     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   23 | MEDHA MUKHERJEE                 |1.0  |L   9|L  16|L  18|L  14|W  24|
   CA | 14774103 / R:  165P24-> 187     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   24 | SARAH MCCARTY-SNEAD             |1.0  |H    |H    |U    |L  18|L  23|
   CA | 16025886 / R:  362P2 -> 100P4   |     |     |     |     |     |     |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   25 | TERESA PROVENZANO               |1.0  |L  19|H    |H    |L  17|U    |
   CA | 16343473 / R: Unrated-> 100P2   |     |     |     |     |     | 
 
 

US Amateur Team Chess Championship

US Amateur Team Championship West (USATW) is one of my favorite tournaments of all times! It is very unique in a way that the winners are determined by the score of the entire team. Team tournaments are simply so much fun! Every USAT was so memorable for me. With three times I participated with different teams, we won the top female prize, top college prize and a big victory of winning the whole tournament and obtained the National Title.

  • 2013 USATW,  played for board 3 -  Our team won the entire tournament after defeating Princeton University in the playoff!
  • 2014 USATW, played for board 1 - I formed all girls team with my female students and we won the top female team prize!
  • 2017 USATW, played for board 2 - I formed a college team from UC Berkeley and we won the top college team prize!

2017 US Amateur Team Championship West   

Despite the intense coursework at Cal, I decided to form a team at the US Amateur Team Championship West in Santa Clara, CA to represent the school.


at Cal vs UCLA game, 2016

Find results here: https://www.bayareachess.com/events/17/0218sp/
Although our team average rating wasn't that high, we overperformed and tied for 4th place overall including winning the top college team prize! Congratulations to all our wonderful team members!


Team "Golden Bears"

Playing on board 2
Our Team /from left/ : Max, Daniel, Ganesh, Uyanga and Ata

Well done! Go Bears!
2013 US Amateur Team Championship: Norcal House of Chess Kings and Queen wins the National title!
 
The champion watch!

Our victory was an incredible journey. First, we won the US Amateur Team West tournament to qualify in the semi-final. 
Team "Norcal House of Chess Kings and Queen"


The Queen of " the Norcal house of chess Kings and Queen"




Yes, we did it! Won the West championship and qualified for the playoff!


After winning the semi-final match, we faced against team from Princeton University in the final playoff.

playing our playoff match!

US Chess Life Magazine, August 2013 issue features us!

Congratulations Norcal House of Chess Kings and Queen for the winning the US Amateur National Chess Championship! Well done! 

Sunday, November 4, 2018

2015 US Chess League, San Francisco Mechanics

Fall 2015 was incredible. I was playing the best chess of my life at that time, partly because I was off from school. It was a free semester for me since I was going to start Berkeley in spring 2016. An academic free environment gave me an opportunity to focus solely on my chess. I was winning all tournaments I entered and my rating reached its peak. I was very motivated to break 2300 USCF.
American Open during Thanksgiving weekend, LA

In addition, this was my last season to play in US Chess League team (USCL ), representing San Francisco Mechanics Chess Club. Read about my previous post about USCL: https://uyangabyambaa.blogspot.com/2012/04/san-francisco-mechanics-uscl-united.html

2015 Roster (March Rating List)

1.GM Daniel Naroditsky2712
2.GM Vinay Bhat2570
3.IM David Pruess2416
4.IM John Donaldson2411
5.FM Cameron Wheeler2391
6.FM Andy Lee2378
7.FM James Critelli2376
8.FM Vignesh Panchanatham2344
9.NM Siddharth Banik2243
10.FM Rayan Taghizadeh2224
11.WFM Uyanga Byambaa2168
• Manager: John Donaldson
• Assistant Manager: Payam Afkham-Ebrahimi


 http://uschessleague.com/player.php?p=uyanga-byambaa


See games: Week 2 http://uschessleague.com/games2015/costellobyambaa15.html
Week 4: http://uschessleague.com/games2015/byambaadurham15.html
Week 8: http://uschessleague.com/games2015/byambaahe15.html
Wildcard Round: http://uschessleague.com/games2015/byambaatiglon15.html
Quarterfinals:  http://uschessleague.com/games2015/byambaasanchez15.html

It was a successful last season. I was very happy with my overall performance and contribution to the team.

John Donaldson wrote in Mechanics Newsletter:

"The Mechanics’ 2015 US Chess League run was ended last Tuesday night in the quarter-finals when they were defeated by Western Division top seed Dallas by a score of 2½-1½. Uyanga Byambaa won for the M.I. on board four, defeating her opponent in 22 moves. This was Uyanga’s second playoff win and she finished the season with a 3½-1½ score, good for a 2343 performance rating.

Uyanga was also the winner of the 44th Annual Carroll Capps Memorial. She defeated International Master Vladimir Mezentsev and drew with National Master Siddarth Banik, finishing with a score of 5½-½. Mezentsev was second at 5-1 with Banik third at 4½.
This performance brought Uyanga’s rating to a personal best of 2275, which makes her the top-rated female in the Bay Area, ahead of Woman Grandmaster Nadiya Ortiz (2243), National Master Asritha Eswaran (2239) and Natalya Tsodikova (2164)."

At the same weekend, I entered  two day tournament at Mechanics, 44th Carroll Capps Memorial. After defeating International Master Mezentsev, I secured a first place.

The publication of CalChess, Northern California’s US Chess Federation affiliate
Winter 2016:

The 44th Carroll Capps Memorial Tournament

October 7th & 8th, 2015 Prize Winners:
1st Place: Byambaa – $250.00
2nd Place: Mezentsev – $160.00
Tied for Best under 2200, Best Under 2000, and Best Under 1800: K. Padmanabhan, Melville, Viswanathan, and Acharya – $59.25 each
Tied for Best under 1600 and Best under 1400: Jiang, Lingannagari, and N. Ayinala – $51.00 each
#NameRtngPostRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6Tot
1Uyanga Byambaa22672292W18W12W2D3W11W45.5
2Vladimi Mezentsev24492445W21W17L1W5W3W95.0
3Siddharth G Banik22612267W19W13W8D1L2W114.5
4Karthik Padmanabhan20402051H---W15D9W6W17L14.0
5Cailen J Melville18011810L15W24W18L2W20W84.0
6Arul Viswanathan17961810W26L8W14L4W18W134.0
7Venkatagi Acharya16841762W31D9W17L11H---W224.0
8Derek C Slater21432123W20W6L3W12D9L53.5
9Steven Gaffagan20662061W14D7D4W13D8L23.5
10Akshay Padmanabhan19991989H---W22L11W15H---H---3.5
11Ashik Uzzaman19891999H---W23W10W7L1L33.5
12Rico Adkins18101809W25L1W19L8H---H---3.0
13Kevin F Dooley17851769W27L3W20L9W16L63.0
14Nicholas Jiang13761431L9W16L6W23H---H---3.0
15Arnav Lingannagari13321466W5L4W21L10H---H---3.0
16Nihar Ayinala10661216U---L14W26W25L13W273.0
17Nikunj C Oza20001970W24L2L7W19L4H---2.5
18Andy Xiong15781577L1W26L5W22L6D192.5
19Ethan Boldi14981501L3W27L12L17W26D182.5
20Mateo Step Hansen13881419L8W31L13W21L5H---2.5
21Bruce Ricard15981550L2W25L15L20H---H---2.0
22Shree Ayinala15721545H---L10D23L18W24L72.0
23Ashleann Chen14941469H---L11D22L14H---H---2.0
24Agnes Zhiyi Wang13661352L17L5W27L28L22W292.0
25Ethan Cheng13371296L12L21W31L16H---H---2.0
26Ahyan Zaman11371126L6L18L16W30L19W312.0
27Renate Otterbach11011076L13L19L24W31H---L161.5
28Guy R Robertson14531475U---U---U---W24U---U---1.0
29Sankar Ayinala11211117U---U---U---U---W31L241.0
30Vasan Padmanabhan970951U---U---U---L26U---U---0.0
31Nicholas Boldi820791L7L20L25L27L29L260.0

Thursday, November 1, 2018

One of my favorite games with Evan's Gambit!

NM Uyanga Byambaa (2190) vs WGM Anjelina Belakovskaia (2292)
2015 Reno Larry Evans Memorial Open, Reno NV



One of my favorite games with Fried Liver Attack!

NM Uyanga Byambaa vs NM Robert Hatarik
2014 US Amateur Team Championship West, Santa Clara, CA


Friday, July 22, 2016

Berkeley Chess School Weekender, July 2016

 WFM Uyanga Byambaa
2016 California's Women's State Champion!

Since I started attending at University of California, Berkeley this January, I haven't been playing much chess. Cal definitely keeps me busy. After several months of break from chess, I've been attempting to come back and play little bit before fall semester starts. Recently, I just played in Berkeley Weekender, a small local tournament that Berkeley chess school is starting to organize every other month. The tournament was held in a beautiful, spacious building in Berkeley hill and directed by Senior TD Bryon Joseph Doyle, who did a great job running the tournament. Although it wasn't a super big prize tournament, it attracted more than 50 players including 10 titled players in the open section /FIDE Rated/. Before I talk about the Berkeley weekender, I'd like to highlight one of my most memorable tournaments, organized also by Berkeley Chess School, 1st California's Women's State Championship, April 2-3rd. I accepted Elizabeth Shaughnessy's personal invite to the tournament way back in December, so I was already committed to participate in the tournament. Plus, I always love to promote girls and women to play chess and support their events. On the other hand, newly transferred to UC Berkeley in spring, my semester was intense. I was pretty much studying all the time and my mind wasn't fully focused on chess. Between my rounds at women's state championship, I was studying for my Econ 100A, upper division microeconomic analysis, midterm. In spite of the stress and pressure, I was lucky that everything worked out in my favor. Here is a key last round game, where I defeated National Master Natalia Tsodikova to win the tournament.
Our previous encounter at the Mechanics chess club, Winter Tuesday Night Marathon 2015, Round 8, Board 1
http://chessclub.org/news.php?n=721
[Event "California's women's state championship"]
[Site "Berkeley Chess School"]
[Date "2016.04.03"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Byambaa, Uyanga"]
[Black "Tsodikova, Natalya"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C51"]
[WhiteElo "2210"]
[BlackElo "2222"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. O-O d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8.
exd5 Ne7 9. a4 a6 10. a5 Ba7 11. d4 exd4 12. Nxd4 O-O 13. Ra3 Ng6 14. Kh1 Qh4
15. f4 Re8 16. Bb2 Bg4 17. Nf3 Qh5 18. Qd2 Re4 19. Bd3 Bxf3 20. Rxf3 Qxd5 21.
Qc3 Rd4 22. Qd2 Rc4 23. f5 Ne5 24. f6 Nxd3 25. Raxd3 Qe4 26. Rf1 Re8
Position after 27...Be3

27. Rg3Be3 28. Rxg7+ Kf8 29. Qe2 Qh4 30. Rxh7 Qxh7 31. Qxc4 c5 32. bxc5 Bxc5 33. h3
Qe4 34. Qb3 Qe2 35. Qd3 Qxd3 36. cxd3 Re2 37. Bc1 Bd4 38. Bh6+ Ke8 39. h4 Re5
40. Bd2 Re2 41. Bg5 Re5 42. Rb1 Rxa5 43. Rxb7 Rb5 44. Re7+ Kf8 45. g4 Rb8 46.
Re4 Be5 47. Ra4 Rb6 48. Kg2 Kg8 49. d4 Rb2+ 50. Kf3 Bh2 51. Rxa6 Rb3+ 52. Ke4
Rg3 53. Ra8+ Kh7 54. Rf8 Rxg4+ 55. Kf5 Rxd4 56. Rxf7+ Kg8 57. Kg6 Ra4 58. Rd7
Ra8 59. f7+ 1-0

More info about the tournament, read article featured in US chess website: https://new.uschess.org/news/girls-and-womens-tournaments-a-great-success/

Some photos from the tournament:


Berkeley girls are ready to battle, photo by Sarah

Photo by Richard Shorman

Photo by Richard Shorman

Tournament hall, Berkeley Chess School Hill Side Building
 

I'd like to thank Elizabeth Shaughnessy, founder of Berkeley Chess School, for organizing such a great event that creates opportunity for women to play chess. Along with winning $700 for first place, I'm privileged to attain the state title.



 At the Berkeley Weekender in round 2, I had very tough game against a teenager who is already rated over 2400 USCF.


[Event "Berkeley Weekender"]
[Date "2016.07.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Panchanathan, Vignesh"]
[Black "Byambaa, Uyanga"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E85"]
[WhiteElo "2431"]
[BlackElo "2197"]
1. d4  Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7
4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. Nge2 Nc6
(7... c6) 8. d5 Ne7 9. Qd2 Nd7 10. h4
f5 11. Bg5
{this move looks strange to me. According to chessbase, apparently,
it scores very good for white.} f4 12. h5 Bf6 {I was happy to exchange my bad
bishop; however, what I didn't realize is that I was also getting rid of my
good defensive piece.} ({better is} 12... h6 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. hxg6 ) 13.
Bxf6 Nxf6 14. hxg6 hxg6 15. g3 g5 16. O-O-O a6
{Keeping the knight out from
jumping to b5, where vulnarable c7 pawn will be under attack. Also, I can play
b5 myself. The problem is that though I don't have time for this. I didn't
really sense the danger of his kingside attack.} ({better is} 16... Kf7 17. Ng1
) 17. Ng1 
Position after 17.Ng1
Ng6 {Looks natural to bring more defender around my
king, but it just becomes a target.} ({Again, better try!} 17... Kf7) 18. Bh3 Bxh3 {
Why capture and lose a tempo? Well, If I don't capture the bishop, I was
scared that his bishop will land on f5 square, then it is hard for me capture
the bishop on f5, since it frees the e4 square for his knight.} ({computer
engine suggests} 18... g4 19. Bxg4 Nxg4 20. fxg4 Qf6 {still bad for black.})
19. Nxh3 {Now, I'm in big trouble. g5 is weak!} Nh5 20. Nxf4 (20. gxf4 Nhxf4
21. Rdg1) 20... Nhxf4 21. gxf4 Nxf4 (21... Rxf4 {is slightly better.}) 22.
Rh6  Kf7 23. Rdh1 Rg8 24. Ne2 Nxe2+ 25. Qxe2 Rg6 26. Rh7+ Kf6 27. Qh2 b5 28.
Qh5 Qg8 29. Qg4 Qc8 30. Rd7 1-0

Next day, I was able to bounce back from this loss and won the round 3 and 4 against experts. The key game of the tournament was the last round, where I faced against FM Andy Lee.
[Event "Berkeley Weekender"]
[Date "2016.07.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Lee, Andy"]
[Black "Byambaa, Uyanga"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2390"]
[BlackElo "2197"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Be6 14. Ne4 Re8
15. h4 Nf4 ({mail line goes} 15... h6 16. g4 Qc7 17. g5 h5 18. Bc4) 16. Qe1 Qc7

(16... Bd5 17. c4 Qc7 18. g3 Bxe4 19. fxe4 Ne6 20. Be3) 17. g3 Nd5 18. Bc4
h6
{Useful move. it controls the g5 square so that in some lines I can play f5.
} 19. g4 Nf4 {Second time the knight is landing on f4!} 20. Bxe6 Nxe6 21. g5?
{I was surprised to see him giving up his dark squared bishop. Yes, the knight
on e4 is strong piece, dominating my dark squared bishop, but things will turn around in
one move that he overlooked.} ({the better is} 21. Bd6 {or 21. Be3}) 21... Nxc5 22. Nxc5 
Position after 17.Nxc5

e4! Unleashing the beast! All of a sudden, the dragon bishop breathing fire along the long diagonal. In addition to open b-file, the active queen and the control over the dark squares, black's initiative becomes very hard to deal with. 23. fxe4 {there is no pleasant way to accept the
pawn sacrifice.} (23. Nxe4 Rab8 24. c3 Qf4+ 25. Qd2 Qxf3 26. gxh6 Bxh6 27. Qxh6
Rxe4) 23... Rab8 24. Nd3 hxg5 25. hxg5 c5 26. c4 Qb7 27. Qe2 Rxe4 28. Qc2
Qe7 29. Rhg1 Re2 30. Rd2 Qe3 31. Rgd1 Qxg5

Postion after 31...Qxg5

32. Kb1 Rxd2 33. Rxd2 Qg1+ 34. Rd1
Qg4 35. a3 g5 36. Rd2 Rd8 37. Rg2 Qf5 38. Nf2 Qf4 39. Ne4 g4
 40. Qe2 Rb8? (40... Qe5 41. Qxg4 f5) 41. Qd3? (41. Rxg4 Rxb2+ 42. Qxb2 Qxg4 43. Qb8+ Kh7
44. Qh2+ Kg6 45. Qd6+ f6 46. Qd3) 41... Qe5 42. Qc2 {due to time pressure,
it wasn't easy to find the most accurate defense.} f5 43. Ng3 f4 44. Nf5 f3 45.
Rd2 Rxb2+ 46. Qxb2 Qxf5+ 47. Qc2 Qxc2+ 48. Kxc2 g3 0-1

The final result of the tournament wasn't too bad! Tied for 2nd with score 4/5!

me before round 2
Congratulations to our local IM Ricardo De Guzman for winning the tournament with perfect score 5/5!


 Here is the link for the final standings:http://www.berkeleychessschool.org/weekender-standings/