Grandmaster Sam Palatnik visits Cornell

Nikolai M. Krivitski, Ph.D, D.Sc. (left) was a boyhood friend of GM Palatnik. Apparently, they played in tournaments together at age 10. He is the Vice President for Research & Development at Transonic Systems based in Ithaca. Dr. Raissa V. Krivitsky (center), Senior Lecturer in the Department of Russian and faculty advisory board member of the Alice Cook House, hosted the grandmaster (right).

Members of the Cornell Chess Club Jasper Wu (left), 2011-12 President, and National Master Thomas Riccardi (right), shown here with GM Palatnik, were happy to serve as tough opponents for an eight board simultaneous exhibition.

Sam carefully considers his next move against Tom. Since the players were seated in USCF rating order, GM Palatnik was aware that this game on Board 1 would require the most attention. He was right, as this was the last to finish. Palatnik completed his 8-0 sweep, but not without a tough fight from Riccardi. Nikolai Krivitski looks on. Interesting coincidence: I presented a trophy to 6th grader Tom Riccardi at the National Elementary Chess Championship at Opryland Hotel in Nashville back in May 2003.


The Alice Cook House, part of the beautiful student housing complex on the west campus of Cornell University, was the site of the event. The house professor-dean André Dhondt, a native of Belgium where he obtained his Ph.D. in Biology at Ghent State University, and his wife Keila Dhondt, welcomed Sam & Olga Palatnik to campus for the second year in a row with a reception in their apartment.

I first met GM Palatnik on a visit to Nashville in April 1997. We later reunited at the World Chess Hall of Fame in Miami (2003) and again for a chess lesson in Memphis in December 2004. It was my first introduction to Nikolai (who is also a long ago friend of GM Lev Alburt).

5K Cancer Run...my final race

Ran what was probably my last 5K this past weekend. Two second year Sloan students, Erin Santerre & Emil Smith, made sure I got around the course safely.

Johnson School of Management

I had the privilege of meeting with Dr. Joe Thomas, Dean of Cornell's Johnson School of Management, upon my return to Cornell University. Dean Thomas was my Quantitative Analysis professor back in 1973 at the Cornell Business School. He remains one of my all time favorite professors.

Has anyone seen Andrey Kostin?

FIDE rated player Andrey Kostin of Vancouver, BC

Rumor has it that Canadian chess player Andrey Kostin has arrived at Cornell on a math scholarship. Kostin, born 1988, has had many successes over the board, including a first place tie with FIDE Master Fanhao Meng and Lucas Davies at the BC Junior Championship. So far, though, Kostin hasn't appeared at the chess club which meets Monday and Friday evenings in Hollister Hall. There are two other players over 2200 USCF in the club who, together with Kostin, could form the core of a very strong chess team for the upcoming Pan Amrican Intercollegiate Chess Championship and next February's US Amateur Team event in New Jersey.

As far as I can tell, Cornell University hasn't fielded a competitive team since at least 1991. Perhaps this will be the year for a comeback!

Andrey Kostin, rated 2100 FIDE and climbing, shown here in the "King of Vancouver" chess tournament which he won in impressive fashion.

Back at Cornell after 37 years

At the Six Mile Creek welcoming reception with three of the first year Sloan Students: Constantine, Sean and Ty.

Thank you to Angelica Hammer for successfully attacking the "apostrophe bug" on the Cornell web site resulting in the updated bio located here.

About Cornell's Sloan Program in Health Administration: Established in 1955, the Sloan Program is the nation's first two-year graduate program in health care management and has been training future health care leaders for over half a century. It is named to acknowledge the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which selected Cornell and funded the development of a new program to promote application of modern management practices to health care. Sloan is located in the multidisciplinary College of Human Ecology, which has a number of other programs that relate to senior living and health, including the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging (CITRA) and an interdepartmental Gerontology program.

Click here to see the previous blog entry about my return to Cornell (posted August 4, 2011).

Click here for my recent (well, fairly recent) thoughts on the U.S. Health Care system (posted May 1, 2009).

Tidbit for my students: Top 50 hospital administration blogs as of April, 2010.

And now for some chess...the 2011 Oregon Open:

Here are the results from the 2011 Oregon Open Chess Championship played this past weekend. FIDE master Nick Raptis won in a runaway. He didn't even play in round 6!

Mike Morris vs. Nick Raptis, Rd. 2, Sept. 3, 2011
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. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Qa5 11. Kb1 Ne5 12. Bb3 Rfc8 13. h4 Nc4 14. Bxc4 Rxc4 15. Nb3 Qc7 16. h5 Rxc3 17. bxc3 Be6 18. hxg6 fxg6 19. Bd4 a5 20. Qe3 a4 21. Nc1 Ra5 22. g4 Qc4 23. g5 Qb5+ 24. Ka1 Qxg5 25. Qxg5 Rxg5 26. Nd3 Rg3 27. Rdb1 Rxf3 28. Rxb7 Nxe4 29. Rxe7 Bxd4 30. cxd4 Ng3 31. Rb1 Bf7 32. Rb8+ Kg7 33. Kb2 h5 34. Rbb7 h4 35. Ne5 a3+ 36. Kc1 dxe5 37. dxe5 h3 38. e6 h2

Play chess online

The Cornell Chess Club is alive and strong. It meets Mondays and Fridays on campus. As far as I know, there is not a competitive team that travels to tournaments, not even the US Amateur team championship in Parsippany! I'll have to drop in and see if I can change that...Opening night at the 2011-12 Cornell University Chess Club (photo courtesy of Jasper Wu, CU chess club president)

Far Above Cayuga's Waters

My new bio page has been posted on the Cornell University website. Click here to see it!

Tash and I will be leaving Idaho August 23 for Ithaca, New York.

Click here to learn more about the Sloan Executive-in-Residence Program.

And what to they do at the top of that tower? See for yourself...



Want lyrics so you can sing along? You can find them here.