World Of Chess

Karpov and Kasparov Unite to Conquer FIDE Presidency

2010-05-23T11:34:00.000-05:00

Nobody could doubt Kirsan Ilyumzhinov’s devotion to chess. As president of the impoverished Russian republic of Kalmykia, he spent £60m building a Chess City where visitors could play in comfort. He made the game compulsory in schools and had a giant chess board with outsized pieces placed in the main square of his capital.
His flamboyant style as head of the world chess federation since 1995 has attracted frequent criticism, however; and the impression of eccentricity was compounded recently when he told Russian state television that aliens in yellow spacesuits had given him a tour of their craft.
Now two of the world’s greatest chess champions, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, once rivals across the board, are making common cause in an effort to get rid of Ilyumzhinov.
In his opening attack Karpov is said to have secured the backing of several national chess federations. But in a counter move the incumbent has secured the Kremlin’s support to stay on.
“We’ve had enough of Ilyumzhinov. He’s no longer fit to head the federation. He must go,” said Karpov, whose campaign to head the game’s governing body is also supported by Vladimir Kramnik, another former world champion.
“So much could have been done in the last 15 years. Instead, Ilyumzhinov has simply placed his people in power, made a lot of unfulfilled promises and all but ended chances of attracting major sponsors because of his reputation.”
Kasparov has accused Ilyumzhinov of running the world chess federation in the same authoritarian way that he rules his tiny country. “He not only believes he can disregard rules, he makes up his own,” said Kasparov.
Ilyumzhinov denies any wrongdoing and says he has led the federation successfully.
The clash is being closely watched by chess enthusiasts across the world. Last week Karpov and Kasparov held a fundraiser in New York attended by more than 100 Wall Street bankers who bid at an auction for the chance to play against Kasparov.
Ilyumzhinov is unlikely to need such fundraisers. One of the former Soviet Union’s first multi-millionaires, he once boasted a fleet of Rolls-Royces.
In 1993, aged 31, he became president of Kalmykia after promising to turn Europe’s only Buddhist nation into a “second Kuwait” where “every shepherd would have a cellphone”. This has yet to become a reality.
He claims that as a young boy he played chess at night with a “black masked ghost” and despite protests from his impoverished people built Chess City on the outskirts of the capital, Elista, because “God intended Kalmykia to be known for chess”.
His tales of extraterrestrial encounters, first recounted years ago, proved the last straw for the chess champions. He said he was falling asleep in his Moscow apartment when he heard someone calling him from the balcony and saw a “semi-transparent half-tube” that he entered to meet the human-like creatures.
"I felt very comfortable with them,” said Ilyumzhinov. “I am often asked which language I used to talk to them. Perhaps it was on a level of the exchange of ideas. I asked them why they had not gone on television to reveal themselves to us humans. They replied that they are not yet ready.”

Chess Power Struggle

2010-05-22T11:16:00.002-05:00

By Stuart Williams

MOSCOW — It pitches a former world champion against the leader of the world's western-most Buddhist region who claims to have met aliens in his apartment.
For good measure, it also features the chief economic adviser of the Kremlin and another former world champion who has turned into an implacable critic of the Russian authorities.
This is the cast of a zany row that has broken out over Russia's candidate to head the World Chess Federation (FIDE), a struggle which has become a bitter test of guile and stamina reminiscent of famous battles on the board.
The president of FIDE is Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a fanatical chess player who has been leader of the largely Buddhist southern Russian region of Kalmykia since 1993.
As well as his obsession with chess -- which has extended to building a self-styled Chess City in the regional Kalmyk capital of Elista -- Ilyumzhinov is known for eccentric behaviour that is not even confined to planet earth.
He famously claimed to have been given a tour of a UFO by aliens in the late 1990s and last month solemnly revealed on a TV chat show that he had met extra-terrestrials in his Moscow apartment.
The role of FIDE is to set the rules of chess and organise championships. To stand for its presidency, candidates must gain the backing of their national federation.
The current mandate of Ilyumzhinov, who has been president of FIDE since 1995, expires in September and there are many in chess who would like the controversial figure to end his stint there.
Ex-world champion Anatoly Karpov, known for grinding opponents into submission during his Soviet-era heyday, has challenged Ilyumzhinov, declaring that 15 years of his "disreputable administration is more than enough".
Karpov has already been nominated as a candidate for the presidency in the September elections by several national chess federations including France. But winning the backing of Russia has proved more problematic.
Karpov -- who has a US presidential-style campaign site www.karpov2010.org -- may have thought he had sewn up the backing of the Russian Chess Federation when a meeting on May 14 nominated him as Russia's candidate.
But enter Arkady Dvorkovich -- best known as the chief economic advisor of President Dmitry Medvedev -- who also occupies the post of head of the Russian Chess Federation's supervisory board.
Dvorkovich declared that the nomination was invalid as it had failed to meet the minimum quorum of participants and said his own letter of recommendation sufficed for Ilyumzhinov to be the candidate of the Russian chess federation.
"I respect Anatoly Karpov as a great chess player but unlike Kirsan Ilyumzhinov he is an ineffective manager," spat Dvorkovich, who is normally quoted reeling out economic statistics.
"I also think Anatoly Yevgenyevich's election campaign has been indecent and unethical."
Karpov in turn accused Dvorkovich of staging a rival federation meeting on May 14 so he could then argue the minimum quorum was not met.
"Our high-ranking official is unable to accept the defeat of his point of view in a democratic vote," Karpov wrote on his blog for Echo of Moscow radio station.
With the latest battle looking like a long-drawn-out clash in which stalemate is not possible, Russia's current number one Vladimir Kramnik has called on both sides to use "only civilised methods of fighting".
The chairman of the Russian chess federation, Alexander Bakh, meanwhile accused Dvorkovich of sending in private security guards to seal off offices at the federation in revenge for his support of Karpov.
Karpov's campaign has also found a perhaps unlikely ally in the shape of his former great rival Garry Kasparov, the ex-world champion who now leads one of Russia's few anti-Kremlin political movements.
Kasparov -- whose 1984 world championship clash with Karpov was so gruelling it was abandoned over fears for the health of both players -- has openly backed his ex-rival and attended a glitzy campaign gala in New York.
The Soviet Union dominated world chess in the heyday of Kasparov and Karpov, benefiting from a system that encouraged children to take up the sport at the youngest age. But funding dwindled after the Soviet collapse.

US Chess Championship Final Four

2010-05-21T18:51:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact:

Mike Wilmering
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
Cream of the Crop for Quad Final
By FM Mike Klein

Saint Louis, May 20, 2010 –

Four players have survived and advanced to
the quad finals of the 2010 U.S. Championship, but the results of
round seven do not tell the full story. Though a casual glance will
show that the top three boards ended in draws, the uncompromising play
brought the tournament to within a whisker of a large tiebreaker for
the four-player round robin.

Board one was the first to finish, but the relatively peaceful draw
between GM Yury Shulman and GM Alex Onischuk that qualified both for
the quad did little to portend the action on the next two boards. “I
had a little advantage, typical for a Queen’s Gambit Declined,”
Shulman said.

GM Gata Kamsky, needing only a draw as White against GM Alex Shabalov
to earn his spot, began shaking his head in disbelief when he
overlooked the cunning defense 22…Bg6 at the end of a long variation.
He had only considered 22…Kg8, which wins for White after 23. Qd5+.
Though short on time, Kamsky gathered himself and found a way to
capture several pawns whilst simultaneously weakening Shabalov’s king.
“It was a pretty unpleasant scenario,” Kamsky said. “I was looking to
minimize the damage.”

Kamsky then found what he called an “extremely strong defensive
maneuver” – bringing his rook to the fourth rank to defend his king on
the g-file. Black then ran low on time and after Shabalov whispered
“draw,” Kamsky ran his clock down to 1:20 and agreed.

In the post-mortem, Kamsky rattled off a multitude of variations. In
case of 16…b5, Kamsky prepared 17. Nfxe5 Nxe5 18. Nxe5 Qxe5 19. h4!
with the dual threats of 20. Bxh5 and 20. Bf3. Shabalov nodded in
quiet appreciation of the cute move.

The last qualifier for the finals would come down to board two. GM
Larry Christiansen, a veteran of decades of championships, needed to
win as he began the round one half point behind defending champion GM
Hikaru Nakamura. Known for his attacking style, Christiansen built up
a strong center and spatial advantage. “I was guardedly optimistic,”
Christiansen said.

Nakamura was not content playing passively and struck with the strange-
looking thrust 8…g5. World Champion GM Viswanathan Anand, calling in
from Spain live during the on-air commentary, questioned the move.
“I’m not sure if Nakamura knows how to (play solidly),” Anand said.
“But he doesn’t lack confidence, that’s for sure.”

As the game petered out into a pawn-up endgame for Christiansen, the
crowd at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis gathered
around the monitors. Players who generally left the club after their
games stayed to see the result. GM Maurice Ashley, commentating on the
game, saw Christiansen move his rook around to press for the win.
“You’re going to sit here and you’re going to suffer young man,”
Ashley said of Christiansen’s mindset. Eventually, too many pawns were
traded and Nakamura held on to qualify.

“Basically I just forgot my preparation, but even so the result was
pretty good,” Nakamura said. “I made some inexactitudes, as they say,”
said Christiansen. “It’s kind of a letdown. The real tournament is
over. It’s hard to get psyched up now.”

The four players advancing to the finals are also the top four seeds.
They also all enter the event with five points. “Everyone is in even
conditions,” Shulman said. “Whoever will have some luck on his side
will win the tournament. I’m still considered the underdog.” Nakamura
agreed and cited himself, Kamsky and Onischuk as having all the
pressure.

The players now enter a rest day before the quad begins on Saturday.
Shulman said he plans to attend a St. Louis Cardinals game, while
Kamsky looked forward to the human chess match planned for the street
outside the club. After rebuffing WGM Jennifer Shahade’s preference to
see Kamsky as an f-pawn, the grandmaster said, “I prefer to be a
knight because knights get to hop all over the place.”

Nakamura also planned to rest on Friday, at least from chess. “I think
I’m probably going to go out and buy some furniture for my apartment,”
he said. Nakamura moved to downtown St. Louis less than two weeks ago.

Six players entered the round with 3.5/6 and were mathematically
alive, but their chances were dashed when Shabalov could not convert
against Kamsky. The most disappointed was surely GM Alex Stripunsky,
who would have qualified for the playoff as he beat GM Jesse Kraai. GM
Alex Yermolinsky held a draw against GM Ben Finegold on board five.

GM Robert Hess rebounded from several losses to take out struggling GM
Varuzhan Akobian, who remains the highest-rated player in the country
never to win the U.S. Championship, though he remains younger than
most of the field.

In the tournament’s subplot of making grandmaster norms, IM Irina
Krush is now within sight of her second norm. She took out GM
Aleksandr Lenderman in round seven to get back to plus one. The two
players share the same coach, but that did not prepare her for the
opening. Krush said she was shocked to see Lenderman play the Grunfeld Defense.
She is assured of a norm with one point in the final two
games.

After tomorrow’s rest day, the top four players begin their three-
round event on Saturday, while the rest of the field will play two
more games starting on the same day.

“We deserve a little break,” Kamsky said, the relief evident

New PC Chess Software: Battle vs Chess

2010-05-19T08:41:00.000-05:00

Fritz ChessChampionship Chess (Supercharged Chess with Stunning 3D Graphics!)Topware has released new screenshots from their upcoming game Battle vs Chess, developed by Zuxxez Entertainment.

Battle vs Chess is a new PC chess game combining classic Chess with 3D animated boards and pieces, online play, and all the modern features we've come to expect from PC games.
If you were gaming on PCs during the Dark Ages, you may remember a very similar game called Battle Chess, released in various iterations by Interplay in the late 1980's and early 90's for Amiga and Apple computers.

Topware plans to take the basic concept—Chess with animated pieces and various 'kill animations'—and bring it into the 21st century with a powerful Chess engine called 'Fritz'. The game will also feature unlockable content, online multiplayer play, and special game modes. (You'll get whole new, modern, and attractive ways of getting your butt kicked at Chess by the computer or some clown on the Internet who can type LOLZ NOOB at you.)

Battle vs Chess will be released for PC, Mac, and "next-gen consoles and handhelds". The game is set to release August 2010 (delayed from its previously announced May 2010).

Us Chess Championship: Log-jam at the Top of the Leader Board

2010-05-18T21:12:00.001-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Mike Wilmering
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis

Log-jam at the Top of Leader Board

By FM Mike Klein

Saint Louis, May 17, 2010 –

With the top four players battling to
draws on the top two boards, a trio of other players used the fourth
round of the 2010 U.S Championship to draw even.

On board one, GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Alexander Onischuk had the quickest
game of the day. After a few brief fireworks out of the opening,
Onischuk continued his usual solid ways to earn the half point as
Black. He has now extended his record U.S. Championship unbeaten
streak to 45 games. His only loss was in the 2004/5 event, and
Onischuk came in to the tournament with the third highest lifetime win
percentage ever, behind Bobby Fischer and Reuben Fine.

Nakamura’s choice of the Vienna Gambit surprised Onischuk, even though
he previously played it at the 2007 U.S. Championship and at last
month’s Saint Louis Open. “I was kind of shocked,” Onischuk said. He
studied about 10 different openings prior to the game. Asked which one
he most expected, Onischuk quipped, “All of them!”

“We’re just trying not to lose against each other and beat everyone
else,” Namakura said. By “each other” he meant himself, Onischuk and
GM Gata Kamsky, the only players with ratings above 2700 USCF.

In the game, Nakamura curiously inverted his king and queen in the
first 10 moves. “I don’t think beginners should look at this game,” he
said. “It violates everything a grandmaster says.”

Grandmasters also say to put rooks on the seventh rank, but if
Nakamura had tried the winning attempt 21. axb6 axb6 22. Ra7, Onischuk
had intended the stunning sacrifice 22…Rf4!, which would have been his
second brilliant exchange sac in as many rounds. Nakamura however saw
the move and eschewed the variation, thinking 22. Rhf1 won. “I simply
miscalculated,” he said, “I thought I would be winning this endgame.”

On board two, GM Varuzhan Akobian played a solid opening but soon
found himself under duress from GM Gata Kamsky’s extra space and
eventual passed d-pawn. Watching the game, GM Jesse Kraai thought
Kamsky would squeeze out the point. “Kamsky does this kind of garbage
all the time,” Kraai joked. “You think he’s worse, then he gets you.”
But Akobian’s defense held up and the two agreed to terms after 53
moves.

On boards 3-5, players playing Black went 3-0. Joining the leaders on
three points out of four was GM Yury Shulman, who snatched a loose
pawn from GM Robert Hess and lived to tell the tale. “I didn’t think
it would be so easy for Black to keep the pawn, but it turns out I
don’t have anything,” a despondent Hess said at the post-game press
conference. “A pawn is a pawn,” Shulman said. Hess did not offer any
improvements and seemed dissatisfied with his game.

Shulman, seeded fifth, will now have to play up for the first time in
round five. “Quite often you play against your teammates,” he said of
his likely pairing with national squad comrades. “I don’t have any
(special) strategy.”

GM Alex Stripunsky also won as Black. Just after making the time
control, GM Jaan Ehlvest went in for a crowd-pleasing rook sacrifice.
The audience at the chess club initially thought it was forced
checkmate, but Stripunsky jettisoned a bishop and a rook to give his
king space and rebuff the attack.

The final member of the three-point score group is GM Larry Christiansen, who caught up to the leaders with a self-admitted
imperfect game. “Be3 was a lemon,” Christiansen said of his
opponent’s, GM Alex Shabalov’s, eighth move. “It is a novelty that
will not live in infamy. But with Shaba, you always wonder about a
miracle attack.” Though Shabalov had to retreat this bishop and his
queen to their home squares a few moves later, Christiansan said he
played “barely well enough to win.”

On board six GM Alex Yermolinsky beat GM Sergey Kudrin and on board
seven GM Jesse Kraai made it two in a row with a win over GM Joel
Benjamin. Yermolinsky and Kraai both have 2.5/4.

“The last three games have been really messy,” Kraai said. “I feel
this is the only game I played well.” Convinced that Benjamin had a
plan against his usual 1. c4, Kraai looked for inspiration elsewhere.
His providence, he explained, was part zoological and part
supernatural. Kraai said that Panda “infected me” and convinced him to
play 1. e4, then attack. “He has some sort of hormonal imbalance,”
Kraai said. “They sometimes let him out of the zoo and you’ll see him
around here. I like to channel him during my games.”

The elephant in the room, or in this case the Panda, was none other
than GM Josh Friedel, Kraai’s old roommate who is at the championship.

Benjamin was good-humored about the game, thought he admitted the loss
“pretty much ends my tournament.” Still, IM Greg Shahade, co-creator
of the new format, said that he expects 4.5/7 to possibly qualify for
the tiebreaker into the quad final. Benjamin, at 1.5/4, would need
three wins in three games to get to the mark.

The final five games were all draws, though IM Irina Krush missed a
win for the second game in a row. Coming off a disappointing 113-move
loss in round three, she entered a rook-and-bishop versus rook endgame
against GM Ray Robson. She missed the zwischenzug 66…Ra7 67. Ke1 Rf7,
winning immediately. She has now played 12 hours and 206 chess moves
in the last two rounds.

After her loss yesterday, Krush said she received lots of thoughtful
emails from chess friends. She said she wanted to fight hard today to
validate her support group. After the game Krush reminisced about her
missed chances and how a few different moves could have allowed her to
win all four games. “I still love chess,” she said without any hint of
insincerity.

Carlsen Vs Anand 2007

2010-05-18T20:54:00.001-05:00

Carlsen vs Anand 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEGZlUCFNU4

Could this be a preview of the next championship? Has Carlsen improved enough under the mentoring of Kasparov to capture the title from Anand?

Why Kasparov Supports Karpov

2010-05-17T10:00:00.001-05:00

By Larry Parr
with permission

KASPAROV'S SPEECH TO THE RUSSIAN CHESS FEDERATION

I could answer some questions, but maybe I would rather address a
common falsification of facts that is going on in the world. Even
though we live in the age of the Internet and other modern
technologies, some news spread slowly. There are a few myths in the
chess world on which people try to base their ungrounded decisions.
The situation itself is somewhat surreal: I and Karpov have clashed at
this very building a couple of times, we have always been antagonists.

A lot of issues have been sorted out, sometimes everything ended in an
ideologic debate, sometimes in "bad peace". It has always been a
confrontation. As you might understand, today is a totally different
case. I believe this day is very important for Russian chess. The sole
fact that there is a dilemma, and it it seriously discussed - Karpov
or Ilyumzhinov - seems strange to me. Not because it's a candidate
master vs a world champion; but because nowadays in chess and the
professional world in general reputation is the key factor. I don't
think there is any challenge in determining who is more reputable.
It's a disgrace that they are trying to impose the 15-year old (as
Ilyumzhinov's reign) mythology on the Russian Chess Federation.

The other members of the Supervisory Board (who haven't joined us) are
under the impression that the whole world supports Ilyumzhinov. It's a
lie. I haven't been in the chess circles for a while, but I visit a
lot of countries. I can estimate in what condition the world is. That
statement is not true. In fact, the chess world is in a disastrous
condition. The leading chess website - ChessBase - has posted a
trivia. People had to guess where the 6th Grand Prix stage will take
place. Baku, Jermuk, Sochi, Nalchik, Elista, where will the next one
be? The answer was Astrakhan, to form a circle on the map. Just think
about the names of the cities! (Then some polite remarks aimed at
showing he means no offense towards the locations). When we were
playing with Karpov, where was it? Moscow, London, New York, Seville,
Leon. And where are we today? It didn't happen just all of a sudden.
Chess is not at the circumference because everywhere else it is not
taken seriously. And it's not just a problem of world's chess, it's a
problem for Russia. When all the world media is showing the FIDE
president recalling his meeting with aliens. One can live in the world
of hallucinations. But when the future of chess depends on such
people...

It's obvious that this situation won't change, and everyone
understands it in (lists countries). You have been provided with a
presentation by Anatoly Evgenievich Karpov with a list of the
countries which support him. The chess countries (USA, Germany,
England, Spain, Switzerland) are on the list. Also many others
(mentions them). Even Ukraine. I.e. the countries which have
traditionally been supporting Ilyumzhinov. Just think about it. This
support stands for something. Supporting someone at an early stage is
a risky step. It's a serious risk to oppose the current President (who
has been the head of FIDE for 15 years) at such an early stage of the
elections. The situation has changed dramatically. 21 countries
already, before the elections, are supporting Karpov. About half of
them have been supporting Ilyumzhinov before. Ukraine - it's actually
a very uncommon thing. Previously they have been supporting Iyumzhnov
vs Bessel Kok, now they have expressed their support for Karpov...Per
Anatoly Evgenievich request I have been communicating with many
leaders of chess federations and grandmasters.

Everyone is afraid of just one myth: that in Khanty-Mansiisk [where
the elections will take place] everyone will be "buried". Today's
meeting will be decisive in the confrontation. People somehow believe
that Ilyumzhinov controls everything in Russia. Today we have a chance
to show that it is not the truth. Kirsan has no support in the world,
all the can rely upon is the so-called "administrative resource."
Dvorkovich, Ilyumzhinov, Magomedov? And Karpov? How can one compare
them?

This discussion is extremely important. It's not only about Russian
chess, it's about the future of world chess. These things are
interconnected. The agenda which we were supposed to discuss today has
some unreal items. Let's talk about the real problems. We can't win 3
Chess Olympiads in a row. I have been brought up in the system of
coordinates where 2nd place was a failure. Has something happened? Now
people approach it in a different way. For the first time since 1921
(Lasker-Capablanca) no Russian (or Soviet) representative is playing
at the WC match. Look at our teeenagers. Karjakin (although he is not
a teenager already) and came from Ukraine. Anyway, it's clear that he
is not a future world champion due to...(pauses) format. We are on the
decline everywhere. That's what we should be discussing. Today we have
a great chance to start affecting the process. Not by hiring
legionaries from (names countries), but by working with Karpov's
strong team. This can be discussed properly. And where is Ilyumzhinov?
Why is Kirsan not here? Why is he not telling us about aliens, his
connections, banks, Chess City, New Vasiuki? He has nothing to say
because 15 years is a lot of time. It has been understood everywhere.
The only reason why not everyone has supported Karpov already is that
they are afraid and waiting for the decision here. We have to prove
that it's not like that. It's a house of cards. A great chess player
on one side and a cardsharper on the other. You have the power to
change this.

If you have any questions on the situation in the world, feel free to
ask. I know it pretty well, and have contacted a great number of
people during the last two months. I am surprised. I also had the same
instincts: everyone in Africa and the Carribean region is bribed; and
then you start talking to people and see that people have understood
everything. They are contacted once in 4 years, and then forgot about.
They want changes, they want to see grandmasters, some programs.
Campomanes (although we had many controversies with him), at least
tried to do something. Not much, but now nothing is being done at all.
This situation can be changed, because the potential of chess is
absolutely incredible. Modern technologies would allow create chess
communities on the Internet, but nothing of that type has been done.
Once again, we're faced with some sort of delirium: David Kaplan is
going to teach us how to live. We have got more professional
experience. And the reaction from the federations that have already
supported Karpov show us that it is the right moment, people are ready
for a change.

Any questions?

Chess Scholar All Around Best

2010-05-16T11:38:00.002-05:00

Kansas City Star
May 16th,2010

During their first days at Lawrence High School, packs of sophomores are led into the gymnasium during a sort of guided tour and directed to scan the school’s state championship banners on the western wall.

“You’ll notice there are no banners for league titles or winning a regional up there,” the newest Chesty Lions are told. “We don’t put up individual state titles either. Only team champions go on the wall.”

Lawrence claims to have won 106 state titles, the most in Kansas, which makes it quite a shock to glance toward the gym’s east wall and see one name featured so prominently — Roy Wedge.

A giant banner proclaims Wedge, a senior, as the 2009-10 Gatorade Kansas boys cross country runner of the year. Eventually, the slick black banner will be retired to a trophy case, but for now, it hangs in the gym.

“Oh, don’t get me started on that,” Wedge says, shaking his head with an embarrassed smile when asked what he thinks of his banner being displayed in defiance of tradition.

• • •

There’s a little bit of Roy Wedge in everyone. That’s the essence of his charm. It makes him approachable and also keeps him humble.

But when the sum of Roy Wedge is totaled, there’s nobody quite like him.

“He makes his own category, honestly,” said fellow senior Lucy Daldorph, Wedge’s prom date. “We had to do something in my English class about what makes a man, what qualities define a man, and two or three times Roy Wedge was the list of what you have do to be a man.”

It’s not hard to figure why.

Academically, he’s a national merit finalist and Kansas AP Scholar who ranks eighth in a class of 410 with a 4.065 grade-point average and boasts a 35 score on the ACT.

Wedge, who is headed to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study computer science, helped the Lawrence string and symphonic orchestras achieve I ratings at state the last two years and finished third at the Kansas state chess tournament as a senior. He was 11th as a junior.

But he’s more than a mere brainiac.

Wedge also has been the top finisher for a Lions cross country team that claimed state titles each of the last two seasons, ending Shawnee Mission Northwest’s 14-year reign as 6A champs in the process.

He was the state runner-up after being passed late in the race as a junior at Rim Rock Farm, but made sure no one would catch him last fall in winning state by more than 25 seconds.

As much as he’d prefer to blend in, Wedge, who also reached the state track meet in three events last year and has won three varsity letters in swimming, seldom does. He can now add yet another distinction to his impressive personal résumé after being selected as The Star’s 2010 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

“Yeah, that’s nice. I did not see that coming,” Wedge said. “It’s a nice honor, but when I first found out, I was like, ‘Ah, I don’t want to be recognized again.’ ”

• • •

It might seem odd to some that a genius, chess-playing, cross country runner, who can be seen most mornings walking down the hill to Lawrence High with a large binder in one arm and a viola case in the other hand, would be so revered by faculty and students alike.

Wedge, who is soft-spoken and meticulous, doesn’t fit neatly into the mold of the typical high school hero.

“He’s never done what most kids do,” his mother, Linda Wedge, said.

As a first-grader at Wakarusa Valley Elementary in rural Lawrence, Wedge convinced the school’s principal to start a chess club.

Wedge also spends part of his summer helping his dad, Phil Wedge, count migratory birds in several western Kansas counties as a member of the Jayhawk Audubon Society.

The two start at the county line and count the birds observed in a three-minute period. They drive a half-mile and repeat the observation for 25 miles, with the younger Wedge taking notes for his dad, so the elder Wedge doesn’t have to turn away from the horizon.

Using the drawing function on his calculator, Wedge wrote a chess program to ward off boredom in calculus class.

“I wasted like a week in calculus class to do that,” he said. “It was during the review portion and I’d already had AP calculus. They were going over derivatives or something I’ve already done. I was trying to do Battleship, but the grid was too big for the screen.”

Tinkering with code writing is one of Wedge’s favorite pastimes.

“I’ve been messing around with the chess thing,” Wedge said, “and there’s a medieval computer game I have that I sort of understand how the code works, so I can mess it up.”

• • •

Wedge was the Class 6A runner-up at the Kansas state cross country meet in 2008, but he gives former captain Ben Wilson, who was something of a mentor, the lion’s share of the credit for the Lions’ title-winning breakthrough.

“That’s him. That’s Roy,” Lawrence principal Matt Brungardt said. “That shows his humility, and maybe that’s one of the qualities people really like about Roy and something that draws him to them.”

Ask Wedge about the time he placed sixth at the U.S. Junior National Chess Championships in 2008 and he responds with a perplexed look.

“There’s probably some national tournament on my résumé,” Wedge said. “I don’t really remember.”

Excellence seems to dog Wedge’s every undertaking, but he doesn’t feel the need to point that out. Perhaps that is why nobody seems to mind that Roy Wedge’s name hangs on that banner in the gym.

“He probably doesn’t even care about that,” Lions assistant track coach Audrey Pope said. “That’s the best part about Roy. If you saw him in the hall, you’d never know he was this brilliant stud athlete. He flies under the radar.”

Wedge’s quiet and kind nature only makes him more beloved by the Lawrence student body.

“Everybody is just so impressed at how dedicated he is and purely good. He does everything so well, but he’s not pompous about it,” Daldorph said. “He doesn’t let it go to his head, and that’s really the deciding factor. Everybody appreciates that, because it’s not like he walks around wearing a crown. Well, actually he does because he won Homecoming King, but he doesn’t act like he’s better than anyone.”

Of course, that personal résumé Wedge has constructed indicates otherwise.

Ask any of the 153 members of The Roy Wedge Fan Club on Facebook, which reads in part: “From expert violist to king of cross country, Roy Wedge has graced the halls of LHS from his arrival, and hasn’t stopped impressing everyone since then. We all know that Roy is pretty much the coolest guy around, so why not show it?”

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/15/1948542/male-scholar-athlete-of-the-year.html#ixzz0o6xCTzYE

Anand is World Champion

2010-05-15T12:50:00.000-05:00

From:English.news.cn 2010-05-14 07:34:50

SOFIA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Viswanathan Anand, 40, was officially crowned here on Thursday as the world chess champion for the 2010-2011.

The Indian grandmaster retained his title against Veselin Topalov in 12-game match achieving 6.5 points while the challenger managed to get 5.5 points.

Chief Arbiter Panaqiotis Nikolopoulos declared Anand the world champion at the official closing ceremony attended by Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, head of the organizing committee, and the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

Ilyumzhinov crowned Anand with winner's ribbon, laurel wreath and a gold medal, Borisov gave him a Cup, and the organizing committee greeted Anand with his favorite song.

Checks from the price fund, 1.2 million euros (about 1.6 million dollars) for Anand and 800,000 euros (about 1.07 million dollars) for Topalov, were not provided to them at this ceremony.

"It was not so heavy for eight-million Bulgaria to lose with one point only against one-billion India," Borisov told the ceremony.

"We are ready for revenge," Borisov added.

The first game in this match started on April 24 when Topalov with whites won. Followed Anand's victory, a tie and a second success for Anand.

Fifth, sixth and seventh game were draws but Topalov came back into the match winning the eight game for 4-4. After new three ties and 5.5-5.5, the 12th game on Tuesday was decisive whether it would be tie-break games but Anand with blacks won this game and the match

Kayden Troff: Utah's Chess Prodigy

2009-09-23T08:55:00.002-05:00

ABC Channel 4 Salt Lake City, Utah

Kayden Troff is a Utah chess prodigy! At age eleven he is the reigning Utah state champion for all ages for several time controls: Game in one hour, Game in 15 minutes (quick chess), Game in 5 minutes (speed chess), Chess960 (Fischer random chess) and Bughouse Chess (partner chess).

He first demonstrated his amazing chess ability at the age of three, by which time he had learned to play by watching his father, Daniel Troff, teach and play against his older brothers. When Troff turned six, his father decided to have him tutored by Grandmaster Igor Ivanov. Ivanov was impressed with how well Kayden played!

On January 24, 2009, Troff won the Utah Speed Chess Championship at age ten, becoming the youngest player to win that event, and by a huge margin. In that event he went 2-0 against Jeff Phillips, who was at the time Utah's only chess master and also the Utah player with the highest quick chess rating. On March 14, 2009, Troff won the Utah G/60 Championship (where each player has one hour to complete the whole game), also becoming the youngest player ever to win that event, by far. At this event he defeated the #1 seed, 73-year-old Hans Morrow, the oldest player in the tournament.

Kayden's quick rating is the highest in Utah and, even more astonishingly, the highest of all US players under the age of 13 according to the rating list published by the USCF in June 2009. After the Utah G/60 championship win, the tournament director dubbed Kayden "Utah's Mozart of Chess." Kayden's rating achievement is made all the more impressive due to the limited opportunites he has to gain points, as Utah is short on high rated players.

As of August 22, 2009 Kayden is the highest USCF standard rated active tournament player in Utah.
Kayden's ambition is to become a Grandmaster, which will require a 2500 FIDE rating as well as three Grandmaster level performances in international tournaments.

Kayden lives in West Jordan, Utah with his parents, Kim and Daniel, and brothers Jeremy and Zachary, both of whom also play chess at a high level for their age group. The Troff family runs a popular "TNT" Chess Camp in the Salt Lake City area, along with their family friend Scott Treiman, who won the 2009 Utah State Junior High School championship tournament.

For more information please visit http://kaydentroff.blogspot.com.

Astronaut Fuglesang in trouble – in space chess game

2009-09-10T08:55:00.000-05:00

Astronaut Fuglesang in trouble – in space chess game
09.09.2009 Chessbase
On August 28 Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang blasted off into space, on the 128th mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program. He conducted a seven-hour space walk at the International Space Station, and also continued his chess game against the readers of a Swedish newspaper. Both the astronaut, who has a tough position, and his opponents have lovely prizes waiting for them.

Bulgaria Bids to Host Chess World Championship

2009-09-05T11:54:00.001-05:00

Bulgaria Bids to Host Chess World Championship

byPetar Kostadinov

Bulgaria wants to host the 2010 world chess crown match between Bulgarian grandmaster Vesselin Topalov and world champion Viswanathan Anand, Prime Minister Boiko Borissov said on September 3 2009.

"We have a duty to stand behind our champion and give him the opportunity to play in his home country," Borissov said after meeting Topalov and manager Silvio Danailov.

Borissov accepted the invitation to head the committee that will attempt to secure Sofia as the host city and called upon Bulgarian businesses and institutions to sponsor the event.

Costs were estimated at about six million leva and Borissov said that plan B was for the state to cover the expenses.

The deadline for submitting bids for hosting the match is September 30 2009, while the showdown itself is tentatively scheduled for early-2010. So far, interest in hosting the match has been shown by the Chechen capital Grozny, Dubai and Delhi.

Topalov won the right to challenge Anand for the title after winning the chess crown pretenders match against American Gata Kamsky on February 26 2009. Topalov's superb performance forced Kamsky to concede on the 45th move of the seventh match, with one game to spare.

Topalov, the 2005 world champion in the world chess federation FIDE championship, but lost it in the unification match to Professional Chess Association champion Vladimir Kramnik. Topalov and Anand, the two top-ranked grandmasters in the FIDE rankings, was initially scheduled to be played in 2009, but has been postponed.

Man Murdered in Chess Game

2009-09-04T14:39:00.000-05:00

IOWA CITY, Iowa -

According to a court filing, an Iowa City man will plead guilty to a lesser charge in the death of his opponent in a chess game.

The filing made Thursday in Johnson County District Court says David Christian will plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter on Sept. 25.

Police say Christian and Michael Alan Steward were playing chess and drinking at Christian's residence on Oct. 19, 2008, when a quarrel turned violent. They say Christian apparently trapped Steward's neck between his legs and squeezed until Steward was dead.

Christian originally faced a charge of second-degree murder, which could have landed him in prison for 50 years. The voluntary manslaughter charge has a maximum 10-year sentence.

Chess Champ Enthrals School Children

2009-08-31T11:40:00.000-05:00

The Times of India

HUBLI: In an effort to inspire the young to develop a passion for chess, chess champion Sharad Vaze played simultaneous chess with 20 schoolchildren
in Hubli on Sunday.

In a demonstration event organized by the Innerwheel Club of Hubli Midtown, 137 children got an opportunity to play with the champ. Children from 20 schools participated. One of the players, S Krishna of V S Pillay school won his match with Vaze.

Vaze, who is also the founder president of the Challenger Chess Academy in Mumbai, gave tips to upcoming players. He recounted that he had broken his own record of playing with 133 children. Vaze has played simultaneous chess with schoolchildren across the country. He had recorded all the games and would present the VCD as a souvenir to Vishwanathan Anand, he said.

Club president Nayan Vinod Kumar and others organised the event.

Kuala Lumpur: Chess Recognized as a SPORT

2009-08-30T10:33:00.000-05:00

Ministry Ready To Support Development Of Chess As A Sport - Ahmad Shabery

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 (Bernama)

-- The Ministry of Youth and Sports has agreed to include chess in their development programme due to the increasing popularity of the sport.

Its Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said as a first step, the ministry would discuss with the Malaysian Chess Federation to identify and draw up a development programme.

"We need to take the initial step towards producing grandmasters for the future," he told reporters after opening the Malaysia Chess Festival here on Saturday.

"We need more publicity and to promote the sport aggressively to bring in the fans to see such games. For example, bowling and cricket were deemed boring sports before but due to improvisation of the rules and competition times, it is now well accepted by the public."

Ahmad Shabery said the ministry would try to provide financial support for the Federation to organise more competitions at the national level.

"Apart from the government's support and assistance, the Federation must also put in its own effort and try to find their own sponsors," he said.

Meanwhile, its President Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib in welcoming the government's initiative to support the sport, said the federation would do its part to further promote the sport.

Online chess Business ChessCube Receives US $1.25m VC Funding

2009-08-28T06:57:00.000-05:00

Online chess Business ChessCube Receives US $1.25m VC Funding
Written by content team 27 August 2009

ChessCube has concluded a US$1.25m funding agreement with Venture Capital fund, InVenFin (Pty) Ltd. InVenFin, the VC-focused subsidiary of VenFin Limited, invests in intellectual property-based start-ups with global potential. This transaction brings ChessCube’s total funding to date to US$1.8m. The partnership between ChessCube.com and InVenfin will allow ChessCube.com to become the most recognized and loved online brand for chess enthusiasts.

ChessCube is an online chess site, which allows players of all skill levels to compete and learn chess, while socializing with others. With a potential market of over fifty million active chess players in the world, ChessCube.com has already attracted over 650,000 registered users across 207 countries – making it one of the leaders in the growing online chess market.

Mark Levitt, CEO and founder of ChessCube says, “We are delighted to have InVenFin on board as our partner. Over and above the valuable capital injection, InVenFin gives us access to an international business network, and their team of experts in branding, product strategy, intellectual property management and corporate structuring. This investment allows ChessCube to focus on establishing itself as the world leader in online chess.”

InVenFin’s Stuart Gast says, “ChessCube’s innovative product offering has impressed us, along with the strong team led by Mark. The social gaming space is growing rapidly worldwide, and we believe ChessCube represents an excellent entrance for us into this world. We look forward to assisting ChessCube achieve its aspirations.”

Vinny Lingham, CEO of San Francisco-based Yola.com, was an early investor in ChessCube. “As a keen chess player myself, it is particularly exciting to be part of an innovative chess venture,” said Lingham. “This investment by InVenFin further highlights the potential of Cape Town as the technology hub of Africa - which I like to dub Silicon Cape. ChessCube has enormous potential to dominate the massive global chess players’ market.”

ChessCube enables all levels of chess players to play live chess against other like-minded players, in various forms of the game. The focus at ChessCube.com is enjoying the game of chess in a positive and fun environment.

ChessCube.com also offers interactive chess videos written by international grandmasters. Unlike DVDs, these videos interact with each user, offering them personalised instruction – an outstanding innovation that earned ChessCube a Semi-final placing in the 2008 Adobe Max Awards in San Francisco.

World history was recently made by ChessCube when, during its recent sponsorship of the 2009 South African Open, along with the 400 participants at a Cape Town venue, for the first time in history three grandmasters and masters participated from a second venue in Melbourne, Australia. FIDE, the world chess federation, worked with ChessCube to ensure that the games, which were played across the Internet, were officially rated, setting a new precedent that could see tournaments using this technology in the future.

ChessCube continues to innovate and build on its award-winning chess playing platform from its Cape Town headquarters.

Mark Levitt CEO of ChessCube at ChessCube center

About ChessCube

ChessCube (www.chesscube.com) was launched in May 2007 from its Cape Town headquarters. It has since grown into a community of over 650,000 avid chess players, and continues to grow at a rapid pace. ChessCube is an innovative, live chess platform, allowing competition and education within a social community. Mark Levitt, founder and CEO of ChessCube, is four times South African Chess Champion. ChessCube’s investors include InVenfin, Vinny Lingham and Michael Leeman.

For more information or images, please contact Mark Levitt (mark@chesscube.com) or Sarah Blake (sarah@chesscube.com).

USCF Cuts Scholastic's/FIDE Director Position

2009-08-27T08:18:00.000-05:00

Letter From Jerry Nash
By Bill Hall

August 26, 2009

Due to unfortunate but necessary cutbacks, the USCF is cutting the position of Scholastic and FIDE Director. Jerry Nash's last day in the office was Tuesday, August 25th. We are fortunate to be able to announce that Mr. Nash will continue his relationship with the Federation as our National Education Consultant. Jerry's focus will be primarily on working with individuals, schools, and communities in the role of a consultant to assist in the development of local scholastic and collegiate chess programs. He will also promote the training of educators to connect chess with the efforts to improve math skills, critical thinking skills, and life skills. Read his letter to the chess community below, and contact him directly at jerrynash@frontiernet.net

- Bill Hall, USCF Executive Director

August 26,2009

Dear Chess Community,

Since March of 2005 it has been my privilege to serve as the Scholastic and FIDE Director of the United States Chess Federation. While unfortunate circumstances necessitate my leaving this position, I hope to maintain my connections with the chess community. It has been my pleasure to make the acquaintance of so many players, coaches, tournament directors, parents, and students who love the game of chess and use it to impact their communities.

I will continue my relationship with the Federation as National Education Consultant. Working with individuals, schools, and communities, I hope to assist in the development of local scholastic and collegiate chess programs. I also plan to continue helping educators connect chess with the improvement of math skills, critical thinking skills, and life skills.

I would like to thank all those with whom I have worked for having the opportunity to be a part of their efforts to make a difference in the lives of others. I have been blessed by these relationships. My hope and prayer is that we will discover the resources needed to face the challenges and fulfill the opportunities of the days ahead.

Best regards,
Jerry Nash

http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9667/544/

Ousted members of Florida chess board sue to reclaim their volunteer positions

2009-08-26T08:48:00.001-05:00

ST.PETERSBURG TIMES
By Luis Perez, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 26, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG — The future of chess belongs to the young. On this, these chess fanatics agree.

As for everything else, well, they'll hash it out in court.

Andrew Scherman, a chess master at 51, says he had the brainy board game's future at heart when he collected 16 written votes supporting him and two 20-somethings as officers of the Florida Chess Association.

They won in a 2008 coup, giving them three seats on the statewide 13-member board. Then, a few months ago, the St. Petersburg Chess Club members were swept off the board like plastic pawns. The proxy votes, the other officers voted, were illegal.

Check. But not mate, apparently.

Scherman is a retired lawyer who has been butting heads in local chess politics for years. On July 21, he moved the game into Pinellas County Circuit Court.

"It wouldn't be so bad if they just did it to me; I might have moved on," Scherman said. "But they did it to Skippy and Joe, too. They're punishing them. They are young. They are active. If you believe in anything about that kids are our future, you can see this is wrong."

Skippy is Robert Foreman, 21. He and Joseph Virgin, 23, of Orlando are also plaintiffs.

Board members Harvey Lerman, 71, and Chuck Hall, 44, call Scherman a troublemaker with an ax to grind and a possible conspiracy to take over the board.

Lerman and Hall are officers of the Orlando-based Central Florida Chess Club, which Scherman describes as a rival group. Lerman and Hall disagree on that, but Scherman says the CFCC is jealous of his success. Both acknowledge that the SPCC is bigger and holds more tournaments.

The 16 proxy votes were illegal, and not allowed under Robert's Rules of Order, Lerman said. He said the final insult was when Scherman tried to thrust 50 new members into the organization, paying $1,000 for their memberships in advance of next month's general election. That move was blocked, and the electorate frozen.

"There's an old saying in local chess: 'Andrew is just being Andrew,' " said Lerman, a retired computer programmer. "It could be just that Andrew wants to control everything. We don't know what he wants to do with that control."

The FCA, which has 17 regional affiliates in Florida, began in the 1940s. It has 300 members this year, down from 1,000 in 2001, and an annual budget of about $10,000. Comparatively, the Florida Scholastic Chess League, an FCA partner that promotes chess in schools, began in 1998, has 2,000 members and a $40,000 budget.

Scherman's lawsuit, which seeks to restore him and the others to the board and to remove Lerman and Hall, does not contain a dollar figure. But Robert Persante, a Clearwater attorney who is defending them pro bono, said the FCA cannot afford a legal challenge.

To prove that this fight isn't about him, Scherman notes that when he was kicked off the FCA board in 2001, he didn't sue. Persante was FCA president then.

"This kind of turmoil is really nothing new," Persante said. "And when you step back and you look at it, that individuals have decided to file litigation because they have been removed from their volunteer positions, you begin to wonder.

"I am saying that they have too much time on their hands."

Street Chess: Reality TV Promo

2009-08-25T14:47:00.001-05:00

Cuban Chess Players Attend World Cup

2009-08-25T10:39:00.001-05:00

Cuban chess players attend World Cup

www.chinaview.cn

HAVANA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Cuban chess players Leinier Dominguez, Lazaro Bruzon and Fidel Corrales will represent Cuba at the World Cup of Khanty-Mainsysk, Russia from Nov.20 to Dec.15, authorities said on Monday.

Dominguez got direct entry with his world ranking while Bruzon and Corrales went through after the qualification matches.

Bulgarian Vesselin Topalove, Ukranian Vassily Ivanchuk, Russians Alexander Morozevich and Valdimir Kramnik will also attend the event.

Tragic Coulsdon chess girl's mother pays tribute on her third anniversary

2009-08-24T10:58:00.000-05:00

Sunday, August 23, 2009, 11:00By Brian Haran
brian.haran@essnmedia.co.uk

The grieving mother of a chess starlet who fell 65 feet to her death has spoken of the poignant moments this time of year brings.
July 26 was the third anniversary of teenage prodigy Jessie Gilbert's fatal plunge from the eighth floor of a Czech hotel during an international tournament.
And yesterday (Saturday) saw the start of the second annual Jessie Gilbert Celebration International Chess Festival in her memory.
The 19-year-old, who had lived in Southdown Road, Woldingham, for most of her life, died a few months before she was due to give evidence against her father Ian, who had been accused of repeatedly raping her.
Mr Gilbert, 50, was subsequently found not guilty at Guildford Crown Court of five charges of rape.
Jessie, a former Croydon High School pupil, had won the women's world amateur chess championships when she was aged just 11.
She was a long-standing member of Coulsdon Chess Fellowship - and yesterday saw the start of the nine-day tournament in her memory.
Her mother Angela, 55, who now lives in Reigate, said: "The summer is hard for us with these two landmark events in our minds.
"Jessie always wanted to stage her own chess tournament one day.
"I just wish she was alive to see this. She was such a modest and self-effacing person, Jessie could have no concept just how much her death would affect so many people - and how much she would mean to them."
Mrs Gilbert visits Jessie's grave in Redhill about three times a week.
She added: "My other daughters have been determined to ensure they make successes of their lives, partly in Jessie's honour."
Her oldest daughter Samantha, 24, is a qualified solicitor working in London.
Anni , a 17-year-old pupil at Woldingham School, will take her A Levels next year and is hoping to study medicine at Oxford University, following the precise aspirations of Jessie.
And Josie, 11, is transferring next term from Croydon High School to Woldingham School.
Up to 40 players of all ages are expected to take part in the memorial chess tournament.
Among them will be two chess grandmasters who are travelling down from Dundee and Manchester respectively.
Scott Freeman, activities manager for Coulsdon Chess Fellowship, said: "I have known Jessie since she was eight years old.
"We were all absolutely devastated to lose her but we see this annual tournament as an opportunity to celebrate her life as opposed to mourning her."

Malaysia's Main Man of Chess

2009-08-21T08:42:00.001-05:00

The Star OnlineBy By QUAH SENG SUN
Datuk Tan Chin Nam is regarded as the driving force behind chess in Malaysia.

IT’S been nine months since I last met Datuk Tan Chin Nam in Penang. That Sunday in November, he was still basking in the glory of winning the 2008 Melbourne Cup in Australia. It was an unprecedented and historical win for him: the only horse owner ever to win that coveted cup four times.

Prior to the Malaysia Chess Festival starting tomorrow, I sat down with him again and this time, it was at his office at Menara Tan&Tan in Kuala Lumpur. This time, instead of horses, he turned his attention to the other interest in his life, which is chess.

This game of kings has taken up much of his free time, effort, and money since 1974. In that year, he was elected president of the Malaysian Chess Federation. But despite stepping down in 1986, he could never get chess out of his life. He remains the main engine behind chess in this country. It is estimated that in the past 35 years, he has poured at least RM10mil into the game.

“People remarked that I am stupid to put so much of my money into chess when I cannot see the return from there,” he remarked. “They say that if I had invested this sum and the time I’ve spent on chess into my business, I would have earned back my capital many times over. Am I stupid? Of course, I’m stupid!”

Then, as he leaned forward as if to confide in me, Tan boomed: “But you know what? It’s not all about money. I did it because of personal joy. I enjoy chess just like I enjoy horse racing. But I’ve already achieved the peak in horses.

Grand plans: ‘I am embarking on the Malaysia chess project to take the Malaysian chess culture to a higher plane,’ says Datuk Tan Chin Nam.

“In chess, there’s still much to do and I like to see other people enjoy the game and succeed in the game. There’s the joy of watching a young child of seven or eight beaming when he succeeds. I think that chess is valuable to the community as an intellectual sport endeavour. It’s incomparable.”

How does he see the direction of chess in Malaysia in the next five to 10 years?

“I am very certain the progress will be phenomenal. To achieve this, I am embarking on the Malaysia chess project to take the Malaysian chess culture to a higher plane,” he said.

“Various Asean governments already support chess to a great degree, including Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia. Malaysia is the one exception that can do better. So my proposal is that the Government can help chess the same way that it already supports other sports. For example, let foreign professional chess players into Malaysia to raise our standard to the full international level.

“Our neighbours give strong foreign players permanent residencies or even citizenship. Singapore has about 10 of them. In Vietnam, even more. For instance, China’s grandmaster Zhang Zhong is a permanent resident in Singapore and plays for Singapore.

“In Malaysia, we don’t even have a grandmaster. If we get a competent core of grandmasters here, I believe the effort will be self-sustaining. You have the grandmasters teaching younger players and once they reach that level, it doesn’t go back down. For example, England achieved it in the 1960s, same with Indonesia, India and China. Self-sustaining, so that it continues on its own.

“The Malaysia chess project also involves organising high-level tournaments. We already have some success putting Malaysia on the international chess map. Saturday is the start of the sixth Malaysia Chess Festival. I’m committed to the next five years of the Arthur Tan Malaysia open, which is the festival’s centrepiece.

“Making it a success means it’s a great chess festival for tourism. We put Malaysia on the chess map and we have people coming from all over the world to take part in our tournaments. But it’s very expensive for them just to come: plane fare, accommodation, entry fee.

“Why should it be so expensive? What if the entry fee is reduced? The numbers will increase. I foresee 2,000 players in the future. It’s not impossible. Make it free even, and we’ll have 3,000, including friends and relatives. That’s chess tourism.”

But all these plans would require money and a lot of fund-raising, I remind him.

“Right now, my Tan Chin Nam Foundation awards scholarships to needy university students. I’m asking my people to see how a separate fund can be set up and properly administered within the foundation specifically for chess development.

“I’m considering a decent donation to the chess part of the foundation. It’ll be a challenge, if I give a donation, to persuade the Government and the big corporations to back me up ringgit for ringgit. I estimate the chess portion of the foundation will require several million to make chess self-sustaining in Malaysia. One idea is that if I offer one-third of the amount, then the Government can add its third and corporations and others can provide the remainder. So that’s the challenge.”

I asked about the chess centre that was set up on the fourth floor of the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur in February this year. This centre, as well as the Malaysia open, was dedicated to Arthur Tan, his son who passed away in Australia in 2004.

Arthur grew up in a chess-playing family, competing against siblings and relatives, and playing across the board and over the Internet. People who knew him said he could talk business 24 hours a day, reminding them of his father.

He had a similar business management style. In Malaysia, his projects included the Bukit Belimbing residential project and the Sierramas. In Australia, he managed and developed portions of the Como Hotel shopping and residential project in Melbourne.

“The Dato’ Arthur Tan Chess Centre was set up near the beginning of the year. I realised that the Malaysian chess public would need a practical centre to take part in activities and raise the level of the game. It’s something that my son himself would have liked to do.

“The chess centre is a focal point of the Malaysia chess project. It’s also meant for enjoyment, with plans to create a congenial coffeehouse atmosphere for everyone – from students to businessmen – to socialise. For too long, I’ve been in chess organising that I haven’t even begun to enjoy myself more in my chess games. Starting soon, I want to be a playing member. I will play more chess.”

What would Tan consider as his biggest achievements on the world stage?

“I value greatly the award of Commander of the Legion of Grandmasters given to me by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the World Chess Federation, when Fide celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1999. Only 20 people worldwide were recognised. And a few years earlier, I was given direct membership in Fide. Very few people are direct members of Fide, all others are national chess federations.

“I was also a deputy president of Fide for four years from 1982 and was part of its executive board until 1990. In 1990 and 1994, the leading members of the exco – the main representatives from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America – offered me, in effect, the Fide presidency. But I declined to run both times. I couldn’t be visiting a hundred or more countries. The time wasn’t right. There were other priorities in my business back here.

“Rapid chess was proposed by me, so that more people can take part in short tournaments and events. It took years for rapid chess to be accepted. If I remember, countries in the West, like Bulgaria, objected to it but after several years, the Fide family has come around to support it. Today, rapid chess is used not only for weekend events but also as a tie-break system at high-level matches.

“So you see, all these efforts have been good public relations for Malaysia,” said Tan.

Malaysian Chess PLayers Sweep Tournament

2009-08-20T06:50:00.000-05:00

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 (Bernama)

-- Malaysian chess players made a clean sweep of all the four gold medals offered in chess competitions on the final day of the Asean Para Games (KL 09) at the National Sports Council's Commonwealth Hall here on Wednesday.

With the four gold medals won on Wednesday, the last of the 20 gold medals offered in chess competitions, Malaysia ended their campaign in the Games with eight gold medals, surpassing the six gold target set earlier.

Nur Feiqah Maulud Mohd Halil and Choo Min Wang lived up to their top billing by winning the women's and men's individual events and later led their respective teams to win the team gold in both events.

The two gold medals won on Wednesday increased Nur Feiqah's personal gold medal tally in the Games to four but the young petite lass remained modest and gracious in her celebrations.

"This victory is a win for all and a team effort. It will not have been possible if not for the support and guidance from the coaches and officials," she told Bernama here on Wednesday.

Nur Feiqah whose two gold medals came through the women's B1/B2/B3 category events, hopes to repeat a similar feat at the next Asean Para Games to be hosted by Indonesia in 2011.

"Though I will be busy with my studies, I hope to continue playing and learning the techniques of the game," said Nur Feiqah who teamed up with Athirah Azman and Teo Suat Mui for the team gold in the same event.

Meanwhile, Choo who swept the men's individual in the B1/B2/B3 event, partnered Mah Hassan Omar and Shahruddin Sidek for the team gold in the same event.

Team manager Abdul Latif Mohammad said he was more than satisfied with the performances of his charges as they were able to surpass their initial target of six gold medals.

"Having performed well here, it will be important to identify new talents to repeat a similar feat in Indonesia two years later," he said.

Laszlo Nagy:Chess Promoter Helped Bring Down Berlin Wall

2009-08-19T10:16:00.001-05:00

SOPRONPUSZTA, Hungary – It was a picnic that changed the course of history.

Twenty years ago Wednesday, members of Hungary's budding opposition organized a picnic at the border with Austria to press for greater political freedom and promote friendship with their Western neighbors.

Some 600 East Germans got word of the event and turned up among the estimated 10,000 participants. They had a plan: to take advantage of an excursion across the border to escape to Austria.

Hungarian President Laszelo Solyom and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were taking part Wednesday in festivities Wednesday marking the 20th anniversary of the "Pan-European Picnic," which helped precipitate the fall nearly three months later of the Berlin Wall.

One of the key factors allowing the Germans to escape: the decision by a Hungarian border guard commander not to stop them as they pushed through to freedom.

Lt. Col. Arpad Bella and five of his men had been expecting a Hungarian delegation to cross the border at Sopronpuszta by bus, visit a nearby Austrian town as a symbol of the new era of glasnost — or openness — under reformist Soviet leader Mikail Gorbachev, and return to Hungary.

Instead, at the planned time of 3 p.m., Bella suddenly found himself face to face with 150 East Germans marching up the road to the border gate, which had been closed since 1948.

"I had about 20 seconds to think about it until they got here," said Bella, 63, during an interview where the gate once stood.

"Had the five of us confronted the Germans, they would have (overwhelmed us)."

Once the initial group got through hundreds more East Germans joined them. Still vivid in Bella's mind was the reactions of the Germans, including many young people and families with small children, once they were on the other side.

"They embraced, they kissed, they cried and laughed in their joy. Some sat down right across the border, others had to be stopped by the Austrian guards because they kept running and didn't believe they were in Austria," Bella said. "It was in incredible experience for them."

Laszlo Nagy, one of the organizers of the picnic, was startled by the East Germans' actions, who left behind hundreds of cars and other possessions near the border for the chance to make the short walk to a new life in the West.

"Some of them were waiting for this moment for 20 or 30 years," Nagy said. "They left behind everything ... because freedom has the greatest value."

Dirk Mennenga was one the "Ossies," a nickname for East Germans, who made it to Austria on that day. He had come to Hungary from Dresden.

"We had planned beforehand that we would try to cross the border through Hungary," Mennenga said. "We didn't know how easy or difficult it would be."

After seeing flyers promoting the picnic, Mennenga thought the event could provide an opportunity to escape West.

"It was a very emotional situation," Mennenga said. "There was a sole border guard. A young Hungarian man kept pointing the way and before we knew it we were in Austria."

While Bella was unaware of the East Germans' intentions, behind the scenes the Hungarian government had already decided that it would somehow let them go West.

Miklos Nemeth, Hungary's last prime minister of the communist era, said the picnic and the East Germans' breakthrough on that day was one in a series of steps that brought democracy to most of the Soviet bloc within a year.

"It was a planned process on behalf of the government, but it was a transition where everyone was also seeking to secure their own future," Nemeth said.

With 80,000 Soviet troops stationed in Hungary, Nemeth said it was difficult to know how Moscow would react to the unprecedented events.

"In my mind this was an important event, a test," Nemeth said. "And fortunately, Arpad Bella ... although he did not get any information, he decided in the right way."

Tens of thousands of East Germans had traveled to Hungary as expectations mounted that the more moderate Communist country might open its borders to the West.

They lived in makeshift shelters in Budapest on the grounds of the West German Embassy and at a tent city set up by a Catholic parish.

In the weeks after the picnic, East Germans continued to make attempts to cross the border, although many were still turned back. Then, on Sept. 11, Hungary began allowing all East Germans to travel West.

Bella continued his career as a border guard for several more years before retiring in 1996, later even working as a consultant on developing aspects of the Schengen agreement, which now allows for borderless travel within 25 European countries.

"I didn't think of myself as a hero. How could I? I wasn't even sure I'd be around for another week," Bella said. "If the Russians had wanted to come, they would have swept us aside like nothing."

For Nagy, the significance of the events of Aug. 19 has grown over the past 20 years.

"At the time, we didn't feel like we were making history," Nagy said. "It was the world's greatest garden party."

Cheats,Spies,Crooks and Commies

2009-08-18T08:12:00.001-05:00

Washington Post

Nikolai Krylenko, the Soviet Commissar of Justice and Prosecutor General, used to sentence innocent people to death in show trials in the 1930s, until he himself perished in 1938 in Stalin's Great Purge. He neglected his work by spending too much time on chess and mountain climbing, his accusers claimed. In chess, Krylenko had a vision: He wanted to export the game as part of Soviet culture and to establish Soviet domination in the chess world. He began a ruthless game, playing with human pawns ¿ the Soviet chess masters and champions. In 1948, Mikhail Botvinnik won the world title. The aim was achieved.

Since 1931, Botvinnik was regarded as the best Soviet player and everybody thought that he, and only he, had the right to be World Champion, David Bronstein explained in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." (The second, updated and enlarged edition of Bronstein's classic was recently published by New in Chess.) With the championship came political power, and Botvinnik and his helpers used it. In 1951, Bronstein's father was not allowed to go to Moscow to see his son in the world championship match against Botvinnik. Bronstein smuggled him in anyway and almost won the match. It ended in a 12-12 tie, but there was no love lost between Botvinnik and Bronstein through the end of their lives. Shortly before he died, Botvinnik got irritated when someone mentioned Bronstein's name. Botvinnik said, "Please never mention his name in my presence ever again; he is my enemy!" Upon learning of Botvinnik's death, Bronstein quipped: "What a surprise; he was human after all!"

The history of Soviet chess is full of personal quarrels and intrigues. The former world champion and Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky once compared Soviet players to spiders in a bottle, biting and kicking each other, sometimes literally, as Viktor Korchnoi and Tigran Petrosian did during one of their Candidates games. A partition under the table was installed next time they met.

The Soviet players, however, united against a common foreign enemy. According to Bobby Fischer, the American Sammy Reshevsky was the best player in the world in the early 1950s. Bronstein revealed that during the 1953 Candidates tournament in Zurich, the Soviet players were asked to help Vassily Smyslov finish ahead of Reshevsky and therefore prevent the American grandmaster to reach the world championship match against Botvinnik. It was not necessary. Smyslov played too well and won the event. When the Soviet players ganged up on Fischer in the 1962 Candidates tournament in Curacao, playing hard against him but making quick draws among themselves, he called them "cheating commies" and demanded change from tournament to matches. After the change was made, Fischer was unstoppable and in 1972 won the world title.

The world championship matches in 1978 and 1981 between Anatoly Karpov and Korchnoi, who defected from Soviet Union in 1976, were politically motivated. Many shadowy figures, KGB agents and parapsychologists kept coming and going during these contests. Karpov won both encounters. A few years later, with the appearance of Garry Kasparov, the Soviets had suddenly two players capable of winning the world title.

The first world championship match between Karpov and Kasparov in 1984 in Moscow was the longest in history. The final outcome was discussed high up in the Soviet Politburo and in the offices of the KGB. The players were on a destructive collision course and there were fears the long match would inflict lasting damage, both physical and mental. The maneuvers behind the scenes intensified and the match was stopped without a decision after 48 games in February 1985. Kasparov won the next title match in December 1985. The continuation of the feud between the last two Soviet world champions is described in a new book, "Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part Three: Kasparov vs. Karpov 1986-1987," released by Everyman Chess.

In the summer of 1986 in London, Kasparov and Karpov sat down over the board and for the first time two Soviet players contested the world title in a Western country. Newspapers covered the match on front pages, reporting on the clash between a good communist and a bad one. During the first 12 games in the English capital, both players behaved well, but when the match moved for the second half to the Soviet city of Leningrad, all hell broke loose. Kasparov wrote about treason and bribery after he lost three straight games. He named those who betrayed him and the crooks who tried to bribe them. He was still the world champion when the next match was played in Seville, Spain, in 1987, but he barely hung onto the title in the end. In a must-win situation, he won the last game. The murky world of Soviet chess, the stories behind the scenes and game analyses make for fascinating reading, but did Kasparov tell all? For example, his gamesmanship during the 11th game in Seville, unparalleled in the history of the world championships, is not mentioned. After Karpov blundered, Kasparov openly laughed in his face. One has the feeling there are more tales to be told.

Afghanistan Chess: Kandahar dreamers test Taliban edicts

2009-08-17T06:40:00.001-05:00

BBC NEWS
Kandahar dreamers test Taliban edicts

By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Nearly everyone who lives in Kandahar city, the capital of Afghanistan's southern province by the same name, has acquaintances among the local Taliban militants.

Fazal Ahmad Anis is one of them.

"We are all people from the same area, and Taliban also have good intelligence inside the city, so they know who's who," he says.

Mr Anis has been hosting music shows for two Kandahar-based television stations for some time, and is now setting up the city's first audio-visual studios where television plays would be produced.

Taliban consider music and television viewing as un-Islamic, and have often spoken to him by telephone about his plans, without overtly threatening him.

"Their message is clear, though, that I should give up my plans, but producing television dramas has been my dream since I was living in the Pakistani city of Quetta as a refugee," he says.

Wry smile

Kandahar, once a major centre of arts and culture in Afghanistan, has many dreamers like Mr Anis.

In the soothing, air-conditioned atmosphere of Kandahar Coffee Shop - a trendy café with a small library and a billiards parlour - a group of old and young people sit quietly around a table, watching two of them play a game of chess.

One of the players is Naimatullah Zalmay, the head of Kandahar's chess players' association.

He has been playing chess for 35 years, he says, and is among the 14-member national chess team recently selected to play in international competitions.

But like music and TV, chess is also considered un-Islamic by the Taliban and the country's powerful conservative clerics.

When I ask him if he feels threatened by the Taliban, he gives me a wry smile.

"The Taliban's position on the issue is well known, but what do you do when a high official close to our democratic president opposes our request for funds on grounds that we are indulging in un-Islamic activities?"

He doesn't name names, but one of his colleagues later tells me he was referring to Fazl Hadi Shinwari, chief justice of Afghanistan until August 2006 and still considered close to President Hamid Karzai.

Dejection and fear

During the seven years of Mr Karzai's rule, Kandahar city has developed by leaps and bounds.

Multi-storey trade centres have appeared all over the place, roads and streets have been built, and most commercial streets now have wide, tiled pavements.

But patrols by the US and Canadian armoured cars frequently force civilian traffic off the road, creating dejection and fear among people.

A bomb-shaped "spy" balloon that hangs high over the city and is said to carry US surveillance cameras is a constant reminder that things outside the city are also not satisfactory.

The governor of Kandahar province, Tooryalai Wesa, admits that his government has not been able to break the Taliban stranglehold in some parts of the province.

In some cases, these "lawless" areas extend to within 5 or 6 km of the city.

The Taliban have comparatively greater freedom to operate in the provinces of Helmand to the west, Uruzgan to the north and Zabul to the northeast of Kandahar.

Together, the four provinces form the lawless south of Afghanistan.

For now, the most immediate target of the Taliban is to prevent people across this region from turning out to vote in presidential elections, due on 20 August.

If they succeed, it will dent the credibility of the election and may spiral into a political crisis for the government, analysts say.

But if they fail, then Kandaharis hope for greater stability in the future.

Awareness show

And many are willing to have close brushes with the Taliban to achieve this.

Abdullah Abdali, a television actor, has been doing government-sponsored stage shows for public awareness in some of the most dangerous corners of the south.

Last year he went to Uruzgan to act in a play on drugs awareness.

"Going there was no problem, but once we had appeared on the stage, we felt exposed and did not feel safe to return to Kandahar by road," he says.

"We waited there three days for a US forces convoy to roll out to Kandahar, and followed it."

Early this month, he did a six-day election awareness show in Qalat, the capital of Zabul, and again took safety precautions on the return journey.

"We told our hosts - the district election commission - that we were staying the night and would leave for Kandahar the next day. Then we went out, quietly jumped into our van and left. You never know who will inform the Taliban that we are coming."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/8203830.stm

Published: 2009/08/16 10:57:10 GMT

© BBC MMIX

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Ray Robson: 2009 US Closed Junior Champion

2009-08-15T09:17:00.001-05:00

Chess Notes
By Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff
August 15, 2009

Ray Robson, originally from Guam, moved to Florida with his parents at the age of 3. In 2007, at the age of 13, Robson became the youngest International Master in US history and is certainly one of the rising stars of American chess. In a sense, he trails Robert Hess and Hikaru Nakamura as one of the young Turks of this country’s chess. Recently, he won the 2009 US Junior Closed title with a convincing score of 6-1.

Robson Coleman Sicilian Defense 2009 US Junior Closed

Robson Coleman Robson Coleman
White Black White Black
1. e4 c5 26. Qxf6+ Kg8
2. Nf3 d6 27. Qxe6+ Kf8
3. d4 cxd4 28. Bxc6 Qxc6 (g)
4. Nxd4 Nf6 29. Rf1+ Kg7
5. Nc3 a6 30. Qf7+ Kh6
6. h3 e6 31. Rf6+ Qxf6
7. g4 Be7 32. Qxf6+ Kh7
8. Bg2 Qc7 33. Ne4 Be3+
9. Be3 Nc6 34. Kb1 Bf4 (h)
10. f4 h6 35. Qf7+ Kh6
11. Qd2 Bd7 36. Qe6+ Kg7
12. O-O-O Rc8 37. Qd7+ Kg6
13. Qf2 b5 38. Qg4+ Kh7
14. g5! (a) Nh5 39. Qd7+ Kg6
15. gxh6 Rxh6 40. Qxb5 Rcd8
16. Nxc6! Bxc6 41. Qxa5 Kf5
17. a3 (b) Rh8 42. Nf2 Rd2
18. Rhf1 Qb7 43. Qc5 Rg8
19. f5 Nf6? (c) 44. Nd3 Rgg2
20. fxe6 fxe6 45. a4 Rd1+
21. Qg3! a5 46. Ka2 Rh2
22. Qg6+ Kf8 47. a5 Rhh1
23. e5! (d) dxe5 (e) 48. a6 Ra1+
24. Bc5!! Bxc5 (f) 49. Kb3 Rxh3? (i)
25. Rxf6+ gxf6 50. Qc8+ 1-0

Here is a game from that tournament: Robson vs. Maxx Coleman of Kansas, winner of last year’s title. Robson signals attack as early as the 7th move. His opponent keeps his king well fortified in the center. Robson tucks his king away on the queenside, and assaults his opponent’s fortifications. The key moves that expose Coleman’s position begin with move 22, in which Robson gives up a pawn, a bishop, and then the exchange. The Black king is helpless as Robson gradually takes back the sacrificed material and pushes a pawn toward the queening square.

a) Wasting no time! Now 14. . .hxg5 15.fxg5 Nh5 16.Nxc6! Bxc6 17.Rhf1 is problematic for Black.

b) White has secured an edge. Black’s counterplay on the queenside is stalled (e.g. 17. . .a5? 18.Bb6), his pieces are somewhat scattered, and his king is stuck in the middle of the board.

c) I think this is a misjudgment and 19. . .e5 was correct, with a tough fight.

d) Black appears to have miscalculated the consequences of this sequence.

e) Or 23. . .Bxg2 24.exf6 Bxf6 25.Rxf6+ gxf6 26.Qxf6+ Kg8 27.Qxe6+ etc. and White’s attack is obviously crushing.

f) Or 24. . .Bxg2 (note that 24Rh6?? loses to 25.Rxf6+ gxf6 26.Qxh6+) 25.Rxf6+ gxf6 26.Qxf6+ Kg8 (26Ke8 27.Qxh8+ Kf7 28.Qh5+ quickly wins a piece by pushing Black’s king to the right square and then capturing on e7 and forking the bishop on g2) 27.Qxe6+ Kf8 and White has several ways to win, e.g. 28.Bxe7+ Qxe7 29.Qxc8+ etc.

g) Not 28. . .Rxc6? 29.Rd8+ Kg7 30.Rd7+ and the roof caves in.

h) While the position requires some care, it is clearly winning for White with accurate play.

i) A blunder, but it doesn’t matter.

Annotations by grandmaster Patrick Wolff, a two-time US champion who offers chess exercises and more at www.wolffchess.com.

Montblanc Supports Dubai Chess and Culture Club

2009-07-30T08:54:00.000-05:00

Montblanc supports talented players at Dubai chess & culture club

Luxury goods manufacturer Montblanc, recognized worldwide for its classic timepieces, jewelry, leather goods and writing instruments is the main sponsor of the 8th Edition of the Dubai International Junior Chess Championship 2009 which commenced yesterday and will run till August 5th.

A total of 135 players from 15 countries will be participating in the tournament. The total prize is US $ 10,000 (AED 36,000).

Mr. Joe Nahhas, Brand Director Middle East of Montblanc, said “Is the beginning of our long term association with the Dubai Chess & Culture club. Montblanc usually sponsors cultural events, music and the arts so this is a natural fit for us.”

“Montblanc is therefore proud to support the Dubai Chess and Culture Club in this important event. Moreover, we have recently renewed our commitment and support to Unicef and their worldwide activities to support children’s education and fight illiteracy.”

“He added, “We are particularly pleased and proud to be part of this junior’s event to celebrate the achievement of young people from all over the world who have had access to a good education and have achieved success in the game of chess.”

Mr. Nahhas added that Montblanc commitment to UNICEF’s child education programme centres around the sales of a new line of Montblanc products called Signature for Good, with proceeds from all these sales going towards the cause. Montblanc has pledged a minimum commitment of 1.5 million US Dollars (AED 5.5 million) worldwide.”

“I thank the Patron of the Juniors Chess Championship, His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the Dubai Chess and Culture Club for giving us the opportunity to participate.”

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Jamal Al Abdouly, Assistant General Secretary of the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, said that the tournament started in 2002, and it gathers the best junior players under the age of 8, 10, 12 and 14 years old. “The tournament has good international fame and this year it will run till August 5th.

Al Abdouly said the Junior Chess committee has made arrangements to receive participants from Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, the Philippines, India, Syria, Turkmenistan including the world champion under 8 years, the Kazakhstani Dinara Sadokasofaosaheb, and some Arab champions such as the Arab champion under 14 years, Ward Tarboush, Syria, and Amenat Noaman as well as UAE champions in 8-14 years category Badragani Youlvi, the No. 1 player (2358) in the tournament. Azerbaijan is the Master of the International Chess Federation in the 14 years age group, while Sagi Gover of India is second (2310) and Antonio Fiani of India is third (2107).

The first place winner will receive US$ 2,000 in addition to the Sheikh Maktoum Trophy. Winners from second to 10th place will also receive cash prizes as well as special prizes given to local players to encourage them to achieve good results in this leading chess event.

Mr. Mahdi Abd Al Raheem of the UAE will serve as head of the international referees and he will be assisted by Mohammed Abd Allah from Somalia and Gamal Al Manea from Yemen. Both are international referees. Also assisting will be Saeed Yusuf, Sheikha Ali Rashid and Mariam Mohammed.

The tournament will follow guidelines of the Swiss formula of nine rounds, with a game of 90 minutes for every player with every player given 30 seconds from the first shift (Fischer style). Players will gather in the morning of July 28 to draw lots to determine their first opponents.

© 2009 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

PNG Chess Invitational: India

2009-07-30T08:48:00.001-05:00

Express News Service
Tags : sports, chess

The first PNG International Rating Chess Tournament, organised by the Pune District Chess Association and Global Mind Sports Foundation, will commence from August 1 at the Deccan Gymkhana Sports Club here.

This is a major tournament designed only for the players of Pune district, who will vie for the most prize money ever for a district level chess tournament, a press note said.

It will be a platform for the experienced players to increase their ratings while it will provide the youngsters with ample opportunities to test their talent against rated as well as titled players. With many international masters and top-rated players, who have expressed their desire to participate, the response that PNG has got is enthusiatic, the note said.

Inspite of having many national/international tournaments in mind, the Global Mind Sports Foundation wants to start from the base as it has its sights set on strengthening chess, right from the grass root level, it added.

Chess News From Nepal

2009-07-30T08:41:00.000-05:00

Nepal's domination continues in chess

REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, July 29: Nepali players continued with their good run in the Nepal-Assam (Lions Kamarupa Academy) Friendly Chess Tournament in the third day on Wednesday as the hosts accumulated 13.5 points out of 16 points from the fourth and fifth round match held at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City Ward 23 office, Lagan.

Chandra Prakash Gurung, Roshan Paudel and Bijay Dangol won both rounds of the match. Chandra Prakash defeated Siddhanta Khemka and Ruchit Chauhan in the fourth and fifth round respectively. Similarly, Roshan beat Subham Jain and Siddhanta while Bijay ousted Mohit Jain and Prabhav Kumar Agrawal.

The day remained a mixed bag for five-year-old Vividh Pratap Singh as the former beat Jyotimoi Goswami in the fourth round match and shared point with Mohit. Sanjay Awal, Jaines Thapa also won their fourth round match, while Saroj Dhakal, Nagendra Chapagain, Manoj Maharjan and Sushil Chaudhary were the other players to add one point each in the fifth round. Devarshi Goswami and Avinav Patwari of Assam won their fourth round matches.

After the end of fifth round match, Nepal has added 32 out of 64 points, while Assam accumulated eight points.

Chess club formed

KATHMANDU, July 29: In a bid to make chess a more professional game in Nepal, the Himalayan Chess Club has been formed in Kumaripati, Lalitpur, under the leadership of Ram Thapa of Makwanpur.

Hirakaji Maharjan is the vice president of the club while Biren Shrestha and Gyanendra Khaiju are the secretary and the treasures respectively. Prem Krishna Maharjan, Bijay J Shresta, Manoj Ghimire, Chirikaji Awale, Bikash Kuluju, Sarjana Duwal and Yagyaraj Panta are the members of the clubs, while Rajesh Hari Joshi is the patron.

The club has decided to hold a national chess tournament between August-September with permission from Nepal Chess Association

Get News From Chessbase directly to your Computer Desktop

2009-07-29T06:34:00.001-05:00

Here is a useful tool. If you would like to subscribe to chessbase or any other chess sites, let me know. I will post them here for you to make it more convenient.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/chessbase/LKjt

Ugandan Team Chess Results

2009-07-29T00:44:00.000-05:00

Kings beat Rooks to extend lead in chess
Tuesday, 28th July, 2009
E-mail article E-mail article
Top Division Standings
1. Mulago Kings 27 pts
2. Kireka 15.5
3. Mulago Knights 15
4. Makerere 14
5. Mulago Rooks 10.5
6. Aviation 12.5
7. UCU 17
8. Mengo 8.5

By Phillip Corry

LEADERS Mulago Kings Chess Club further extended their lead at the top of the national league with yet another 5-0 thumping of Mulago Rooks on Sunday.

They have now stretched their lead to 11.5 points to their nearest challengers Kireka Chess Club. Kings� Harold Wanyama, Kenneth Kakooza and Grace Nsubuga beat Rooks� David Muwanguzi, Paul Mubiru and Samuel Mayanja while Patrick Kawuma and Grace Kigenyi got byes.

In other games, newcomers Uganda Christian University beat bottom placed Mengo 3.5-1.5, Aviation beat Kireka 3-2 as defending champions MUK were held 2.5-2.5 by Mulago Knights. The league continues next weekend.

89 UAE Players in Fray at Dubai Junior Open Chess Tourney

2009-07-29T00:42:00.001-05:00

89 UAE Players in Fray at Dubai Junior Open Chess Tourney

29 July 2009
DUBAI — UAE tops the record number of entries with 89 juniors in the fray for the Dubai Junior Open Chess Championship which began on Tuesday.

The UAE delegation comprises from several clubs from all the emirates. Mahdi Abdul Rahim the chief arbiter said: “A total of 135 entries of boys and girls from 11 countries are vying for top honours in the week-long championship which is being held at Dubai Chess and Culture club and sponsored by Mont Blanc.”

There are 23 rated players with two Fide masters, two Women Fide masters, three Candidate masters and one Woman Candidate master participating. FM Bajarani Ulvi from Azerbaijan Elo rated 2358 is the top seed followed by FM Al Tarboosh Ward of Syria rated 2173 followed by Antonio Viani D’Cunha of India rated 2107. There will be nine rounds of swiss system and the official web site is arabfide.com.

Jamal Abdouli, Deputy general secretary of Dubai Chess Club said: “We are extremely happy with the response with 89 UAE talented juniors having the opportunity to showcase their talent and gain valuable match practice.” Joe Nahhas, Brand Director, Mont Blanc said: “Mont Blanc is working on many initiatives with UNICEF to develop culture and literacy all over the world. Our association with Dubai Chess Club will continue and we hope that the talented players of UAE would benefit with such an exposure to international chess”. The UAE delegation led by Ibrahim Sultan rated 1814 and Candidate master Naif Saleh are hoping to perform well for the host country. India has the second largest of 28 players followed by Azerbaijan, Bahrain, England, Iran, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Russia, Syria and Turkey.

Multi Player Chess APP Via IPhones

2009-07-28T06:18:00.002-05:00

With the invasion of too-cool-for-school iPhone games with 3D graphics and all sorts of eye candy, it's hard to imagine Chess Wars being a raging success. Even while this multiplayer chess application seems absolutely splendiferous.

The application is simple: Just select an opponent among your Facebook friends and challenge him or her to a game of good old chess. Or bad new one. It can go either way depending on who you are.
The $0.99 Chess Wars supports multiple simultaneous games, and also has an in-game chat client, as well as a method to check moves and stats of every game you play.

Dutch Open Leaderboards

2009-07-26T14:44:00.001-05:00

Timman among the leaders after 3 rounds at the Dutch Open

Official website: http://onk.schaakbond.nl

Leaders after 3 rounds:

Rank Name Score M/F Rating

1 GM Giri, Anish 4.0 M 2518

2 GM Timman, Jan H 3.5 M 2569

3 GM Nijboer, Friso 3.5 M 2552

4 FM Miedema, Roi 3.5 M 2432

5 GM Ernst, Sipke 3.0 M 2598

6 GM L'Ami, Erwin 3.0 M 2593

7 GM Vovk, Yuri 3.0 M 2567

8 GM Reinderman, Dimitri 3.0 M 2565

9 GM Ikonnikov, Vyacheslav 3.0 M 2556

10 GM Swinkels, Robin 3.0 M 2516

11 GM Vovk, Andrey 3.0 M 2506

12 IM Adhiban, B. 3.0 M 2481

13 GM Visser, Yge 3.0 M 2464

14 IM Brandenburg, Daan 3.0 M 2463

15 IM Hendriks, Willy 3.0 M 2444

16 IM Bitalzadeh, Ali 3.0 M 2434

17 FM Burg, Twan 3.0 M 2422

18 IM Shyam, Sundar M. 3.0 M 2415

19 IM Wohl, Aleksandar H. 3.0 M 2387

20 FM Tondivar, Babak 3.0 M 2372

21 FM Van Eijk, Sander 3.0 M 2338

22 FM Bezemer, Arno 3.0 M 2332

23 FM Otte, Marijn 3.0 M 2298

24 Ootes, Lars 3.0 M 2261

22nd Annual North American FIDE Invitational Tournament

2009-07-26T11:51:00.000-05:00

Day 1 of the 22nd North American FIDE Invitational kicked off with a bang as crucial early games were won.

Round 1 results:

IM Pasalic - Burgess: 1 - 0
FM Morales - FM Szmetan: 1 - 0
FM Felecan - IM Barbosa: 1 - 0
WIM Melekhina - FM Shankar: 0 - 1
IM Vishnuvardhan - Loncarevic: 1/2 - 1/2

Round 2 results:

FM Shankar - IM Barbosa: 1 - 0
WIM Melekhina - IM Pasalic - 1 - 0
FM Szmetan - FM Felecan: 1/2 - 1/2
Burgess - IM Vishnuvardhan: 0 - 1
Loncarevic - FM Morales: 0 - 1

Standings after 2 rounds

1st - 2nd: FM Shankar, FM Morales - 2/2
3rd - 4th: FM Felecan, IM Vishnvuardhan - 1.5 / 2
5th - 6th: WIM Melekhina, IM Pasalic: 1/2
7th - 8th: Loncarevic, FM Szmetan - .5/2
9th - 10th: Jon Burgess, IM Barbosa - 0 / 2

You can follow live updates on Twitter. Create an account (it’s free) and follow NACHESS on Twitter. Go to http://www.twitter.com

Good Chess to All,

Sevan A. Muradian
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer
North American Chess Association

USCF Moves to Ban GM Susan Polgar

2009-07-25T23:05:00.001-05:00

The Executive Board held a snap meeting in early July and passed a motion in "open session" to begin the process of suspending the USCF memberships of Susan Polgar and Paul Truong. SP and PT have 30 days to respond; then the EB will take final action. SP and PT may appeal this termination of their USCF memberships to the Delegates at the annual meeting next month.

This means that Susan will not be allowed to play in any USCF tournaments. Her FIDE status may be affected; it is unclear whether she may be banned from world chess altogether. Of immediate importance, as non-members, Susan and Paul will be removed from the EB without the Goichberg faction having to go to the trouble of recall votes at the Delegates Meeting and then to the membership.

The timing here allows the EB to oust them just after the annual Delegates meeting, forcing them to wait a full year before their appeal can be heard.

This action is unprecidented in USCF history. Past players have been expelled for cheating, either as players or as tournament officials, but never over political differences.

On the lawsuit front, a mediation session is scheduled next week. This action may be designed to put additional pressure on SP and PT in that.

Chairman of RJF Committee reacts to My 61 Memorable Games

2009-07-25T11:23:00.004-05:00

From: Einar S Einarsson
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 5:09 PM

Subject: RE: Edward A Trice

Sorry to hear about all of this

which pisses me and all Icelanders off totally.

What an absurd extreme and nonsense.

I contacted both F.Friedel at Chessbase.com

and D.J.t Guesendam at NIT and they do not want

dignify and publish anything about this rubbish hoax

and blog which has sunken below all common sense.

Still what Ed Trice says or asserts about me and

others of Bobby´s fair friends does not bother us a bit.

End of story.

Sincerely

Einar S. Einarsson

Chairman RJF Committee

Chess: The Musical

2009-07-24T20:48:00.001-05:00

Why Chess in Concert?

The story of Chess (the Musical) is a turbulent one. It is a lesson in how not to produce a hit show. One day I may write a book about it, or even a musical. There is more than enough material: suspense and drama, lashings of tears and heartbreak, a galaxy of sparkling personalities (to put it tactfully) and a bunch of terrific tunes.

http://www.chessinconcert.com

For now suffice it to say that all went swimmingly with the original recording and concerts which took place in 1984. The album and two singles were substantial hits around the world and theatrical producers were soon fighting like ferrets in a sack to get hold of the stage rights. This eventually led to a West End production in May 1986, which ran for the best part of three years but was never quite the artistic nor commercial success the enthusiasm for the recordings had indicated it would be. Part of the reason for this was sheer bad luck (our original director had to abandon the show through illness shortly before the first rehearsal) and part was sheer – collective - incompetence. Recouping the then massive £4 million cost of the show in London was nevertheless a reasonable achievement.

It had never been our intention to stage the work exactly as it was on the original album. We made certain additions and alterations for the production at the Prince Edward Theatre, most of which worked. However the enforced uneasy combination of two distinguished directors’ viewpoints made for a slightly muddled version that was still being fixed way beyond opening night. Eventually it was clear that there was little point in endless tinkering with the show, which was just about holding its own – better to start again with a totally new concept for Broadway.

So drastic alterations were made, some for reasons that, at this distance, seem quite bewildering. An American book-writer joined the team (although “team” was soon to prove a less than accurate term), the operatic nature of the work thus eliminated, the storyline was changed substantially and the set was completely redesigned. Characters changed nationalities and even names; there was a different World Chess Champion at the end of the show; Merano, both song and venue, bit the dust; and a slew of new songs were added, many of which had been subtracted by opening night, with the notable exception of a new song for Florence, Someone Else’s Story, which more than held its own with the rest of the score.

Chess lasted a mere eight weeks on Broadway. Normally, that would be that for the long-term future of a humiliated show, but for some reason this one has refused to roll over and die, even in America. The reason was of course the songs, which even our misconceived Broadway escapade had not managed to destroy. Actors and singers still wanted to have a bash at the wonderful melodies, especially in auditions, and directors felt that they could put up with the confusion of the plot (a) because every few minutes another great tune turns up and (b) they could re-write chunks of the story themselves as no-one allegedly in control of the show seemed to know what the official version was anymore.

I certainly didn’t. During the past 20 years I have seen Chess on dozens of occasions in many different countries, and no two versions have been the same. Sometimes Freddie wins, sometimes Anatoly wins. Sometimes the whole show is set in the Tirol, sometimes entirely in Bangkok. One (rather good) version was set in 1960s New York, and another backstage at a Chess concert in which the actors played actors putting on a Chess concert. By far the best and most successful foreign production (not surprisingly) was the Stockholm show in 2002 - 03.

In recent years I have become more and more determined to oversee an English language version of Chess that I would be happy to recommend to all future producers and directors. I doubt whether it will be possible to prevent yet more hybrid treatments surfacing around the globe but if anybody wants to know which version has my official seal of approval then my intention is that the show unveiled at the Royal Albert Hall is it.

I accept that the plot is complex – I prefer intelligent, or sophisticated, but I would say that, wouldn’t I? I know for sure that contrary to the views of some critics way back then, the story is certainly more than plausible. Many in the real world of chess have told me it is not complex enough, as any study of chess and politics over the past 50 years will illustrate – as will a quick look at the life and antics of the late Bobby Fischer.

With the great help and support of Hugh Wooldridge, I have returned to the original album as the basis of what I hope will be the definitive version, both in story and style. There are no more than a few lines of spoken dialogue. Some songs and scenes that were added for the London and even for the Broadway stagings have been retained, and I have tweaked the odd line here and there to make the plot clearer.

The most satisfying performances of Chess any of the authors have seen were the concerts we staged across Europe at the time of the album’s release. While we hope that the work will be staged theatrically, or filmed, on as many occasions as possible, Hugh and I decided that to do full justice to the score for this important new presentation, the demands of the music had to be paramount – but of course with Wooldridge at the helm, visual and dramatic elements will be more than evident.

But in essence, Chess is as it was back in 1984. With the passing of time it is now, to its advantage, more clearly a period piece. To think that the magnificent music of Bjorn and Benny had only been known to the world for ten years when we embarked upon Chess is extraordinary; the world now knows that their music is timeless and lasting. I hope that the work I was fortunate enough to create with them will one day be recognized as a full part of their brilliant legacy.

TIM RICE
May 2008

Michael Jackson Bought an 80,000 Dollar Chess Set

2009-07-24T20:40:00.002-05:00

By Stephen Dann

It’s easy to question the value of buying an $80,000 chess set these days, as the late Michael Jackson did a few years ago while shopping in Hollywood.

Jackson taught his son Prince to play chess at age 3 on the gold and marble chess set, according to a comprehensive story that appeared July 10 at www.chessbase.com, which offers many in-depth news stories on the game.

Today, the purchase of a chess set in a dollar store may be questioned. Difficult decisions are being made every day as Americans cope with perhaps the most trying economic downturn since the 1930s. And such was the backdrop of the formation of the U.S. Chess Federation in 1939. As one historian put it, “a number of chess groups merged, as none had the money to do much on their own.”

The St. Louis Chess Club purchased Bobby Fischer’s entire library recently, also for $80,000. In advance, the New York auction firm estimated the value of the lot at $50,000. This was an investment in both historical preservation and education, according to the club patron who donated the funds to purchase the collection, put together from the 1950s through Fischer’s departure from the United States in 1992.

But this writer sees the economic conditions forcing every family, town, school, library and business to weigh the value of chess as a sport, recreational pursuit or teaching tool. Does one have time to “indulge” in a game when there is so much other work to be done?

Chess won out during the 1930s in a number of large U.S. cities as a form of recreation on playgrounds, in schools and probably in libraries. Boston-born George Sturgis (1891-1944), founder of both the Mass. Chess Association and U.S. Chess Federation, promoted all kinds of programs in his 1939 Masta Chess News, two copies of which this writer has been exhibiting at major chess events for decades. It’s a shame the size and condition of these publications does not permit scanning to create a PDF file for mass viewing.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the USCF ( www.uschess.org) and the 40th anniversary of MACA’s own Chess Horizons magazine, conceived by a high school student from Worcester.

World Chess News

2009-07-24T20:34:00.000-05:00

USCF Membership Levels

2009-07-24T19:35:00.002-05:00

As reported from Chessnews.org:

Should we be alarmed about losing 3209 members in only three months? March 1 to June 1 is historically a seasonally weak period for USCF membership numbers, as the following records show:

USCF membership losses, March 1-June 1
2003 Lost 4751 members
2004 Lost 3906 members
2005 Lost 4130 members
2006 Lost 3268 members
2007 Lost 2349 members
2008 Lost 2422 members
2009 Lost 3209 members

So the loss this year was greater than 2007 or 2008, but not enormously so, and smaller than each of the previous four years. And there is good reason to believe the main cause is cutbacks in school chess programs, as adult membership during this period has declined only by 97 members.

The year 2006-2007 was a fairly good one for USCF. However, it is false that USCF showed losses in every other year since 1995. In each of 2003-2004 and 2004-2005, USCF had a surplus of over $200,000, and that's without including the building sale and land gift recorded in 2004-2005, which if included would have dramatically increased that surplus.

2009 USCF Election Results

2009-07-24T07:20:00.001-05:00

The results of the 2009 Executive Board Election are in. 11.1% of the eligible voters cast ballots. The four candidates who were elected to four year terms on the Executive Board are Jim Berry, Bill Goichberg, Ruth Haring and Mike Atkins. Jim and Bill were incumbents, Ruth and Mike will take office at the conclusion of the 2009 Delegates Meeting, replacing Randy Hough, who chose not to run for another term, and Joel Channing, who had resigned.

Totals in Order of Rank
Jim Berry: 3030
Bill Goichberg:3014
Ruth Haring:2952
Michael Atkins: 2672
Michael Korenman: 822
Mike Nietman:732
Eric Hecht: 717
Blas Lugo: 657
Sam Sloan:588
Brian Lafferty:576
Brian Mottershead:435

There were also 123 Write-in ballots. A total of 4379 ballots were received.

Regional Breakdown

Reg. Hecht Atkins Lugo Niet Goich Berry Mott Laff Sloan Koren Haring
I 46 203 40 29 230 232 31 34 36 41 227
II 82 325 62 71 389 373 39 54 88 82 361
III 81 499 61 83 455 422 61 80 81 80 423
IV 90 281 112 60 310 309 44 75 62 90 302
V 71 216 59 68 249 245 35 48 51 79 252
VI 23 79 21 95 88 97 19 18 15 30 87
VII 65 192 65 79 246 240 41 56 44 94 239
VIII 27 112 27 32 122 138 25 28 21 35 118
IX 21 70 20 22 86 93 15 17 25 31 80
X 73 158 62 64 218 262 41 43 48 84 206
XI 88 418 75 89 473 468 56 80 80 112 497
XII 37 100 32 31 114 125 25 29 24 40 120
Other 13 19 21 9 34 26 3 14 13 24 40

Man selling Fake Fischer Book at World Open ordered to Stop!

2009-07-06T15:35:00.002-05:00

Reports are that someone was trying to sell five copies of "My 61Memorable Games" from a borrowed corner of a skittles table outside of the booksellers area at the World Open in Philly. Bill Goichberg, USCF President and event organizer, told the person they were not authorized to sell the book at the event. The person in question demanded to see a contract saying he couldn't. At that point Mr. Goichberg informed the person that not only did he not have to show him a contract, he could have him ejected and barred from returning.
The individual then put the books away and didn't return on Sunday to the event.

"My 61 Memorable Games" is a suspected book fraud claiming it's author to be the late chess champion, Bobby Fischer.

Bobby Fischer Buried in Iceland

2008-01-24T14:37:00.000-06:00

Reclusive chess genius Bobby Fischer was buried Monday in a private ceremony at a churchyard in southern Iceland, a television station reported.

Fischer, who died of kidney failure on Thursday at the age of 64, was interred at Laugardaelir church outside the town of Selfoss, Iceland's Channel 2 reported, citing the parish priest.
The Rev. Kristinn Agust Fridfinnsson told the TV station the ceremony was arranged so hastily he did not arrive until after the ceremony was over.

The funeral was attended by only a handful of people, including Fischer's longtime companion, Miyoko Watai, and friend and spokesman Gardar Sverrisson, the TV station reported.
Sverrisson did not return a call seeking comment late Monday.

A troubled chess genius, Fisher gained global fame in 1972 when he defeated the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky in Reykjavik to become the first officially recognized world champion born in the United States.

The showdown, played out at the height of the Cold War, took on mythic dimensions as a clash between the world's two superpowers. Fischer lost his world title in 1975 after refusing to defend it against Anatoly Karpov. He dropped out of competitive chess and largely out of view, spending time in Hungary and the Philippines and emerging occasionally to make outspoken and often outrageous comments, sometimes attacking the United States.

Fischer — born in Chicago and raised in New York — was arrested in Japan in 2004 and threatened with extradition to the U.S. to face charges he broke international sanctions against the former Yugoslavia by going there to play a chess match in 1992.
Fischer renounced his U.S. citizenship and spent nine months in custody before the dispute was resolved when Iceland granted him citizenship.

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Frivolous lawsuit and other items

2007-10-11T00:16:00.000-05:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Frivolous lawsuit and other items

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: US Top 10

2007-10-05T11:47:00.000-05:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: US Top 10

Who are the Top US Players by FIDE rating?

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Which pair would you choose?

2007-09-27T12:20:00.000-05:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Which pair would you choose?

Morphy vs Pillsbury?
Lasker vs Fischer?
Alekhine vs Tal?

WHo would you like to see play in a match?

Affairs of Chess: Match Rybka vs. Zappa

2007-09-26T16:12:00.000-05:00

Affairs of Chess: Match Rybka vs. Zappa

Zappa Holds a one point lead and may upset the defending champion, Rybka!

ChessUSA.blogspot.com: Sam Sloan Q&A

2007-09-12T09:07:00.000-05:00

ChessUSA.blogspot.com: Sam Sloan Q&A

Follow up questions to Mr Sloan

Chess USA: Sam Sloan Q&A

2007-09-09T13:07:00.000-05:00

Chess USA: Sam Sloan Q&A

A losing Executive Board Candidate blames others for his loss.

Chess USA: Dr. Stephen L. Jones Q&A

2007-09-09T00:33:00.000-05:00

Chess USA: Dr. Stephen L. Jones Q&A

Chess USA: On The Web September 6, 2007

2007-09-06T10:58:00.000-05:00

Chess USA: On The Web September 6, 2007

Chess USA: Don Schultz "Arnold Denker or The Andrew I Knew"

2007-09-06T10:57:00.000-05:00

Chess USA: Don Schultz "Arnold Denker or The Andrew I Knew"

US Chess Discussion: A new era for the USCF

2007-07-27T10:38:00.000-05:00

US Chess Discussion: A new era for the USCF

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Another unofficial and partial results

2007-07-26T11:43:00.000-05:00

Susan Polgar,Randy Bauer ,Paul Truong Elected to USCF Executive Board!

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Another unofficial and partial results

US Chess Discussion: Q & A with Paul Truong - Part 1

2007-07-25T10:02:00.000-05:00

USCF Executive Board canidate, FM Paul Truong answers specefic questions. He is a very honorable man and I hope he is elected to the USCF board.:

US Chess Discussion: Q & A with Paul Truong - Part 1

US Chess Discussion: Election analysis by a major chess source

2007-06-19T08:18:00.000-05:00

US Chess Discussion: Election analysis by a major chess source

Mark Week's "About Chess" gives his preferances in the election. I would concur with all of his choices, save one. I believe Mr. Schultz's talents are better suited elsewhere than the Executive Board.

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Texas Tech sponsors the 2007 Denker and Polgar

2007-06-14T09:48:00.000-05:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Texas Tech sponsors the 2007 Denker and Polgar

It's Time to represent the interests of the children rather than those who profit off of them. Bravo Susan!

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: USCF Open Election Thread

2007-06-09T23:03:00.000-05:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: USCF Open Election Thread

Jack Le Moine's Blog: News item: Sam Sloan Announces Plan to Take Over Chess World

2007-06-06T16:29:00.000-05:00

News item: Sam Sloan Announces Plan to Take Over Chess World

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Dr. Moskow's quest to prove a new chess theory!

2007-06-06T12:08:00.000-05:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Dr. Moskow's quest to prove a new chess theory!

US Chess Discussion: A call for peace and unity for the sake of chess

2007-06-03T10:02:00.000-05:00

US Chess Discussion: A call for peace and unity for the sake of chess

Susan Polgar places issues before personalities!

US Chess Discussion: The battle line has been drawn

2007-05-29T13:17:00.000-05:00

US Chess Discussion: The battle line has been drawn

Current USCF Executive Board members act to destroy scholastic chess tournaments!

SPICE at Texas Tech University: Welcome!

2007-05-21T10:28:00.000-05:00

SPICE at Texas Tech University: Welcome!

Susan Polgar brings some much needed SPICE into Texas Tech!

USCF Censures Executive Board Member

2007-04-23T09:30:00.000-05:00

Sam Sloan has once again been censured. This time for violating federal employment laws as well as violating the code of conduct for an executive board member. Mr. Sloan is up for reelection to a board position. Currently there is no proceedure for the executive board to remove a member whose actions open the USCF up to potential liability claims. Only the delegates may vote to remove a member. Even then said member may not be removed within four months of the ends of their term.
Until the election the USCF must carry around the risk of a lawsuit that may come from inflamatory remarks uttered by Mr. Sloan via newsgroups. This is why it is so important that the voting public in the USCF be made aware of who they are voting for should they vote for Mr. Sloan. Who is Sam Sloan?
That is a question that should be researched for the next several months.When selecting a leader one must assess their decision making ability and rationality. One should assess if that leaders core values reflect your own values. Does a canidates "vision" match those that are your own? You don't get the leadership you deserve, you get the leadership you expect.
Could the USCF do more? Sure they could. Why is it that Chess Life online does not have a section for actions taken by the Executive Board? If such a section existed there would be much more transparency and the members of the USCF could better determine if the conduct of it's elected officials met their personal standards.The members would also know more about the health of the organization. Has it been reported anywhere that Mr. Sloan was censured by the board for his actions? Does the membership of the USCF know this?
Mr. Sloans actions are not unlike that of a malignancy. One small cell in an organism that refuses to follow order and continues to propogate it's own adgenda, develops into a fatal cancer. More and more of the resources of the organism must be used to fight and defend itself from an internal invader so it fails to grown and eventually dies.
Perhaps what exists with the USCF is a symptom of an organization that has grown far beyond what it's own bylaws ever anticipated? Perhaps the structure of the USCF is in part what is crippling? Organizations are like living organisms. They must grow in order to continue to live. Growth must be controlled and follow a plan. Uncontrolled growth in an organism is "cancer". Unorganized growth in an organization is "chaos" and is just as destructive. Without a clear plan and real leadership, growth will become chaos.
My question now is this:
Why are we not discussing Mr. Sloans actions in the light of day? Why is there a silence on this? There may be more cancers in the USCF but if we permit one to thrive we miss the others thinking they are only a symptom of the first.
Rob Mitchell

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: 'Propagating extremism'

2007-04-18T10:46:00.000-05:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: 'Propagating extremism'

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: The running back who loves chess

2007-03-19T14:00:00.000-05:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: The running back who loves chess

Mida's chess corner: Spassky vs Nash: chess and maths in Rome

2007-03-19T13:57:00.000-05:00

Mida's chess corner: Spassky vs Nash: chess and maths in Rome

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: I WILL run for the 2007 USCF Executive Board

2006-12-07T11:00:00.000-06:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: I WILL run for the 2007 USCF Executive Board

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Fischer vs. Karpov - It could finally happen!

2006-10-12T23:48:00.000-05:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Fischer vs. Karpov - It could finally happen!

Nato Chess Championships

2006-08-29T15:36:00.000-05:00

As reported on Susanpolgar.blogspot.com:

The prestigious 17th NATO CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP took place this year at Wellington College in Berkshire (UK) from August 21 - 25, 2006.Here are the results:
1. Germany 23
2. Poland 18
3. Norway 18
4. Turkey 17
5. France 16.5
6. United Kingdom 16
7. Denmark 15.5
8. United States of America 15.5

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: The Power of Women

2006-04-07T06:39:00.000-05:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: The Power of Women

A Call To Action: Math and Chess For Our Children

2006-03-11T13:31:00.000-06:00

I believe in the future. I believe that through hard work and determination that the human spirit cannot be deterred. I have faith that something great may be accomplished.

The Math and Chess curriculum has been proven effective. Why not use a proven effective tool to give all of our children the opportunity to excel?

With this in mind I have contacted the Governor's of all 50 States. I have received direct responses from three States already as well as a Congressman and a US Senator and former Secretary of Education.

Meetings are scheduled. It is my job to sell various administration officials on the efficacy for my proposal. Our nation cannot continue on it's current path without dire consequences. That is why millions of dollars are being proposed to train new math and science teachers.

I think it only wise to take advantage of the timing and use it to our advantage. We have the attention of the government right now. Now is the time we should act and work towards improving our childrens opportunities for a better life. Now is when we should all be advocating Math and Chess for all of our students.

Rob Mitchell

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: A letter to President Bush about Chess and Education

2006-03-09T17:15:00.000-06:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: A letter to President Bush about Chess and Education

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Chess Scholarships

2006-03-09T17:10:00.000-06:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Chess Scholarships

Paul Morphy: Greatest Chess Player of All Time

2006-03-08T05:54:00.000-06:00

Many authors, (most notably Reinfeld); have criticized Morphy's Generation as, "Too weak."
This is nonsense. (In 1000 years, when humans have computer chips embedded in their brains, perhaps someone will look at Garry Kasparov's opposition and claim his opponents were too weak!! Silly.)

Professor Arpad Elo stated that you can only judge a player by the standards of his generation!! (See section 5.13 on page 81 of Dr. Elo's book, "The Ratings of Chess-Players, Past & Present.")

Quite simply, using scientific, statistical & mathematical comparisons, Morphy was easily the best player who ever lived. Just measure, "The Gap," or the distance that a player is ahead of his generation. Using this standard, Morphy was #1, Fischer was #2, and Kasparov is #3. (No others need apply!!!) (I am not the only one who thinks this. One fellow, who was nominated for for a top prize in mathematics, (The Field's Medal?); in the 1980's wrote an article concerning this subject. He too thinks Morphy was the greatest player of all time.

Ratings are not a totally reliable method either. Generally there has been a significant inflation in ELO ratings in the last 20 years. Most mathematicians agree it is in the neighborhood of [at least] one to two percent, (per year). If one adds this number to Bobby Fischer's best rating (2815 following his match with Petrosian), then Fischer's peak rating, after adjusting for inflation, would be 2860!! This compares very favorably to Kasparov.

Another thing to consider is that when Bobby was 2700-plus, there was no one within 100 rating points of Bobby! (circa 1972.) [Kasparov usually has had at least five to ten players within 100 points of his rating.]

Morphy can be and generally is considered the first modern player. If his games do not look modern, it is because he did not need the sort of slow positional systems that modern grandmasters use, or that Staunton, Paulsen, and later Steinitz developed. His opponents had not yet mastered the open game, so he played it against them and he preferred open positions because they brought quick success. He played open games almost to perfection, but he also could handle any sort of position, having a complete grasp of chess that was years ahead of his time. Morphy was a player who intuitively knew what was best, and in this regard he was much like Capablanca. He was, like Capablanca, a child prodigy; he played fast and he was hard to beat. Löwenthal and Anderssen both later remarked that he was indeed hard to beat since he knew how to defend and would draw or even win games despite getting into bad positions. At the same time, he was deadly when given a promising position. Anderssen especially complained of this, saying that after one bad move against Morphy one may as well resign. Morphy would win his won games, but if he made an error, it was still a long, hard process trying to beat him, and more likely than not the game would still go to him in the end. "I win my games in seventy moves but Mr. Morphy wins his in twenty, but that is only natural..." Anderssen moaned, explaining his poor results against Morphy. Anderssen was perhaps grateful that he did get a 70 move win, as he did not get many wins of any kind against Morphy.

Of Morphy's 59 "serious" games — those played in matches and the 1857 New York tournament — he won 42, drew 9, and lost 8.

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Painful Endgame Lesson

2006-03-07T14:55:00.000-06:00

Susan Polgar Chess Blog: Painful Endgame Lesson

Chess news and events: SCG Championship - Round 8

2006-03-07T14:54:00.000-06:00

Chess news and events: SCG Championship - Round 8

Creative New Math Curriculum Solves NCLB Issues

2006-02-23T13:19:00.000-06:00

Education is one of the single largest state budgetary expenditures. Educating our children and providing them with the necessary tools to become productive citizens is a moral and legal duty of parents and governmental entities. Our nations future depends upon our next generation's ability to remain globally competetive in the fields of math and science. Yet even with the increased focus we place on education our students still fall below national norms in math scores.

There is an efficient and innovative way to teach our students mathematics. That is by integrating math with the game of chess.

Chess has long been considered a way for children to increase their mental prowess, concentration, memory, and analytical skills. To anyone who has known the game, it comes as no surprise that these assumptions were actually proven in several studies on how chess can improve the grades of students.

Although chess has been shown to increase the mental abilities of persons of all ages, the main studies have been done with children. This is first for the obvious reason that students are constantly tested anyway, and therefore the data need only be analyzed, and secondly because children's mental development is more rapid and can be more easily measured than persons at a later life stage.

Early Conclusions

After several informal studies were done in the early 20th century on the effect that chess has on logical thinking and other such functions, a primary conclusion was drawn that chess does in fact not only demand such characteristics, but develops and promotes them as well. John Artise in Chess and Education wrote "Visual stimuli tend to improve memory more than any other stimuli; chess is definitely an excellent memory exerciser the effects of which are transferable to other subjects where memory is necessary."

With this in mind, legislation in the U.S. in 1992 promoting and encouraging the incorporation of chess into the curriculum of schools was passed. Funding is available under the “ Educate America Act” (Goals 2000) public law 103-277, section 308.b.2.E. The U.S. joined the more than 30 countries which already had chess included in some form in their school curricula.

In part due to the educational community, which has noted the increased academic performance of students participating in chess, there has been an explosion in the number of children playing chess in the U.S. An estimated 250,000 children in the U.S. are introduced every year through the school system to the basics of the game. Studies have already been done to confirm the hypothesis that chess is linked to increased grades in school..

Case Studies

As reported in Developing Critical Thinking Through Chess, Dr. Robert Ferguson tested students from seventh to ninth grades from the years 1979-1983 as part of the ESEA Title IV-C Explore Program. He found that non-chess students increased their critical thinking skills an average of 4.6% annually, while students who were members of a chess club improved their analytical skills an average of 17.3% annually. Three separate tests to determine how chess affects creative thinking were also done as part of the same study. It concluded that on average, different aspects of creative thinking had improved at a rate two to three times faster for chess playing students, as opposed to their non-chess playing counterparts.

Subsequent studies by Dr. Ferguson further supported these original conclusions. In the Tri-State Area School Pilot Study conducted in 1986 and Development of Reasoning and Memory Through Chess (1987-88) chess playing students showed more rapid increased gains in memory, organizational skills, and logic.

In Zaire the study Chess and Aptitudes, was conducted by Dr. Albert Frank at the Uni Protestant School, during the 1973-74 school year. Using sufficiently large experimental and control groups, Dr. Frank confirmed there was a significant correlation between the ability to play chess well, and spatial, numerical, administrative-directional, and paperwork abilities. The conclusion was that students participating in the chess course show a marked development of their verbal and numerical aptitudes. Furthermore, this was noticed in the majority of chess students and not only those who were better players.

A study conducted in four large elementary schools in Texas in 1997 further demonstrated the positivism of chess. Through the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), the study was done to test the difference that chess playing had on standardized tests. These schools selected all had a chess program in existence for a minimum of two years. Since a few thousand total students took the test and all types of students were tested from special education students to gifted and talented students, the sample was large and diverse enough to make a concrete conclusion. There were significant improvements in both reading and math for all grade levels and all classes of students (regular, gifted and talented, special education, academically able, etc.). Through the Texas Learning Index, or TLI, it was determined that on average the students who played chess improved in reading and mathematics at a rate between 1.5 and two times faster than non-chess playing students.

In terms of verbal improvement specifically, a study by Dr. Stuart Margulies from 1991 addressed this. Students with higher verbal skills tend to score higher on word problems than their lower performing counterparts. The "Margulies Study” is one of the strongest arguments to finally prove what hundreds of teachers knew all along-chess is a learning tool. (Inside Chess, February 1994).

"Can chess promote earlier intellectual maturation" was the question posed in the Chess and Cognitive Development study directed by Johan Christiaen from the 1974-76 school years in Belgium. The results again clearly confirmed that the group of chess playing students showed significantly more improvement then the non chess playing students. In 1982, Dr. Gerard Dullea mentioned this study and proclaimed "…we have scientific support for what we have known all along-chess makes kids smarter! (Chess Life, November 1982) In a similar study done in a test series in New Brunswick, Canada called Challenging Mathematics, the mathematics curriculum used chess to teach logic from grades 2 to 7. The average problem solving score in the province increased from 62% to 81%.

Conclusions

We can now say with full confidence that chess has been PROVEN to enhance creativity, problem solving, memory, concentration, intellectual maturity, self esteem, and many other abilities that a parent or teacher would desire. We should act now to provide our children with an innovative and exciting approach to learning mathematics: Math and Chess for America's Schools.

Insurance for Chess Players

2005-11-17T09:18:00.000-06:00

Chess Master Insurance is proud to announce insurance for the chess community.

They can provide Global Medical Insurance for American's travelling and living abroad as well as non- American citizens travelling to or living and working in the United States. Chess Master Insurance also provides dental , vision, medical insurance, prescription drug cards and guaranteed issue life insurance with no medical underwriting.

For more information about these plans, check out their website:

www.chessmasterinsurance.com

Chess Masterminds Television Show and Webcast

2005-07-22T10:52:00.000-05:00

For Immediate Release
“Chess MasterMinds” show
Nashville, Tennessee
July 21, 2005

On Sunday, July 24th, 2005, the world will see a chess match that has not been done in 60 years. This is the first distance chess match to be held between the old Soviet Union, (Russia) and the USA since the end of WWII and the start of the cold war. It can be viewed on broadcast TV in 35 markets in the US(visit www.chessmasterminds.com for station listings) or viewed over the internet at www.martinbroadcasting.com .
July 10, 2005 games are the first of three distance chess matches that are scheduled between Russian and U.S. players. The games will be 20-minute matches between four Russian chess grandmasters vs. four U.S. chess grandmasters. The games will be played over the Internet using e-boards. The players for the first match are located in St. Petersburg, Russia and Nashville, Tennessee. The production of this event, provided by Nashville International Studios, (NIS), will be taped on July 10th, 2005, in Nashville, Tennessee, with feeds coming in from Russia. The show will be called Chess MasterMinds and will be aired Sunday, July 24th, 2005. Mention the word Chess and the first thing that comes to people’s minds is a pair of old men in dark stuffy rooms, huddled over a chessboard. The game has changed.
This is a "distance chess" match series of 10-, 20- or 30-minute games between chess grandmasters from different parts of the world. In addition, these matches will be produced for video and made available to the rest of the world through satellite up-links. Featured in this event of the century will be some of the world’s greatest chess grand masters, such as, Susan Polgar, who has ranked in the top three in the world for the last twenty years. Polgar is currently ranked #1 in the United States.

Not only is Polgar a dynamic player, she is rated as one of the best players in the world in both the men and women’s divisions. Her passion for teaching chess to children and young girls and women has truly earned Polgar the title of “Chess Ambassador”.

Also in the match for the U.S. team is Grand Master, Alex Onischuk is indeed “The Rock”. Rated #59 in the world, his defense and counter attacks have made for some of the most dramatic play over the board of battle. Using a style similar to boxing legend Muhammad Ali’s “rope a dope”; Alex will wait until an attacker has “punched himself out” and then deliver a lethal combination. Onischuk was the Olympiad Silver Medalist in 1996 and Bronze Medalist in 1998. He competed in the 2004 US Olympiad team and playing board number one, placed fourth in the overall games.

On the Russian Team, we will have Alexander Khalifman, he is rated #42 in the World, and has become one of the strongest contemporary chess players in the world. An International Grandmaster in 1990, he became The Champion of Russia in 1996. He has been the winner of World Chess Olympiads three times (1992, 2000 and 2002); Khalifman was a two-time Saint-Petersburg Champion, winning in 1996 and 1997. He was the FIDE World champion in 1999. In addition, Khalifman was the winner of the World Team Championship in 1997 and the Europe Team Championship 2003. In addition to being an excellent player, he is a respected chess journalist and the founder of grandmaster chess school and website.

This young player for the Russian team, Konstantin Sakaev, rated #30 in the world, was born on April 13, 1974, and is one of the leading Russian chess players. He became an International Grandmaster in 1992. He was the winner of the Youth Russian Championship in 1990, as well as the three-time winner of the World Youth Championship games in 1990, 1991 and 1992.

Sakaev participated in four of last FIDE World Championships (1999, 2000, 2001, and 2004). He was the Champion of Russia in 1999, the Champion of Saint Petersburg in 1990 as well as a two-time winner of World Chess Olympiads in 1998 and 2000. Sakaev is a four-time winner of Russia Club Championship (1992, 1995, 2000 and 2001).

Our commentators hosting the Chess MasterMinds show will be Paul Truong and Phil Innes. Paul Truong is the FIDE Master and Captain and Manager of the 2004 Women’s Olympiad Silver Medalist team and an 11 time Champion. Phil Innes created program for qualitative assessment of on-line arts education, which appeared before Senate Technology Committee, Washington D.C. Synchronously with business activities, worked with the inventor of chess broadcasting technologies in St. Petersburg, Russia, since 1996, to promote greater world-wide interactions and audiences for chess.

The match will also include two arbiters. The U.S. Arbiter is Harry Sabine and the Russian Arbiter is Igor Bolotinsky, who is now the #2 Arbiter in Russia.

There could be no other choice for the music in this show, but to have Bering Strait, a band from Nashville that consists of brilliant young Russians to perform and be featured in Chess MasterMinds. The band earned a 2002 Grammy award nominee for best “Country” music instrumental and the group was featured in a documentary film directed by Nina Gilden Seavey, “The Ballad of Bering Strait”. The striking story of the band growing up outside of Moscow in Obninsk, where the members of Bering Strait attended music school, fell in love with and mastered the American form of bluegrass, journeyed to the United States, and ended up recording their by then multi-faceted music for a major Nashville recording company. The band just released it’s new album, “Pages” on June 28th,2005. This new album definitely has the flavor of their Russian descent flowing through the music, giving it a very distinctive sound that is hard to place in any one genre of music.

In addition, Chess Masterminds is in the planning stage for a match on October 29th, with former President Gorbachev. He has agreed to visit Lindsborg, Kansas, to promote a Chess for Peace program at the Karpov International School of Chess. We are looking forward to host former President Carter at the same time to make the first ever chess match with two former Presidents and Nobel Prize winners.

Please see the website for further information at www.chessmasterminds.com or contact Diana Macys-Staley for media inquiries at 615/596-6280 or email at dianamacys@yahoo.com.

CHESS MASTERMINDS MATCH BROADCAST

2005-07-03T07:21:00.000-05:00

For Immediate Release
“Chess MasterMinds” show
Nashville, Tennessee
June 29, 2005

On Sunday, July 24th, 2005, the world will see a chess match that has not been done in 60 years. This is the first distance chess match to be held between the old Soviet Union, (Russia) and the USA since the end of WWII and the start of the cold war.
July 10, 2005 will be date of the first of three distant chess matches that are scheduled between Russian and U.S. players. The games will be 20-minute matches between four Russian chess grandmasters vs. four U.S. chess grandmasters. The games will be played over the Internet using Shahcom’s e-boards. The players for the first match are located in St. Petersburg, Russia and Nashville, Tennessee. The production of this event, provided by Nashville International Studios, (NIS), will be taped on July 10th, 2005, in Nashville, Tennessee, with feeds coming in from Russia. The show will be called Chess MasterMinds and will be aired Sunday, July 24th, 2005. Mention the word Chess and the first thing that comes to people’s minds is a pair of old men in dark stuffy rooms, huddled over a chessboard. The game has changed.
This is a distant chess match series of 10-, 20- or 30-minute games between chess grandmasters from different parts of the world. In addition, these matches will be produced for video and made available to the rest of the world through satellite up-links. Featured in this event of the century will be some of the world’s greatest chess grand masters, such as, Susan Polgar, who has ranked in the top three in the world for the last twenty years. Polgar is theked #1 ranked female in the United States.

Not only is Polgar a dynamic player, she is rated as one of the best players in the world in both the men and women’s divisions. Her passion for teaching chess to children and young girls and women has truly earned Polgar the title of “Chess Ambassador”.

Also in the match for the U.S. team is Grand Master, Alex Onischuk is indeed “The Rock”. Rated #59 in the world, his defense and counter attacks have made for some of the most dramatic play over the board of battle. Using a style similar to boxing legend Muhammad Ali’s “rope a dope”; Alex will wait until an attacker has “punched himself out” and then deliver a lethal combination. Onischuk was the Olympiad Silver Medalist in 1996 and Bronze Medalist in 1998. He competed in the 2004 US Olympiad team and playing board number one, placed fourth in the overall games.

On the Russian Team, we will have Alexander Khalifman, he is rated #42 in the World, and has become one of the strongest contemporary chess players in the world. An International Grandmaster in 1990, he became The Champion of Russia in 1996. He has been the winner of World Chess Olympiads three times (1992, 2000 and 2002); Khalifman was a two-time Saint-Petersburg Champion, winning in 1996 and 1997. He was the FIDE World champion in 1999. In addition, Khalifman was the winner of the World Team Championship in 1997 and the Europe Team Championship 2003. In addition to being an excellent player, he is a respected chess journalist and the founder of grandmaster chess school and website.

Konstantin Sakaev, rated #30 in the world, was born on April 13, 1974, and is one of the leading Russian chess players. He became an International Grandmaster in 1992. He was the winner of the Youth Russian Championship in 1990, as well as the three-time winner of the World Youth Championship games in 1990, 1991 and 1992.

Sakaev participated in four of last FIDE World Championships (1999, 2000, 2001, and 2004). He was the Champion of Russia in 1999, the Champion of Saint Petersburg in 1990 as well as a two-time winner of World Chess Olympiads in 1998 and 2000. Sakaev is a four-time winner of Russia Club Championship (1992, 1995, 2000 and 2001).

Our commentators hosting the Chess MasterMinds show will be Paul Truong and Phil Innes. Paul Truong is the FIDE Master and Captain and Manager of the 2004 Women’s Olympiad Silver Medalist team and an 11 time Champion. Phil Innes created program for qualitative assessment of on-line arts education, which appeared before Senate Technology Committee, Washington D.C. Synchronously with business activities, worked with the inventor of chess broadcasting technologies in St. Petersburg, Russia, since 1996, to promote greater world-wide interactions and audiences for chess.

The match will also include two arbiters. The U.S. Arbiter is Harry Sabine and the Russian Arbiter is Igor Bolotinsky, who is now the #2 Arbiter in Russia.

There could be no other choice for the music in this show, but to have Bering Strait, a band from Nashville that consists of brilliant young Russians to perform and be featured in Chess MasterMinds. The band earned a 2002 Grammy award nominee for best “Country” music instrumental and the group was featured in a documentary film directed by Nina Gilden Seavey, “The Ballad of Bering Strait”. The striking story of the band growing up outside of Moscow in Obninsk, where the members of Bering Strait attended music school, fell in love with and mastered the American form of bluegrass, journeyed to the United States, and ended up recording their by then multi-faceted music for a major Nashville recording company. The band just released it’s new album, “Pages” on June 28th,2005. This new album definitely has the flavor of their Russian descent flowing through the music, giving it a very distinctive sound that is hard to place in any one genre of music.
In addition, NIS is in the planning stage for a match on October 29th, with former President Gorbachev. He has agreed to visit Lindsborg, Kansas, to promote a Chess for Peace program at the Karpov International School of Chess. We are looking forward to host former President Carter at the same time to make the first ever chess match with two former Presidents and Nobel Prize winners.

Please see the website for further information at www.chessmasterminds.com or contact Diana Macys-Staley for media inquiries at 615/596-6280 or email at dianamacys@yahoo.com.

Sam Sloan Albian Gambit Video

2005-05-26T14:07:00.000-05:00

Chessmaster Sam Sloan has produced a free instructional chess lesson. Sources indicate it covers the Albin Counter Gambit. Here is the link :
http://www.ishipress.com/samchess2.asf

Son of FIDE President Kirsan Ilumzhinov Badly Beaten

2005-05-26T12:02:00.000-05:00

MosNewsPolice have badly beaten the son of Kirsan Ilumzhinov, president ofthe Republic of Kalmykia and the head of the FIDE chess organization,Regnum reported Thursday.16-year-old David Ilumzhinov was out street racing with two friends ata deserted airport near Elista, the republic's capital. The cityadministration permits street racing at the airfield.Four policemen, among them the head of Elista's criminal investigationdepartment, Vitaly Elkuev, were off duty and drinking alcohol near theairport, Regnum reports, when they decided to check the teenagers'documents and look in the trunk of their car.The president's son told the policemen his name and asked forpermission to leave, but he and his friends were then beaten up.Afterwards the boys left in their car with the policemen chasing them,the agency reports. As a result of the high-speed chase the boy's carcrashed.In spite of the injuries that the youngsters sustained in theaccident, they were once more beaten up by the drunk policemen. Allthree of them are currently in the hospital.Three of the four policemen have been detained, the republic'sprosecutor, Sergei Khlopushin, told journalists. They are accused ofexceeding their authority, but the severity of the charges now dependson the condition of the victims, which remains unstable, Regnum adds.Kirsan Ilumzhinov became Kalmykia's president in 1993 at the age of30. He was reelected in 1995 with 85 percent of the vote. He has alsobeen the president of FIDE chess federation since 1995.

Welcome Susan Polgar To Blogging!

2005-05-24T08:24:00.000-05:00

This is wonderful news for the chess community. Susan Polgar, the legendary four times womens world chess champion, has created her own blog! This is another wonderful outreach program by GM Polgar. Visit her site often and interact with the greatest woman's champion of all time! http://www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com/

MTEL Masters Super Tournament

2005-05-13T21:37:00.000-05:00

SIX TOP CHESS PLAYERS AT THE "M-TEL MASTERS" SUPER TOURNAMENT
The competition is part of the "Ten Years of Mobiltel" Anniversary
Mobiltel and Kaissa Chess Management, Agency of Silvio Danailov, Manager of the best Bulgarian chess player Veselin Topalov, are going to organize an international Super chess tournament May 11th - 22nd, 2005 in Sofia.
The event constitutes a part of the festivities on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the biggest Bulgarian mobile operator (www.mobiltel.bg).
The competition will be attended by 6 of the best chess players on the planet: Viswanathan Anand (India), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine), Michael Adams (England) and Judit Polgar (Hungary).
The tournament belongs to the 20th Category of FIDE. According to average ELO this will be toughest tournament in the world for the current year. The Tournament's Regulation provides for the holding of 2 rounds with seven-hours' time control, classical chess. This way every participant will be able to play two games against the others. If there is a draw at the top, a tie-break will be provided for which has to determine the winner in the Tournament of Sofia.
The venue is the five-star luxury Grand Hotel Sofia (www.grandhotelsofia.bg) where the opening and the closing ceremony of the Tournament will be organized.
During the rest day Grand Master Veselin Topalov will give a simul to chess fans at the garden in front of the National Theater. Mobiltel will provide and set up 10 marble chess play tables in the garden.
For a second year in a row Mobiltel has been sponsoring the best Bulgarian chess player. In February last year the mobile operator organized a demonstration TV match between the rapid chess World Champion Viswanathan Anand and Topalov.

2005 EUROPEAN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP DATES SET

2005-04-17T08:02:00.000-05:00

The portal is now open fro application to the 2005 Individual European Championship. Consult the URL:-
http://www.eurochamp.pl/
The Championship will be held from June 17th (day of arrival) until July 3rd (day of departure), 2005 in Warsaw - Zegrze Poludniowe (about 35 km from the Warsaw Airport and 30km from the Warsaw Central Railway Station). The Technical Meeting will take place on June 17th at 8 p.m. at the tournament hall at the Hotel 500, Zegrze Poludniowe, Warszawska 31A
The championship will be 13 rounds, played in the Swiss system in accordance with the ECU Tournament Rules and FIDE Laws of Chess. The playing time will be 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per a move, starting from move 1.
The European Championship is open to all players representing the Chess Federations which comprise the European Chess Union (FIDE zones 1.1 to 1.9) regardless of their title or rating. There is also no limit of participants per federation, however applications have to be sent by the national federations, only.
The European Individual Championship 2005 is a qualification event for the next World Chess Championship. According to the decision passed by the ECU Board, 34 players will qualify for the WCC.
The Guaranteed Total Prize Fund (after the deduction of required payments of around 25.000 Euros to the ECU and to FIDE) is 120.000 Euros. Moreover, the top 10 players with highest ratings will receive all inclusive accommodation in a single room, at the expense of the organizers.
Information courtesy of Bartlomiej Macieja.
//Phil Innes

Kasparov Injured in Political Assault!

2005-04-16T08:14:00.000-05:00

News From Chessbase:

Kasparov assaulted in Moscow16.04.2005 Garry Kasparov was attacked after a meeting with youth activists in Moscow. He was approached by an autograph seeking participant. The young man circled Kasparov and delivered a sharp blow to the head with the chessboard. A Russian news agency places the blame on the pro-Putin organisation Nashi. We spoke to Kasparov
The Russian news agency Interfax news agency quotes Kasparov's advisor Marina Litvinovich, who described the events as follows: Garry Kasparov, co-chair of the Fair Elections 2008 party, was subjected to an attack on Friday night. After a meeting with youth activists in Moscow he was approached by one of the participants with a chessboard. The young man asked the 13th chess world champion for an autograph, but then suddenly went behind Kasparov and delivered a strong blow to Kasparov's head, yelling obscenities as he did os. The attacker was taken out by the people present according to Litvinovich. Kasparov suffered an acute haematoma (Russian gematoma, hemorrhage), but declined to seek immediate medical treatment.
Litvinovich added that Kasparov was meeting with the activists of youth movement in order to discuss tactics and strategy of creating a united democratic front.
Friday, April 15, 22:32h (Moscow time): NEWSru.com is reporting the incident, the first media outlet to do so in Russia. In essence they confirm what we have reported, and place the blame for the incident on a pro-Putin youth movement called "Walking Together" (Nashi), founded by Vasilii Yakemenko. The goal of this new "anti-fascist" movement is to put an end to the "anti-Fatherland union of oligarchs, anti-Semites, Nazis, and liberals." [See: Walking with Putin]. Such incidents are becoming more common in Russia today. Yakemenko has declared war on the "unnatural union of liberals and fascists, occidentophiles and ultras-nationalist, international funds and terrorists that exist today. They are united by only one thing – hatred for Putin. In this situation we will work for the support of Putin and consider those our enemies who do not share his political views". [Full NEWSru report in Russian].
Saturday, April 16, 11:00h (Moscow time): Kasparov's family have confirmed to us that the injury was not serious and that Garry in fact was at the moment attending a meeting. But of course everyone is terrified. Kasparov now has a security detail allocated to him.
Kommersant.com has reported on Kasparov's recent visit to St. Petersburg to lauch the local chapter of his party there. He and State Duma’s deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov officially announced that they would create their own party after all attempts to set up a united democratic party based on the Committee-2008 had come to a standstill. Kasparov said his objective is to get 40 percent in the next State Duma, and to attract all political forces in order to do so:“From the radically right to the radically left, there is a political morass. Our chance to win is to take in everyone." The new party needs a 50,000-member minimum to be registered. [Full Kommersant report]
Chris Major of Mountain View, USA sent us a link to what he calls "by far the best Kasparov interview I've read. It entitled 'Kasparov's secret: great enemies' and appeared in the Australian Financial Review/Harvard Business Review – whod'a thunk? The interviewer was female, maybe that made Garry let loose?"
Another reader named Dave sent us a link to a page describing the symptoms and effects of hematoma. We just hope and assume that in Garry's case it is not subdural.
Saturday, April 16, 14:30h (Moscow time): We spoke to a somewhat grave and subdued Kasparov on the phone, and he confirmed that our reports so far were essentially accurate. We asked him exactly what transpired – was it thugs from the Yakemenko group?
Kasparov: There was no one group that instigated this. There were a number of groups of youth activists who were gathered at the meeting.
Why were you there?
Kasparov: They were gathered to meet me. There was a dialogue between us, I was telling them about my plans, we discussed the current political situation – a normal political meeting. Maybe I was agitating them a little.
Then what happened?
Kasparov: It was quite surprising and shocking. It happened so fast that nobody could intervene. I signed the chessboard for a "fan" and then turned away to talk to another person. He was telling me about his town, and I was looking at a local paper he showed me. Anyway, I had turned my head and this guy simply attacked me.
Didn't you have security?
Kasparov: Yes, there was security, but you know what it is like when you are signing autographs. Everybody crowds around, the security people step back.
The attacker was yelling obscenities, we hear...
Kasparov: Actually his behavior was a clear indication that this was planned. It was a provocation. He was shouting: "Call the police, beat me up, I don't care..." He was obviously counting on two reactions: either we call the police and have him arrested, or we attack him. But in fact we did nothing.
So what happened to him?
Kasparov: Nothing. We got his name, since he was registered for the meeting, but we decided to do nothing. We let him go, at least for the time being.
Now you have arranged special security?
Kasparov: Yes, in the future it will have to be different. But it is difficult to run a political campaign and at the same time avoid physical contact. It is young people, they want to talk to me, tell me things, get my autograph.
And the wound, it is not so serious?
Kasparov: It's very unpleasant, it hurts, but I'm not going to stop.
What are your immediate plans? Do you have more meetings lined up?
Kasparov: There are a few meetings here in Moscow, and then in a week I am heading for the countryside...
A holiday...?
Kasparov: No, to the countryside – rural Russia, for public events.
I understand, like to the Mid-West...
Kasparov: Yeah, exactly, but here it is the "Mid-East", it is all east of Moscow.
Well just be careful, will you.
Kasparov: Yes, obviously. Okay, I will have security, but [hums thoughfully] it is not going to be so easy.
Frederic Friedel

FISCHER FREE

2005-03-23T23:32:00.000-06:00

On Thursday, March 24, 2005, Bobby Fischer will be released from the East Japan Immigration Detention Center in Ushiku, north of Tokyo, and he will drive to Narita Airport, to the east of Tokyo, for onward travel to his new home in Iceland. He will be joined by his fiancée, the women's chess champion of Japan, Ms. Miyoko Watai, who will fly to Iceland with him.
They should be leaving the detention center at 9:00 AM Japan time and arrive at Narita Airport sometime after 10:00 AM. At the airport, we will be trying to give Bobby Fischer a chance to speak to the media sometime between 10:00 AM and 12:00 noon. We hope he will be able to describe his Japanese ordeal and the two decades of harassment by the U.S. government for holding unapproved political views.
When he won the World Chess Championship in 1972 and took the title away from the Soviet Union, this true U.S. national hero showed the world how one freethinking man can defeat any system, no matter how powerful. By going forward, despite U.S. sanctions, with his rematch chess championship against Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1992, he demonstrated that no government can stop a man from freely practicing his art anywhere on this planet. And now, over the past nine months, Bobby Fischer has proven that the individual can withstand the combined forces of the world's mightiest governments, whenever he has justice on his side.
We have witnessed a historic battle.
Bobby Fischer will be flying out of Tokyo's Narita Airport on the Scandinavian Airways flight to Copenhagen that leaves at 12:40 PM on Thursday.

KASPAROV QUITS!!!!!!!!

2005-03-10T22:27:00.000-06:00

Breaking news: Kasparov retires from professional chess 10.03.2005 The winner of Linares and the world's strongest chessplayer, Garry Kasparov, has just announced his retirement from professional chess. His games in Linares are the last in his professional career, that has spanned thirty years, with twenty on the top of the ratings list. Full details to follow.

Linares Tournament Rife with Draws!

2005-03-08T08:49:00.000-06:00

By Lev Khariton
Look at the two positions that happened today, on March 6, 2005. These are the final positions from the games between Leko and Topalov () and Valljeho - Adams(You can find them at any chess site) Incredible! Are these positions drawish? Most unikely. But the top-notch grandmasters probably know better... What should be said is that in certain sports, say, boxing, wrestling and some others in such cases participants are disqualified for one year, two years, sometimes for life for the non-combat behavior. I allow myself to quote what I wrote here exactly one year ago commenting on Linares-2004: "The tournament in Linares this year was one of the most mystic events in recent chess history. It may be, in my view, compared only to the candidates' tournament in Curacao in 1962 when the three Soviet grandmasters (Keres, Petrosian and Geller) actually made a "draw deal" that allowed Petrosian to score the chess Olympus a year later"
Some years ago when Mr.Rentero was organizing the tournaments in Linares, he was very strict about these "grandmaster" draws. I remember that he ruled that in case of such draws grandmasters would have to pay a fine. Where is Senor Rentero now? And who would sponsor such participants next year?
To note: so far Leko has made nine draws.He has passed almost the whole tournament unscathed both by losses and ... wins!

LINARES CHESS TOURNAMENT

2005-03-02T14:21:00.000-06:00

Linares Chess Tournament
(February 23 - March 10 / Linares, SPAIN)
Current standings:
1.- Kasparov +2
2-3 . Anand, Topalov +1
4-5 .Leko, Kasimdzhanov 0
6. Adams -1
7. Vallejo -3

Strongest Players of All Time?

2005-02-26T07:13:00.000-06:00

"From: "Hans Jørgen Lassen"
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 05:36:56 +0100
Local: Fri, Feb 25 2005 8:36 pm
Subject: Question about Rating and Morphy.

In Warriors of the Mind (1989) by Keene and Divinsky an attempt was made to compare the playing strength of masters from different times. But such a project must not be taken too seriously. You have to make a lot of assumptions to establish a basis for you calculations, and in some cases, like Morphy's, the material is rather sparse.
Their final list:
1. Kasparov
2. Karpov
3. Fischer
4. Botvinnik
5. Capablanca
6. Lasker
7. Korchnoi
8. Spasski
9. Smyslov
10. Petrosian
11. Morphy

USCF Moves to Tennessee

2005-02-24T22:31:00.000-06:00

This is from the Nashville City PaperU.S. Chess Federation move seen as economic boon to Midstate
By William Williams, wwilliams@nashvillecitypaper.comFebruary 24, 2005
Chess is now big business in Tennessee.In April, the U.S. Chess Federation-sponsored Scholastic Super Nationals III will take place at Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, bringing 5,000-6,000 student competitors here and potentially pumping millions into the local economy.Last week the federation relocated its offices from New Windsor, N.Y., to temporary space in Crossville. That Tennessee presence, officials say, will bolster the Midstate economy with employee relocations, future events, ancillary businesses, etc.“Our people will be buying houses, renting apartments, shopping — the impact will be in the millions,” said Grant Perks, USCF chief financial officer.Perks said the federation eventually expects to have about 22-25 employees in Crossville. In addition, the group plans to build a permanent home for an estimated $525,000.The facility is to be built on land near Interstate 40 that the Crossville Housing Authority Center is deeding to the federation. The three-acre parcel of commercial land is valued at $264,000. “From a local standpoint, [the move of the headquarters and the April super nationals event] will be a great thing for us,” said Alvin Harris, Nashville-based vice president of The Foundation for Tennessee Chess. Gov. Phil Bredesen has trumpeted the USCF’s headquarters move, according to press secretary Lydia Lenker.“It adds diversity to the job base,” Lenker said of the move.Officials estimate the federation can generate a minimum of $1.5 million annually for the Midstate economy.Harry Sabine, a Crossville attorney and state scholastic coordinator of the Tennessee Chess Association, said landing the USCF headquarters is a matter of “prestige.” “It’s a huge plus to Nashville,” Sabine said, noting that future super national events could be in the offing for Music City.Rob Mitchell, a local insurance agent and member of the U.S. Chess Federation, said the state ranks fourth nationally in the number of scholastic chess players. Many participate in tournaments that can generate revenue for municipalities.“High schools are putting money into chess,” Mitchell said.

Deaths of Chess Players

2005-02-24T14:36:00.000-06:00

I found this information on a web site by Bill Wall. http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/death.htm

Deaths of Chess Players
by Bill Wall

Georgy Agzamov (1954-1986) - Russian GM fell between some rocks at a beach and died
Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) - choked to death on a piece of meat in 1946
Johann Allgaier (1763-1823) - dropsy
Adolf Anderssen (1818-1879) - heart attack
Vladimir Bagirov (1936-2000) - heart attack while playing chess in Finland
Rosendo Balinas (1941-1998) - liver cancer
Curt von Bardeleben (1861-1924) - threw himself out the window of his boarding home at age 63
Thomas Barnes (1825-1874) - too much weight loss at one time
Joseph Blackburne (1841-1924) - heart attack
Claude Bloodgood (1924-2001) - lung cancer while in prison for life
Samuel Boden (1826-1882) - died of typhoid fever
Efim Bogoljubov (1889-1952) - suffered a heart attack after a simultaneous display
Paolo Boi (1528-1598) - poisoned (murdered) in Naples
Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995) - cancer
Louis Bourdonnais (1795-1840) - stroke
Gyula Breyer (1893-1921) - heart disease
Henry Buckle (1821-1862) - typhoid fever
Ricardo Calvo (1943-2002) - esophagus cancer
Jose Capablanca (1888-1942) - died after watching a skittles game at the Manhattan Chess Club in 1942.
Rudolf Charousek (1873-1900) - tuberculosis
Mikhail Chigorin (1850-1908) - diabetes
Edgar Colle (1897-1932) - died after an operation for a gastric ulcer
Arthur Dake (1910-2000) - died in his sleep at age 90
Cecil de Vere (1845-1875) - tuberculosis
A. Deschapelles (1780-1847) - hydropsy
Ed Edmundson (1920-1982) - died of a heart attack while playing chess on a beach in Hawaii
Max Euwe (1901-1981) - heart attack
Janos Flesch (1933-1983) - died in a car wreck in England
Guillermo Garcia (1953-1990) - car wreck
Efim Geller (1925-1998) - cancer
Aivars Gipslis (1937-2000) - stroke while playing chess in Berlin
Karen Grigorian (1947-1989) - suicide by jumping
Nikolai Grigoriev (1895-1938) - appendicitis
Eduard Gufeld (1936-2002) - stroke
Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky (1894-1941) - died in the siege of Leningrad while on a barge
Dawid Janowsky (1868-1927) - tuberculosis
Klaus Junge - German army officer killed in action in 1945.
Paul Keres (1916-1975) - died of a heart attack returning home from a tournament in 1975.
George Koltanowski (1903-2000) - heart failure at the age of 93
Boris Kostic (1887-1963) - blood poisoning from a scratch
Nikolai Krylenko - executed in Stalin's purges in 1938.
Leonid Kubbel (1891-1942) - executed by firing squad in Leningrad
Salo Landau (1903-1944) - gassed by Nazis at a German concentration camp
Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941) - heart attack
Paul Leonhardt (1877-1934) - died of a heart attack while playing chess at a chess club in 1934.
George Mackenzie (1837-1891) - suicide: took an overdose of morphine
Frank Marshall (1877-1944) - died of a heart attack after leaving a chess tournament
Alexander McDonnell (1798-1835) - died of Bright's disease
Edmar Mednis (1937-2002) - pneumonia and cardiac arrest
Vera Menchik (1906-1944) - died in the German bombing of London
Tony Miles (1955-2001) - died in his sleep at age 46; he was diabetic
Johannes Minckwitz (1843-1901) - suicide: threw himself under a train
Paul Morphy (1837-1884) - died of a stroke while taking a cold bath
Miguel Najdorf (1910-1997) - heart attack
Aron Nimzovich (1886-1935) - died of pneumonia
Lembit Oll - suicide by jumping out of the window of his 4th story apartment
Louis Paulsen (1833-1891) - died of diabetes
Julius Perlis (1880-1913) - died in a mountain climb in the Alps in 1913.
Tigran Petrosian (1929-1984) - cancer
Vladimir Petrov (1908-1943) - died in a prison camp in Russia
Harry Pillsbury (1872-1906) - died of syphillis
David Przepiorka (1880-1940) - died in a mass execution outside Warsaw in 1940.
Cecil Purdy (1906-1979) - died of a heart attack while playing chess
Abram Rabinovich (1878-1943) - starvation
Samuel Reshevsky (1911-1992) - heart attack
Richard Reti (1889-1929) - died of scarlet fever
Karl Robatsch (1928-2000) - stomach and throat cancer
Nicholas Rossolimo (1910-1975) - fell from flight of stairs; died of head injuries
Pierre Saint-Amant (1800-1872) - died after a fall from his carriage
Carl Schlechter (1874-1918) - died from pneumonia and starvation
Vladimir Simagin (1919-1968) - died of a heart attack while playing in a tournament
Gideon Stahlberg (1908-1967) - heart attack during the 1967 Leningrad International tournament.
Howard Staunton (1810-1874) - died of a heart attack will writing a chess book
Leonid Stein (1934-1973) - heart attack
Herman Steiner (1905-1955) - heart attack after a California State Championship game
Alexei Suetin (1926-2001) - heart attack after a chess tournament
Mikhail Tal (1936-1992) - kidney failure
Mikhail Tchigorin (1850-1908) - died of diabetes
Karel Treybal - died a victim of the Nazis in 1941.
Alexi Troitzky (1866-1942) - died of starvation during the siege of Leningrad
Abe Turner (1924-1962) - stabbed 9 times in the back by a fellow employee at the Chess Review office
Alvis Vitolins (1938-1997) - suicide by jumping
Daniel Yanovsky (1925-2000) - cancer
Frederick Yates (1884-1932) - died in his sleep from a leak in a faulty gas pipe connection
Alexander Zaitsev - died of thrombosis as a consequence of a leg operation in 1971.
Johann Zukertort (1842-1888) - died of a stroke while playing chess at a London coffee-house
Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) - committed suicide.

Play chess and speak to Zed, the Chess Bot

2005-02-24T12:55:00.000-06:00

Thought you might get a kick out of this. Zed has a mind of his own and eventually learns from conversations. Information you tell him one day will be updated. He then learns that information. Give him a try and tell your friends!
http://demo.vhost.pandorabots.com/pandora/talk?botid=97cfdd9a1e35339a&skin=zed2

Iceland Issues Bobby Fischer a Passport

2005-02-23T22:51:00.000-06:00

Iceland OKs passport for Fischer in JapanThe Associated Press
REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Icelandic immigration authorities agreed Tuesday to grant the former American chess champion Bobby Fischer a special passport for foreigners that would allow him to travel to Western Europe.
Lawmakers in Iceland last week rejected Fischer's citizenship application, prompting his supporters to apply on his behalf for a foreigner's passport.
The document would allow him to travel freely between the 15 Western European countries of the Schengen zone, a region covering much of Western Europe where passports are not required, but not to the United States, said Gudrun Ogmundsdottir, a member of Iceland's Parliament General Committee.
The United States has been seeking Fischer, 61, for more than a decade on charges of violating international sanctions against the former Yugoslavia by playing chess there in 1992.
The former chess champion has been detained in Tokyo since he was arrested six months ago for trying to board a plane to the Philippines with an invalid U.S. passport. Japan has ordered him deported to the United States.
A group of Fischer supporters — some of whom he befriended while in Iceland for his 1972 chess match against Soviet chess champion Boris Spassky — had petitioned the Icelandic government to grant Fischer citizenship.
“Fischer's dispute with the Japanese authorities is first and foremost due to him having been in Japan without a valid passport. This should solve that problem,” said Einar Einarsson, chairman of an Icelandic Bobby Fischer supporters group.
He said Fischer's passport would be ready today.
Ogmundsdottir said she hoped this would allow Japanese authorities to release Fischer.
“If they do not, then it is a question of whether we proceed with citizenship. Citizenship by parliamentary decree is granted twice a year,” Ogmundsdottir said.
The Schengen countries are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

Chess Game Posting

2005-02-23T15:37:00.000-06:00

I recently completed my first online chess game at www.chessworld.net . Unlike most live java scripted games, the pace of this game is much slower. I actually had time to contemplate my moves without the pressure of time. I will post the game below and invite you to play over it yourself and add comments and annotations as you see fit.

[Event www.ChessWorld.net server game]
[Site

1. e2-e4 e7-e5 2. Bf1-c4 c7-c6 3. Ng1-f3 Ng8-f6 4. Nf3-g5 d7-d5 5. exd5 h7-h6 6. dxc6 hxg5 7. cxb7 Bc8xb7 8. O-O Qd8-c7 9. d2-d3 e5-e4 10. g2-g3 Nb8-d7 11. Nb1-d2 Nd7-e5 12. b2-b3 g5-g4 13. Bc1-b2 O-O-O 14. Qd1-e2 Ne5-f3 15. Nd2xf3 gxf3 16. Qe2-e3 Nf6-g4 17. Qe3xa7 Bf8-c5 18. Qa7-a4 Rh8xh2 19. Bb2xg7 Rh2xf2 20. Rf1xf2 Bc5xf2 21. Kg1-f1 Qc7xg3 22. Bc4-e6 Kc8-b8 23. Bg7-e5 Ng4xe5 24. Resigns

robmtchl wins as black

0-1

Welcome To World Of Chess

2005-02-23T13:54:00.000-06:00

This site is intended to become a haven for the lovers of the game of chess and the drinkers of fine coffee. Yes , chess and coffee are linked forever and never shall the twain be seperated. If you know of an upcoming event, please let us know. I am new to blogging so you can help me make this site fun and informative!
And now!

The Game is Afoot!