Here are some pictures from the recognition tonight: https://picasaweb.google.com/SPICEChess/KnightRaidersRecognition
This was what the announcer said:
"The Texas Tech Knight Raiders Chess Teams are the reigning National Collegiate Chess Champions in three different divisions. In only the second year competing in Division I, the Knight Raiders stunned the chess world by winning the College Chess Final Four this past April in Washington, DC.
Now, for the first time in school history, they are also ranked as the number one team in the nation and they are looking forward to defend their titles this year.
The Knight Raiders Head Coach, 4-time World Champion and 5-time Olympic Champion, the first woman to lead a men's division I team to the National Championship, and the first woman to coach the number one ranked team in the nation, our very own Grandmaster Susan Polgar. Let's wish the team luck in their title defense.
Here are your National Champion Texas Tech Knight Raiders!"
Saturday, October 29, 2011
The National Champions Knight Raiders Recognized
1st World Chess Games for Disabled
The 1st World Chess Games for Disabled
Friday, 28 October 2011 14:32
On the 25th of October the first World Chess Games for Disabled (WCGD) began with their official opening ceremony in Dresden, Germany.
With 35 players from 6 nations, some traveled from India and Spain, the WCGD gains international interest and experts call this world championship of all disabilities a forerunner that will influence the history of chess immensely.
Participating in this tournament is a well known chess player: GM Thomas Luther. He is already seen as one of the top players of this tournament and holds a very special position: Luther was appointed as the official "FIDE Adviser Chess for Disabled" at the last FIDE Congress.
5 Round Report
The participants have now played 5 rounds for the title "World Champion of Chess Games for Disabled" and they give each other very little. Draws are given little and the chess players all do their very best. No wonder, as some have taken a long journey and many hardships upon themselves to take part in this tournament. Players from India (Amarnath Inaganti) and Uzbekistan (Amrillo Abdullayev and Ziyoda Kuchkarova), and a large Russian delegation and many players from Europe, like Italy (Michele Visco, and Marco Grudina Ottavi Fini) and Spain (Andres Rey Taboada), gathered in Dresden.
Not always everything goes without problems. For example, when Thomas Rudolph a Dresdner and wheelchair users had to adjust to the unusual game against the blind Hans Jagdhuber. His opponent had a time problem because a helper had to announce all the moves Rudolph made yet the time was running down and this brought Jagdhuber in distress for the entire game. But the problem has been fixed for future games and up to now there have not been any greater conflicts. On first place is still the Grand Master Thomas Luther from Germany andcontinues to defend his rank against chess friends from the German Deaf Association, with Sergei Salov, and the Russian delegation, with Andrei Obodchuk, who are with him in the top group.
Now there are only 2 rounds until the end of the tournament and to the final decision. It continues to be an exciting tournament.
www.fide.com
Interview with Tigran L Petrosian and
For the full Tigran L. Petrosian Interview along with an interactive board, please visit William's website.
Tigran L. Petrosian is a 27 year old Armenian grandmaster with a current FIDE ELO of 2649 making him the 98th highest rated player in the world. “His first name was deliberately chosen by his father to match the name of the former world champion Tigran V. Petrosian who was also of Armenian descent. It happened that, when the late Tigran won the world title, Tigran’s father dreamt that if he ever had a son he would call him Tigran.” His performance really started to take off in 2002 when he won the U18 Armenian championship and won 2nd place in the World U-20 championship in 2004. These days Petrosian is rapidly rising him making him a prime candidate to break the 2700 barrier.
Tigran L Petrosian vs. GM Pavel Smirnov – Moscow Aeroflot Open, 2006
The Interview - Excerpt
What is next in your chess career?
In the next 10-15 years I am planning to play in many tournaments, gain more ELO rating (make it more then 2700)
Who is your favorite player and why?
Right now I don’t have any favorite player, but from the World Champions I prefer games by Cabablanca, Kasparov, and Petrosian. And now I am supporting Aronian firstly because I am Armenian, and because I know him personally and also because of his brilliant games and unusual style in chess.
Follow William for fresh daily updates: Follow @OnlineChessLessWilliam Stewart is a National Master. He specializes in Online Chess Tutoring and maintains a daily updated Chess Blog
For the full Tigran L. Petrosian Interview along with an interactive board, please visit William's website.
Tania Sachdev starts on winning note
Tania Sachdev starts on winning note in National Women's chess
PTI | Oct 29, 2011, 09.40PM IST
CHENNAI
Former National champion and IM Tania Sachdev defeated seasoned campaigner Bhagyashree Thipsay in 32 moves to earn full points in the Velammal 38th National Women Premier Chess Championship on Saturday.
Spearheaded by defending champion and WGM Sowmya Swaminathan of Pune, the championship has attracted nine WGMs, one IM, three WIMs and five WFMs.
The event, to be played under an 11-round Swiss System, carries a prize fund of Rs 2,50,000 with the winner getting a handsome purse of Rs 75000.
In the first round matches played on Saturday, all the higher rated players had a smooth sailing, except for Orissa WGMs Padmini Rout and Kiran Monisha Mohanty, who were held to draws by Tamil Nadu youngsters J Saranya and A Akshaya respectively.
In the lone upset of the day, Andhra youngster Pratyusha Bodda outsmarted WGM and defending champion Swaminathan. At the end of the first round, as many as 13 players share the lead with one full point.
Sachdev, top seed in the event, faced veteran WGM Thipsay on the top table. She employed the Queens Gambit and opted for a sharp game by castling on the opposite wings.
With forceful play on the 13th move, she forced Thipsay on the backfoot and duly won a pawn. With Black struggling to get her counterplay going on the queenside, Sachdev cleverly blocked the play using her minor pieces and pawns and soon initiated a vicious attack on the Black king.
Sachdev won the game in fine style by sacrificing her Queen on the 32nd move, which forced instant resignation as it was leading to a checkmate.
More here.
Bulgarian school puts chess on the curriculum
Bulgarian school puts chess on the curriculum
Pupils playing chess at the Eurostandard High School in Sofia
Eastern Europe | 29.10.2011
In a classroom on the top floor of the Eurostandard High School in central Sofia, a group of pupils are laying out chess sets ready for their next lesson.
At the beginning of the school year, these pupils became the first in Europe to take chess classes as an obligatory subject. It's a pilot project initiated in partnership with the European Chess Union. The program is designed to promote chess among young people throughout Europe.
"We care about our children of the new generation in Europe, so of course we want to give them the best, that's why we need to promote chess," Boyko Hristov from the European Chess Union told Deutsche Welle. "That's why our partnership became a reality."
Privileged few
The children at Eurostandard are the lucky ones. It's a private high school, which specializes in preparing elite students for careers in banking, finance and insurance. There are just 50 pupils, aged 14 to 18.
Hristov hopes this school will be the first of many. He said the Bulgarian Ministry of Education has expressed an interest in introducing chess classes in the public school system, but there's one major stumbling block.
"Of course, the Bulgarian state has to find the money to promote chess in our schools," Hristov acknowledged.
The state would also have to find space for chess in the national curriculum. Currently, Bulgarian children have three hours of physical education a week. Hristov has suggested that the third hour could be lent to chess lessons. He sees chess as a kind of exercise for the brain.
"We treat chess like a sport, not just like a game. It really is a sport, because we train our muscles, but our brain is part of our body, the same as our muscles. It just has a different function," said Hristov. "There's a lot of research which shows if you train your brain, it will be in good condition for longer."
In Bulgaria, the National Olympic Committee has even been fighting for chess to be recognized as an Olympic sport.
Winning support from Brussels
In September, the European Chess Union presented their program for "chess in schools" to the European Parliament. Apparently it was received with "great interest."
However, chess is already a popular pastime in eastern Europe. In the Balkans, children are taught to play at a young age. In Bulgaria, great chess players like Veselin Topalov have become national heroes.
By contrast, in western Europe, there is less of a tradition of chess playing. It may be harder to convince schools in countries like France and Germany of the need to treat chess as anything more than a hobby.
The European Chess Union would argue that chess is an important tool for developing strategic thinking, logic and concentration skills among all youngsters. At the Eurostandard High School, two 17-year-olds give their thoughts on the subject.
"I like it as an idea in school because chess is developing your thinking skills and your mental condition," explained Stefan. "It's great to play in school."
"It's a great idea because it exercises your brain," said Christian. "But I don't like it personally. It's OK for entertainment."
Author: Joanna Impey, Sofia
Editor: Martin Kuebler
Source: http://www.dw-world.de
Separating the good from the great
Practice Doesn't Always Make Perfect, Study Suggests
With chess players, other variables -- like memory, high IQ -- might separate the good from the great
October 29, 2011
SATURDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Practice is an essential part of gaining excellence in a specific skill, but to become truly great other qualities must come into play, such as IQ or working memory, according to researchers who studied how practice affects the success of chess players.
For the study, published in the October issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, the researchers also considered earlier research and noted that practicing harder or longer doesn't compensate for the lack of other important traits relevant to a certain activity.
The study authors pointed out that there is a theory that people will do better in areas such as sports, music and chess if they practice more.
"But the thing is, of the people that achieved the master level, there are people that achieved it in 3,000 hours. Other people did, like, 30,000 hours and achieved the same level. And there are even people that practiced more than 30,000 hours and didn't achieve this," Guillermo Campitelli, a researcher at Edith Cowan University in Joondalup, Australia, said in a news release from the Association for Psychological Science.
In reviewing previous research on how practice affects musicians, Campitelli and his colleague noted that musicians who are better at sight-reading have better working memory, or the ability to keep relevant pieces of information active in their minds.
When it comes to chess, however, the qualities that help some players become the best have not yet been identified, although the researchers suggested that the top chess players may have a higher IQ than the general population.
The investigators also found that 82 percent of adult chess players are right-handed, compared with 90 percent of the general population. They suggested this could signal a discrepancy in brain development that enhances spatial skills in some people, allowing them to excel at chess.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about how the brain works.
Source: http://health.usnews.com
Special recognition for the Knight Raiders and SPICE
The National Champions Knight Raiders and SPICE will be recognized at the Texas Tech football game versus Iowa State tonight in front of 60,000 fans! More than 20 members of the Knight Raiders and SPICE will be at midfield to be recognized. Go Tech!
Re-drafting sports fans. NSU vs. ODU in chess? Yes!
NSU vs. ODU in chess? Yes!
October 29, 2011
As part of the run-up to the March 2nd & 3rd Virginia Queens All-Girl State Championship, Old Dominion University made a bid to host and formed a university chess club with Chess Author, Dr. Ray Cheng.
The club took off, but the university had no space available for our event weekend so Norfolk State University took up the torch and is carrying it all the way.
NSU will host the Queens Championship with GM Susan Polgar who will play a simul and blindfolded exhibition (for more on that see www.NICEchess.net).
I just got the word that as of this week NSU has officially re-formed its chess club with Dr. Yuri Barnakov. The first note I got from Yuri casually mentioned was, “I believe ODU now has a chess team and we could play them.” Uh-huh. Anybody besides me catch a whiff of brimstone on the air? This is going to get interesting since ODU’s new football team has eclipsed the NSU team in the papers for coverage. Somebody, somewhere is going to figure out that a battle of wits among universities could actually mean something more than how fast you run or how hard you physically hit.
I read somewhere that parents send their kids to college to get an education, improve critical thinking, visualization and memory function so they can excel and provide for their families and communities. Showing you have great minds on your campus could just catch on.
Here at ODU, football has taken over the hearts of local fans (I live within shouting distance of Foreman Field deep in the heart of blue and silver territory and whoop with the best of ‘em), but I believe chess is about to take over their minds.
Ok, maybe most sports fans don’t know anything about chess, but they know about sports and how to be fans. Let’s start there.
So the next step (shhhh come closer to the screen because this is a chess secret that has been too well kept) is to get them informed and amped about their schools’ new sport – chess. Nobody outside the chess community knows chess is a sport. This goes for the sports section reporters as well as the potential fans.
I think we need blitz games. Clocks slamming. Skittles areas where (and I am just guessing the origins here, you can have beer with skittles and watch with interest).
Yes chess is serious, but when Fischer played the whole world gathered in pubs and byways to follow the thrilling action. If fans can follow the rules of football, rugby and even Australian football (my personal favorite) then chess is not an impossible challenge.
I want to make our current chess stars into public superstars again. Never again should a championship chess team take a backseat to a losing football team on campus. If our culture wants to worship winners then it’s time to worship the real gladiators, the ones who are not getting brain damage from hitting the turf too often. In the process maybe other teams will improve their strategic thinking as they follow our players.
GAMING the GAME: What would be really awesome and cross-sports-cultural would be if some bright young game designer would make a program for chess with characters representing each piece and hook it to an electronic playing board. Each move would play out like a battle to which new fans can relate.
That way we could have big screens in the skittles areas, or on campus for a local feed into the student centers where fans could see their intellectual gladiators hack and slash and fight in real time in their school colors and virtual uniforms.
Spectators would all have to learn to play chess in order to follow and once they understand what they are seeing the level of respect and championing goes up.
Seriously, if Wii can turn you into a tiger cub how difficult could this be to create?
Meanwhile, I look forward to seeing the first clash of intellectual titans on traditional boards from NSU and ODU. The ODU team has been volunteering with my students at Lamberts Point and have found a place in my heart for that, but i am going over to NSU to meet their team and I can’t play favorites. This is going to be interesting.
I will begin posting individual player profiles here for each team. maybe I’ll find a cartoonist to gameize them for their profile pics? Hmmm. Stay tuned for details on matches and other competitions.
–Lisa Suhay
Chess In Schools in Israel - A progress report
Mr. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
FIDE President
Chess In Schools in Israel - A progress report
Dear Mr. President,
Since your visit to Israel and your very important and crucial meeting in Jerusalem on December 19th 2010 with Mr. Shoshani the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Education a substantial progress has been done in the project that has become one of the priority projects of the Israel Chess Federation.
Your actual financial support enabled us to overcome several common bureaucratic obstacles.
Detailed negotiations with the Ministry officials have ended by signing an official contract between the Chess Federation and the Ministry of Education. Following that contract we met with local municipalities (all of them in the periphery) in order to decide where to start the chess in school project which was defined –during the 1st year - as "pilot project" (it was agreed that based on the success of the "pilot", the project will be tripled during the 2nd year).
Due to the importance of the project, the Managing Director of the Israel Chess Federation and a special skilled project manager are running the project.
During 2011- 2012 school year the project will be operated among pupils of the 2nd grade in 10 local municipalities all of them are in the periphery. Among the 10 municipalities, 3 are Arab municipalities (1 in the south among the Beduines-the project there already started and has received compliments due to its uniqueness and the unprecedented phenomena and 2 in the north of the country).
In several municipalities we have started our activity by training special chess instructors (many of them are students in the universities).
Now while the holidays season among the Jewish population in Israel is over we shall start our activities in the classes (among the non Jewish we already started). November 6th was set up as the official opening day of the Chess in Schools project. The chess lessons will last until the end of the school year on June 30th 2012.
Altogether we shall teach chess in 120 2nd grade classes - that will be considered by the Ministry of Education as "pilot" .
Dear Mr. President, we are very proud that together with you and the Ministry of Education we are able to run such an important project.
We are looking forward to enlarging the scope of the project with Fide and the Ministry of Education (that based on the success of the pilot has already committed itself to triple the project).
Thank you again, Mr. President, for your initiative and support.
Yours Sincerely,
Yigal Lotan, Adv
General Manager
Download the letter here
FIDE Congress and Executive Board in Krakow
FIDE CONGRESS AND EXECUTIVE BOARD
Krakow 20th-21st October 2011
FIDE held its 82nd Congress in Krakow between the 20th and 21st of October 2011, hosted by the Malopolska Chess Federation.
The President, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, opened the proceedings by thanking Mr Kusina and the Malopolska Chess Federation for organizing and hosting the event. He then gave a speech in which he unfolded his vision for the future of FIDE, particularly concentrating on Chess in Schools and advising that he had gained sponsorship of $1,000,000 per year for the next three years for the various Chess in Schools projects. He also listed many countries he had visited since the Khanty Mansiysk Olympiad in which he had discussed Chess in Schools with Presidents and other senior government officials. He reported on the Commission on Modernisation meeting that was held in Moscow, where he said that great progress had been made. Rapid and Blitz ratings will be calculated from 1st January 2012.
The FIDE President announced that David Jarrett had resigned as Executive Director, but would not be lost to FIDE as he would be dealing with special projects, especially the revision of FIDE Statutes and Handbook. He thanked David Jarrett for all the hard work and said that it was because of him that FIDE finances were now in order and transparent. He appointed David Jarrett as an Honorary Member of FIDE. He appointed Nigel Freeman as the new Executive Director.
Three new members (Comoros Islands, Guam and Swaziland) were elected, which takes the total membership to 175.
There was a long discussion regarding the large legal fees incurred in 2010, during which the President gave background information on the history of the cases. He expressed the wish that more money should be spent on chess in the future, rather than on lawyers.
The Deputy President, Georgios Makropoulos, as Chairman of the World Championship and Olympiad Commission brought the Board up to date on the various World Championship and Olympiad matters. The contract between FIDE and the Tromso Organising Committee for the 2014 Olympiad was signed.
The Board received the reports of the various Commissions and expressed satisfaction with the new system of core members and of the hard work undertaken by them. Details of what was approved will be soon found on the FIDE website. Several of the various proposals were either withdrawn or referred to the Istanbul General Assembly. There was agreement that those Commissions that had held meetings prior to the Congress were able to deal with their work in a more efficient manner.
The World Youth Championships 2013 were awarded to Al Ain, UAE and those for 2014 to Durban, South Africa. The World Amateur Championship 2013 was awarded to Iasi, Romania and the World Cities 2012 was awarded to Al Ain, UAE.
Michael Jackson Self-Injected Fatal Drug, Defense Expert Says
Murray's lawyers long have asserted that Jackson caused his own death, although the expert, Dr. Paul White, says he had backed away from an earlier theory that Jackson drank the anesthesia propofol after determining that orally consumed propofol has little effect.
Instead, White told the jury, in Jackson's last minutes of consciousness, the sleepless superstar took several pills of the powerful sedative lorezepan and then injected the propofol.
"You think it was a self-injection of propofol between 11:30 and 12?'' defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan asked.
"In my opinion, yes," White responded.
Murray's involuntary manslaughter case should go to the jury next week, after the prosecution cross-examines White who, like the prosecution's star witness, Dr. Steven Shafer, is an anesthesiologist and propofol expert.
But Jackson's family, which has attended trial every day, wasted no time denying that Michael was responsible for his own death. His sister La Toya Tweeted: "MICHAEL DID NOT KILL HIMSELF!!! HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT!!!!!!"
Prosecution witnesses say Murray not only gave too much propofol, he also failed to properly monitor Jackson, botched CPR and waited too long to call 911 – issues White did not address.
Legal analyst Stan Goldman says he believes the prosecution has proven Murray was negligent, but still might not win a conviction if at least some jurors believe White may be right.
"I think getting a not guilty is an incredible long-shot and even a hung jury is unlikely, but if White can survive cross-examination, it gives the defense some hope that didn’t exist before," says Goldman, a Loyola Law School professor who has been in the courtroom.
"Even though the defense won't persuade the jury that Murray wasn’t negligent, if the jury thinks Jackson may have taken the drugs himself, Murray has a chance of not being convicted."
Friday, October 28, 2011
Chess is like life in one sense
Lennox Lewis receives honorary degree at Laurier convocation
- Fri Oct 28 2011
WATERLOO — Landon Lewis took the ceremonial tam from his dad Lennox and plunked it on his head.
The purple hat looked like a large heliotrope umbrella on a seven-year-old’s noggin. On dad? The same tam looked like a small, wide-brimmed skull cap on the 46-year-old Kitchener-grown behemoth of boxing.
Everyone laughed in the corridor of the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex as Pomp and Circumstance began to play on Friday afternoon.
“This is the reason I’m bringing him to this kind of event,” said Lennox Lewis, before the last great heavyweight boxing champ the world may ever know received an honorary doctor of laws degree at the fall convocation of Wilfrid Laurier University.
“So he can actually see his father accepting his honorary degree and see him in a different light than in the ring.”
Lewis is seven-years retired from the world of boxing now.
He escaped with his dignity and his priorities after winning all that there was to win, including an Olympic gold medal for Canada in 1988.
Now, the British-born Lewis is rich beyond the dreams that he held competing in football, basketball, track and wrestling at Cameron Heights high school.
It’s not that he’s worth an estimated $150-million or that he lives in Miami and Jamaica.
His true wealth rests in his family.
Remember when once-fearsome foe Mike Tyson threatened to eat the champ’s children before being demolished in the ring by Lewis?
Tyson better have an appetite.
Lewis, a kid who grew up without a dad, expects to be a father of four come Christmas.
His wife Violet, a former Jamaican beauty queen, is expecting. Their daughters, Ling and Leya, are five and two respectively.
“I love the fact I have time for my kids,” said Lewis, who was mentored as a teen by his Kitchener trainer, the late Arnie Boehm. “They have such young minds. And they depend on their father and mother for information. I’m glad to be there for them.”
Landon held hands with his grandma Violet Blake, who had purple streaks in her hair, as the procession worked its way into the main arena, where 1,150 Laurier students were up for graduation on Friday.
Laurier’s new chancellor Michael Lee-Chin, a wealthy philanthropist like Lewis, gave a purple-robed Lewis his doctorate. Lewis later introduced his mom, son and niece to the crowd. Lewis, who used to play basketball with the Laurier hoopsters as a teen, wants his kids to graduate from university one day.
“They’re excelling already,” he said. “My son is very intuitive, inquisitive. At his age, he’s learning to play chess. Me and him play chess as many times as possible.”
Boxing was the sweet science to Lewis. He was a thinking-man’s heavyweight who could outsmart opponents as well as knock them out.
His ascension to becoming the last in a long line of boxing monarchs has been one long chess game. Lots of thinking between moves. Lots of strategy between bouts.
“Chess is like life in one sense,” he said. “You make a move in life, you have to make sure it’s the right move. You have to make sure you are protected and it has to be a positive move.”
Do something positive and give back, Lewis told the new graduates.
His boy Landon listened intently too.
“Education and knowledge are the tools,” Lewis said.
This was a much different ring where fists could not talk. Lewis looked comfortable in it.
His mom still had a front-row seat.
“I’m glad she’s had the opportunity to come here,” he said.
“And see her son in such a great light.”
Source: http://www.therecord.comGuramishvili wins title
Guramishvili wins title, Medina nails WIM norm
The championship title of the Japfa International Grandmaster chess event went to Woman Grand Master (WGM) Sopiko Guramishvili of Georgia, but local hopeful Medina Wardah Aulia still ended the six-day tournament on Friday in Jakarta with her head held high.
The young Indonesian chess talent defeated WGM Jana Krivec of Slovenia in the final of 10-round competition to collect five points overall, which won her a Woman International Master (WIM) norm.
The WIM norm is the first stage into obtaining a full WIM title. “It is her first WIM norm,” said Kristianus Liem, an Indonesian Chess Association (Percasi) official in charge of development affairs.
The double round-robin competition, in which all six women’s players — three Indonesians and three foreigners — faced each other twice, was one of 11 divisions played in the sixth Japfa Chess Festival.
It was a surprise win for Medina over Krivec, given the fact that the Indonesian player had an Elo rating of 2112 compared to Slovenian’s 2290.
In the final standings, Guramishvili was in first place with six and a half points, followed by Krivec’s six points, Russian WGM Anna Burtasova’s five and a half points, Medina’s five points, WIM Chelsie Monica Sihite’s four and a half points and Dewi Aa Citra’s two and a half points.
Kristianus said the home players, who were members of the Indonesian team preparing for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), had begun the tournament with equal chances to shine.
“Chelsie has the potential to raise her norm after the tournament because she was stable during the event. Medina and [Dewi] Citra were stable, too, but surprisingly, Medina made it to the end,” he said.
Kristianus hoped players’ game experience would boost their fighting morale for the SEA Games, to be hosted in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra, from Nov. 11–22.
“The chess festival was the final tryout for our national players before heading to Palembang,” he said, adding that the team was scheduled to fly to Palembang on Nov. 2.
Indonesia will send 14 players, comprising eight men and six women, in a mission to win two of its goal of 15 gold medals in the Games.
Grand Master (GM) Susanto Megaranto, the men’s team ace, won the Open category.
Indonesian chess patron GM Utut Adianto said that the six-strong women’s competition, which was the new format created in six years of Japfa Chess Festival organization, was expected to shape up Indonesian players’ chess games.
“We organized the event based on our urgency of need. We used to hold matches between the top two players. We saw that such matches do not have the same urgency anymore. We have three young women’s players and we need to develop them through competitive fields. That’s why we held a tournament by inviting three players from foreign countries,” said Utut, who is becoming a lawmaker.
The Japfa Chess Festival was held a week after the US$55,500 Indonesia Open, which featured 35 foreign players from 20 countries among the participants.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com
I want him to be a grandmaster
Windsor's budding chess star, 8, going to world championships
By Dalson Chen, The Windsor Star
Pregnant Man Thomas Beatie Introduces Kids
Thomas Beatie, who shot to fame after becoming the first known legal man to become pregnant and give birth, will appear with his three children and his wife, Nancy, on Monday's The Doctors to talk about life in a non-traditional family.
Beatie began life as a woman and legally switched to a male identity, while preserving his female reproductive organs. He made headlines in 2007 after pictures of his bearded face and pregnant belly became public.
Beatie will talk about how people have reacted to the transgendered dad and his family – which includes daughter Susan and sons Austin and Jensen – and also discusses the medical complications that come from years of hormone treatments and bearing three children.
Another problem? Beatie says he's struggled with body-after-baby, and seeks help from the doctors on how to snap back into shape after three kids.
He also may never be a pregnant man again: Beatie reveals he's thinking about getting a hysterectomy.
By Sara Hammel
Obsessions: Tripping on Hunter S. Thompson
- Everyone who tries to emulate Thompson's Gonzo genius falls short to a certain extent
- "The Rum Diary" is supposed to be Thompson finding his path to self destruction
- We don't know how much of "The Rum Diary" he composed in the late '50s
However, if I had ever had the chance to meet Hunter S. Thompson, a real acid pro, my fantasy is that during a brief conversation in which he got to know me a little bit I'd feel comfortable asking him at the end of our talk: Do you think I could handle acid?
Even after I regaled him with the story of when friends of mine tried it in college, then wandered around the New York Botanical Gardens and invented the rock n' roll backpack -- which is a standard backpack with a radio boombox in it -- he would say no, you personally shouldn't take LSD, you suppressed malcontent. Hopefully, this would all just sound like a sort of guttural gesture, because that would be subtle enough.
There's a definite chance that not only would HST think I couldn't handle the drugs, but he might hate me entirely. I can't imagine someone who covered the Hells Angels, shark fishing competitions, got to threaten the life of the man he hated more than anyone else on Earth (Richard Nixon) and helped get Jimmy Carter elected president enjoying the company of me, a person who basically gets paid to tweet for a living?
I am not alone in my enduring fascination with Thompson. Today the movie about the novel Thompson started writing in 1959 at the age of 22-years-old, "The Rum Diary" starring Johnny Depp, will be released. The film offers plenty of opportunities to remember the renegade journalist, such as Jann Wenner's recent piece titled "Hunter S Thompson Was My Brother in Arms."
I get the continued curiosity. And while it's fine that I can't write or take drugs like Thompson, I actually did try to be like him once.
In 2008, after reading "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved," the piece in which he invented Gonzo journalism, I wrote a three-part series for Yahoo! Sports called "The Odyssey To The Infield" in which I attended all three legs of the Triple Crown Of Thoroughbred Racing in person. My experience was maniacal enough, but I wrote in a style that was caught up in the decadence and truly ignoring of the depraved.
I too overindulged in gambling, alcohol, and some frat boy misogyny, took a full can of beer projectile to the collar bone and hung around women in fancy dress that were too blind drunk to know that they were knee deep in mud. Yet with all that I still couldn't capture his frenetic style.
I was impressed by my own momentum but could never let it come unhinged, and if HST himself read this report he would probably be nauseous at how upbeat it was.
It's cool that I failed, because everyone who tries to emulate his Gonzo genius falls short to a certain extent.
Recently, when she thrust herself into the annals of The Gathering Of The Juggalos, Emma Carmichael from Deadspin wrote an excellent analysis on the currency of women's breasts at the debauched music and arts festival held in some back corner of southern Illinois (see: "Dropping In On The Demented Utopia Of The Gathering Of The Juggalos").
It was fine Gonzo reporting; she had the Juggalo clown make-up and everything, but ended up with the determination that she couldn't be one of these people. I can't help but wonder if Thompson fraternized with the crazies on the aptly named "drug bridge" at The Gathering if we would have ended up making them his people -- and then they probably would have set off many, many explosives together.
I suspect "The Rum Diary" will be released to mixed reviews. I wager most of the criticism will be directed at the fact that 48-year-old Depp is attempting to play a 23-year-old. And the Thompson fans who see the film will get the subtext that this book is supposed to be Thompson on the brink of finding his path to self-destruction.
A time in his life when fear and loathing was just the fear. It was a time, pre- Nixon, when Thompson pictured himself writing books of varying degrees of madness, and not necessarily covering political campaigns of varying degrees of mad politicians.
We don't know how much of "The Rum Diary" he composed in the late '50s and how much he wrote later on (the novel wasn't actually published until 1998), but I like to think that whatever was written by early-20s Thompson was written by a guy that already believed strongly in the notion that his own career momentum should take him down the path of madness, for better or worse.
Something that would be more awesome than meeting Thompson and having him insult me and write me off like one of the debauched hack journalists in "The Rum Diary," would be meeting him and having him love me.
Maybe he'd like that I work at job where I get to post stuff like Photos Of Hunter S. Thompson Partying and supercut video of people doing Hunter S. Thompson impressions?
Maybe Hunter would even like Twitter? As Johnny Depp said earlier this week, "He was a very gentle guy. Hyper, hypersensitive, hence the self-medication."
Maybe I could get a cool Thompson nickname like Depp, who Thompson called "The Colonel."
Of course, if he liked me, we might end up dropping acid together and developing fuel-intake technology for the rock n' roll backpack. And then there's a good chance I'd lose my mind.
By Mike Hayes, Special to CNN
Cardinals beat Rangers for World Series crown
Cardinals beat Rangers for World Series crown
"I wish everybody in the country could get to know these guys," Craig said. "It's unbelievable. I'm just glad to be a part of it."
No Rally Squirrel needed on this night, either. Fireworks and confetti rang out at Busch Stadium when Jason Motte retired David Murphy on a fly ball to end it.
This marked the ninth straight time the home team had won Game 7 in the World Series. The wild-card Cardinals held that advantage over the AL West champions because the NL won the All-Star game -- Texas could blame that on their own pitcher, C.J. Wilson, who took the loss in July.
The Rangers, meanwhile, will spend the whole winter wondering how it all got away. Texas might dwell on it forever, in fact, at least until Nolan Ryan & Co. can reverse a World Series slide that started with last year's five-game wipeout against San Francisco.
Texas had not lost consecutive games since last August. These two defeats at Busch Stadium cost manager Ron Washington and the Rangers a chance to win their first title in the franchise's 51-year history.
A year full of inspiring rallies and epic collapses was encapsulated in Game 6. Freese was the star, with a tying triple in the ninth and a winning home run in the 11th. His two RBIs in the clincher gave him a postseason record 21.
The Cardinals won their first championship since 2006, and gave La Russa his third World Series title. They got there by beating Philadelphia in the first round of the NL playoffs, capped by Carpenter outdueling Roy Halladay 1-0 in the deciding Game 5, and then topping Milwaukee in the NL championship series.
By the time Yadier Molina drew a bases-loaded walk from starter Matt Harrison and Rafael Furcal was hit by a pitch from Wilson in relief, the crowd began to sense a championship was near.
The Cardinals improved to 8-3 in Game 7s of the Series, more wins than any other club. Yet fans here know their history well, and were aware this game could go either way -- Dizzy Dean and the Gas House Gang won 11-0 in 1934, but Whitey Herzog and his Cardinals lost 11-0 in 1985.
On this evening, though, all the stars aligned.
Starting in place of injured Matt Holliday, Craig hit his third homer of the Series and made a leaping catch at the top of the left field wall. Molina made another strong throw to nail a stray runner. And Carpenter steeled himself to pitch into the seventh, every bit an ace.
Albert Pujols went 0 for 2, walked and was hit by a pitch in what could have been his last game with the Cardinals. Many think the soon-to-be free agent will remain in St. Louis.
Either way, he provided an image that will certainly last a long time in this town. As he scored on Freese's double, Pujols thrust both arms high in the air as he reached the plate.
Besides, Pujols already had done enough damage. His three-homer job in Game 3 was the signature performance of his career and perhaps the greatest hitting show in postseason history.
Dismissed by some as a dull Series even before it began because it lacked the big-market glamour teams, it got better inning by inning.
Craig hit a solo home run in the third, an opposite field fly to right that carried into the Cardinals bullpen and got their relievers dancing. The super-sub put St. Louis ahead 3-2 with his third homer of the Series. He was in the lineup only because Holliday sprained his right wrist on a pickoff play a night earlier and was replaced on the roster.
By then, the largest crowd at 6-year-old Busch Stadium was buzzing. The fans seemed a bit drained much earlier, maybe worn out from the previous night.
They grew hush in the first when Hamilton and Michael Young hit consecutive RBI doubles. Texas might have gotten more, but Ian Kinsler strayed too far off first base and was trapped by Molina's rocket throw.
Freese changed the mood in a hurry as St. Louis tied it in the bottom half. Pujols and Lance Berkman drew two-out walks and pitching coach Mike Maddux trotted to the mound while Freese stepped in to a standing ovation.
Freese rewarded his family and a ballpark full of new friends by lining a full-count floater to the wall in left center for a two-run double. Pujols raised both arms as he crossed the plate -- another frozen moment, courtesy of Freese. Harrison was in trouble, and Wilson began warming up after only 23 pitches.
Carpenter wasn't sharp at the outset, either. All over the strike zone, he started seven of the first 10 batters with balls. Pitching coach Dave Duncan made a visit in the second to check on the tall righty, lingering for a few extra words.
European Team Chess Championship participants (women)
Official website / Live games / Reports
Participants / Results / Standings
ETCC participants (women)
| |||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | |||||
| 1 | GM | Kosintseva Nadezhda | 2560 | ||||
| 2 | GM | Kosintseva Tatiana | 2536 | ||||
| 3 | IM | Gunina Valentina | 2499 | ||||
| 4 | WGM | Pogonina Natalija | 2446 | ||||
| 5 | GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2469 | ||||
| |||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | |||||
| 1 | GM | Lahno Kateryna | 2554 | ||||
| 2 | IM | Gaponenko Inna | 2445 | ||||
| 3 | IM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2456 | ||||
| 4 | GM | Zhukova Natalia | 2416 | ||||
| 5 | IM | Ushenina Anna | 2462 | ||||
| |||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | |||||
| 1 | GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2525 | ||||
| 2 | IM | Javakhishvili Lela | 2464 | ||||
| 3 | IM | Khurtsidze Nino | 2440 | ||||
| 4 | WGM | Paikidze Nazi | 2412 | ||||
| 5 | IM | Melia Salome | 2396 | ||||
| |||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | |||||
| 1 | GM | Danielian Elina | 2517 | ||||
| 2 | IM | Mkrtchian Lilit | 2476 | ||||
| 3 | IM | Galojan Lilit | 2389 | ||||
| 4 | WGM | Kursova Maria | 2315 | ||||
| 5 | WGM | Aginian Nelly | 2263 | ||||
| |||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | |||||
| 1 | GM | Hoang Thanh Trang | 2446 | ||||
| 2 | IM | Madl Ildiko | 2399 | ||||
| 3 | WGM | Rudolf Anna | 2359 | ||||
| 4 | WGM | Gara Ticia | 2375 | ||||
| 5 | IM | Gara Anita | 2340 | ||||
| |||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | |||||
| 1 | GM | Socko Monika | 2490 | ||||
| 2 | WIM | Toma Katarzyna | 2283 | ||||
| 3 | WGM | Zawadzka Jolanta | 2339 | ||||
| 4 | WGM | Majdan-Gajewska Joanna | 2386 | ||||
| 5 | WGM | Szczepkowska-Horowska Karina | 2353 | ||||
| |||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | |||||
| 1 | IM | Paehtz Elisabeth | 2461 | ||||
| 2 | WGM | Michna Marta | 2396 | ||||
| 3 | WIM | Ohme Melanie | 2344 | ||||
| 4 | WGM | Levushkina Elena | 2324 | ||||
| 5 | WIM | Hoolt Sarah | 2286 | ||||
| |||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | |||||
| 1 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2528 | ||||
| 2 | WGM | Voiska Margarita | 2336 | ||||
| 3 | WGM | Djingarova Emilia | 2309 | ||||
| 4 | WGM | Nikolova Adriana | 2268 | ||||
| 5 | WGM | Videnova Iva | 2314 | ||||
| |||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | |||||
| 1 | IM | Foisor Cristina-Adela | 2416 | ||||
| 2 | WGM | L’ami Alina | 2368 | ||||
| 3 | WGM | Cosma Elena-Luminita | 2331 | ||||
| 4 | WIM | Bulmaga Irina | 2304 | ||||
| 5 | WGM | Voicu-Jagodzinsky Carmen | 2278 | ||||
| |||||||
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | |||||
| 1 | IM | Muzychuk Anna | 2545 | ||||
| 2 | WGM | Krivec Jana | 2290 | ||||
| 3 | WIM | Rozic Vesna | 2278 | ||||
| 4 | WGM | Srebrnic Ana | 2222 | ||||
| 5 | Kolaric Spela | 2102 | |||||
