SMH on Grandmaster Zhao

This is quick reporting by the SMH and they even placed the story on their homepage. With contributions by Sydney academic Dr Jonathan Paxman.

Read more in At 21, he's our new chess grandmaster blaster.

Organiser is New NZCF Boss

Well-known Kiwi chess tournament organiser Paul Spiller is the new NZCF president. The news even hits the home page of New Zealand's Times Online.

Zhao Wins and Bags GM Title

It looks like IM Zong Yuan Zhao will become Australia's next grandmaster after winning his penultimate game in Gibraltar against Frenchman Gildas Goldzstein a couple of hours ago. According to the Monroi site, the game ended abruptly with Goldzstein's blunder 30...Rf6?? and dropping a piece.

The win will mean a third GM norm and therefore also the title.

There was also good news by the other two Australians. In a typically exciting King's Gambit - Moulthun Ly drew, by repetition, with the powerful 2632-rated Viktor Mikhalevski of Israel and Ben Lazarus defeated Line Jin Jorgensen of Norway.

Gibtelecom Chess Festival 2008
Ly, Moulthun
Mikhalevski, Victor
C30

1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5 3. Nf3 d6 4. c3 Nf6 5. fxe5 dxe5 6. Nxe5 O-O 7. d4 Nxe4 8. Qd3 Bf5 9. Qf3 g6 10. Bc4 Bd6 11. g4 Qh4+ 12. Kf1 Bxe5 13. gxf5 Nd6 14. Bb3 Bg7 15. fxg6 hxg6 16. Rg1 Re8 17. Be3 Kf8 18. Bf2 Qh6 19. Na3 Nd7 20. Nb5 Nf6 21. Nxc7 Re4 22. Bg3 Nf5 23. Nxa8 Ne3+ 24. Ke2 Nc4+ 25. Qxe4 Qd2+ 26. Kf1 Nxe4 27. Bxc4 Qxb2 28. Rd1 Nd2+ 29. Rxd2 Qxd2 30. Bd6+ Kg8 31. Rg3 b5 32. Bb3 b4 33. Bxb4 Qxh2 34. Rf3 Qh1+ 35. Kf2 Bf6 36. Bd5 Kg7 37. Ke2 Qh5 38. Bc6 g5 39. Kd3 g4 40. Re3 Qf5+ 41. Kc4 Qf2 42. Re4 Qf1+ 43. Kb3 Qd1+ 44. Kc4 Qf1+ 45. Kd5 Qf5+ 46. Kd6 g3 47. Re2 Qg4 48. Rg2 Bd8 49. Bd5 Kf6 50. Rg1 Qf5 51. Rxg3 Qf4+ 52. Kd7 Qf5+ 53. Kd6 Qf4+ 54. Kd7 1/2-1/2

Chess and Business

The Financial Times' John Kay writes:

Yet the rules of chess are well-defined and uncomplicated, there is a single opponent and rarely more than a handful of legal moves. Compared with fighting the war in Iraq, mapping the future of the telecommunications industry, or planning the economic development of China, chess is simple and predictable. But chess is still too subtle to be defined by a single narrative and too complex for models to be more than illustrative. People who hold to a single idea, or a fixed design, generally lose in chess, as they lose in battle, in business and in economics. Great chess players apply a variety of principles, they sense patterns, they hold a formidable range of models and analyses in their mind without being a slave to any of them.

From Business lessons from chess grand masters.

Zhao Suffers First Setback

IM Zong Yuan Zhao has just dropped his first game in Gibraltar. Playing the black side of a Queen's Gambit Declined, Zhao lost to the 2606-rated Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine.

Gibtelecom Chess Festival 2008
Kuzubov, Yuriy
Zhao, Zong-Yuan
D30

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 e6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 Ne4 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Qc2 f5 9. Bb2 b6 10. O-O Bb7 11. a3 Bd6 12. b4 Nd7 13. Rad1 Qe7 14. Nb3 a5 15. bxa5 bxa5 16. c5 Bc7 17. a4 Ba6 18. Ne5 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Rfb8 20. Bxa6 Rxa6 21. Bd4 Rb4 22. f3 Rc4 23. Qe2

Position after 23. Qe2

23...Ndxc5 24. Nxc5 Nxc5 25. Rc1 Nd7 26. Rxc4 dxc4 27. Qxc4 Nb8 28. Bc5 Qd7 29. Qb3 Ra8 30. Rd1 Qc8 31. Bb6 Kf7 32. Rd8 Qa6 33. Bc5 1-0

Ben Lazarus has also just posted a loss to Denmark's FM Tim Jaksland. Ben has 3.5 points. Sadly, Moulthun Ly's round 8 game doesn't seem to be available on the site so I've no idea of his own result.

Chessers Are Worth Dying For

You'll never hear ACF boss Gary Wastell talk like this. The Australian's newly re-elected NCFP counterpart, Butch Pichay, reportedly said last week, "I am willing to go to jail for the sake of Philippine Chess".

Then he apparently later added, "Filipino chess players are worth dying for". Quite dramatic and we, of course, expect nothing less from my countrymen.

Pichay was speaking in response to a contempt suit filed by his rivals Sammy Estimo and Matt Defensor. These latter two claimed that Pichay's faction toyed with the law when they ignored a temporary restraining order issued by a Manila judge.

A court hearing took place last week to hear those contempt charges but Pichay's faction failed to appear. A second hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.

Longest Running Chess Column

The Guardian's Leonard Barden is set to break a record. According to Stephen Moss, who writes for the same paper, Barden, British chess champion in 1954, will next week set the "new all-time record for the longest-running continuous chess column". One thing to also note is that Barden once defeated the great Bobby Fischer!

From the Grand Master of Chess Journalism.

Bobby Fischer - A Heartless Son

From The Times, a brief and insightful look at Fischer's relationship with his mother, Regina Fischer. Very interesting reading in Bobby Fischer, chess genius, heartless son:

Regina Fischer, rejected by her son and filled with anguish at their separation, continued to follow his meteoric career, turning up in Iceland disguised in a blonde wig to witness his finest hour, in defiance of his orders to stay away.

For three years between 1957 and 1960 Regina wrote regularly to Joan Rodker, now a retired journalist, photographer and film-maker, disclosing some of the hurt felt by a mother disowned by an extraordinary son. The two women had met as idealistic communists living in Moscow in the 1930s and remained friends.

Better Looking Chess Websites

And now for something different.

Thanks to WebWorkerDaily, I've just discovered 3 services that will hopefully usher in new and better looking chess websites. I think we can all agree that this, this and this (ugh, frames) definitely need a few enhancements. Although, to be fair, all these have had minor improvements. CV's site, for instance, is now actually over here.

Still, we can do better. For FREE! No techie skills needed; just a little time, some content and commitment.

Over the last few days, I've been test driving Weebly, SiteKreator and Synthasite. Here are the results: the Sydney Chess Society, Test Chess Website and Chess Society.

(Note that the Sydney Chess Society is just an imaginary organisation).

Each one took me about an hour or so to set up. If you can use Microsoft Word, you should manage just fine. Creating pages, editing and publishing are very easy to do. Literally, "point and click". And while you can opt to have your pages hosted by these 3 services, it's also possible to download your page files and host them somewhere else.

The free package offered by these guys are perfectly OK for modest needs. On the other hand, if you have larger requirements (depending on what you want to do), then you can upgrade for a fee.

My preference? After a few days of use, my pick is Weebly. Weebly's user experience is the easiest and most intuitive to handle. Plus, their available templates were certainly the most appealing.

If you're a state body or a chess club, then all these are worth a look.

Igor Bjelobrk Wins Oz Day

FM Igor Bjelobrk has recovered some of his form and today won the NSWCA Australia Day Weekender with a score of 6.5 from seven games. En route to first prize, Igor defeated GM Dejan Antic and IM George Xie.

In outright second place and scoring 6 points was IM Xie. He, too, defeated GM Antic in an exciting last round encounter. With less than a minute left on his clock, Antic lost a vital piece but opted to hang on hoping no doubt for some trickery to bless his way. But Xie was careful and having none of it forcing the GM to finally capitulate.

"Finally, I get some my money to fill up my petrol," said Xie later.

I don't have all the results but here are some preliminary top standings that I quickly jotted down.

6.5 Bjelobrk
6.0 Xie
5.5 Hu, Rej, Sales
5.0 Broekhuyse, Norman, Bolens

Canberra's Mos Ali won the U1800 first prize. Lucky guy. He turned up late to the fifth round apparently because he'd taken the wrong turn somewhere and got lost! Upon arrival at the venue, he had only 6 minutes left. He managed to draw that game.

As for TCG, well, I scored an OK 4 points. It was enough to take home $36, a portion of my money back, so I can't really complain.

NSWCA Australia Day Weekender

Shaun Press is wondering why some tournaments are successful. Well, some of us, and I'm talking players here, do wish that some of these tournaments are not so successful. That is especially if the venue is pretty limited in space, like the North Sydney Leagues Club, for example, where the NSWCA Australia Day Weekender is currently taking place.

Thankfully, only about 60 players are competing. It's a good manageable number. I can recall one state championships here years ago, and there was barely room to move! So, maybe bad for the organisers, but good for players' comfort.

GM Dejan Antic is the top seed here followed by Bjelobrk, IM Xie, Sales and a few other 2000+ rated guys. And yes, yours truly is also playing. I thought I might as well put in some warm-up time for Doeberl (and possibly the SIO). After 4 games, I've managed 50%. Not bad really, losing only to two strong fellows and against whom I played what I felt to be questionable moves, just for a bit of fun.

I'll hopefully have more details tonight after the event. Meanwhile, here's a crazy game from round 3 yesterday.


NSWCA Australia Day WE 2008
Bjelobrk, Igor
Atzmon-Simon, Barak
A02

1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. d4 Ng4 6. Qd3 c5 7. Qe4+ Be6 8. Ng5 Nxh2 9. Nxe6 Bg3+ 10. Kd1 fxe6 11. Qxe6+ Qe7 12. Qc8+ Qd8 13. Qxc5 Rf8 14. Nd2 g6 15. e4 Nd7 16. Bb5 a6 17. Bxd7+ Qxd7 18. Nf3 Qg4 19. Bh6 Rf7 20. Qg5 Rxf3 21. Qxg4 Nxg4 22. gxf3 Nf2+ 23. Ke2 Nxh1 24. Rxh1 Kf7 25. f4 1-0

Nakamura Shocked by Zhao

I was going to write a quick post about the Australia Day Weekender, but just woke up this minute to absolutely sensation news that IM Zong-Yuan Zhao has defeated American superstar GM Hikaru Nakamura in the Gibraltar Chess Festival tournament.

Gibtelecom Chess Festival 2008
Zhao, Zong Yuan
Nakamura, Hikaru
B03

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 exd6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Bd3 Nc6 8. Nge2 Bg4 9. h3 Bh5 10. Be3 O-O 11. d5 Ne5 12. b3 Bf6 13. Rc1 Bg5 14. f4 Bh4+ 15. Bf2 Bxe2 16. Bxe2 Bxf2+ 17. Kxf2 Qf6 18. g3 Rae8 19. Re1 Ned7 20. Bf3 Nc5 21. Qd2 a6 22. Kg2 Qf5 23. Re3 Rxe3 24. Qxe3 Qd3 25. Qxd3 Nxd3 26. Rd1 Nc5 27. Re1 Rd8 28. Re7 Ncd7 29. Be2 Kf8 30. Re3 Nb8 31. Bd3 h6 32. g4 a5 33. Nb5 Na6 34. a3 g5 35. Kf3 Nc5 36. Bc2 Na6 37. Bd3 Nc5 38. Bc2 gxf4 39. Kxf4 a4 40. Nxc7 axb3 41. Bxb3 Nbd7 42. Nb5 Ne5 43. Ba2 Ncd3+ 44. Kf5 Nc1

Position after 44...Nc1

45. Nxd6 Ng6 46. Nxb7 Rb8 47. c5 Rxb7 48. Bc4 Rb2 49. Ke4 Ke7 50. Kd4+ Kd8 51. c6 Nf4 52. d6 Rd2+ 53. Kc5 Ncd3+ 54. Kb6 Rc2 55. Bxf7 1-0

The win puts Zhao on 4 points after fives games. At this time of writing, I don't know how the other Aussies, Ly and Lazarus, are doing. Their games don't seem to be available in the live streams. Also, it looks like FM Manuel Weeks may have pulled out.

Salvador Dali Chess Set

One from the weird and wonderful vault. The chess-obsessed Marcel Duchamp once asked the artist Salvador Dali to design a chess set for the then American Chess Federation. Below was the end result. The most notable aspect of the chess pieces is that, except for the queens and rooks, they were all modeled after Dali's fingers.


The set was sold at auction recently for $23,400. More from news-antique.com.

Gibraltar Chess Videos

Just found this on the Gibraltar Chess Festival's video page. There are a couple of Aussies, with GM Ian Rogers doing a piece-to-camera, and a few familiar faces. Rogers looks quite natural on-camera and may have found his next calling! Frankly, I hope he takes it seriously. There are far too many possibilities with chess coverage using the simplest and cheapest technologies!

One Last Fischer Controversy

A final controversy looks set to be written into the life and death of Bobby Fischer. Britain's Telegraph is reporting that Fischer's burial may not have been completely legal!

The grave was dug in secret as darkness descended over the white frozen landscape around the village of Hraungerdi, ready for Bobby Fischer's last getaway. Not even the minister whose churchyard it was knew of the funeral planned for the following morning.

From Bobby Fischer's final bizarre act. I suppose the bastard just couldn't help himself.

Zhao Wins 3rd Game

International master Zhao is inching closer to his GM norm as he yesterday scored his second win in Gibraltar. So far he has 2.5 points.

2008 GibTelecom International Chess Tour
Zhao, Zong Yuan
Bates, Caspar

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4 Bb7 14. d5 Rac8 15. Bd3 Nd7 16. Nf1 Nc5 17. Bb1 Nc4 18. b3 Nb6 19. Ne3 a5 20. Nf5 b4 21. Be3 Bf6 22. Nh2 Nbd7 23. Ng4 Kh8 24. Qf3 Rce8 25. Nxf6 gxf6 26. Qh5 Rg8 27. Qxf7 Ref8 28. Qe7 Rg6 29. Qxd6 Qxd6 30. Nxd6 Ba6 31. Bc2 Rfg8 32. g3 Nd3 33. Bxd3 Bxd3 34. Rad1 Ba6 35. Rc1 1-0

The two other Aussies, on the other hand, suffered losses with Moulthun Ly going down to Chanda Sandipan and Ben Lazarus losing horribly to Mark Hebden.

FIDE Newsletter

FIDE is initiating a bi-weekly newsletter service. The idea is to "to provide timely information from the chess world". They must just be talking about FIDE-related business because there's no way they could hope to be "timely" if it's a bi-weekly exercise. Not in this day and age. When I think "timely" I'm thinking about all the popular chess news sites out there (i.e. Chessdom.com, Chessbase.com) and my fellow bloggers.

In any case my curiosity got the better of me, so I did sign up. They asked for "affiliation" and "phone number". I didn't bother putting those in but apparently my sign-up worked anyway.

Chess is An Enigma

Finished lunch. On the way back to my desk, in the lift, a colleague of mine asked how I spent my Christmas/New Year vacation. Indulging in my hobby, I said. Played chess. As expected, that immediately provoked a conversation.

Then he observed: "Chess is an enigma, isn't it?"

I must say, I've heard many "chess is..." statements, but certainly not that one.

Heath Ledger, A Chess Player

It was pretty shocking news to me this morning. At about 11AM, my email inbox beeped with the latest message and the subject line read something like "Heath Ledger, Dead at 28". Quickly I went to a news site and sure enough, there it was. Just awful.

Tonight, late TV news is reporting that Mr Ledger was also an avid chess player. Australia's Channel Nine News claims that he had once finished third in the Western Australian State Chess Championships. I've yet to confirmed that but a quick search on Google reveals other citations of Heath and chess. Here's one on MTV:

MTV: I hear you play a lot of chess in Washington Square Park.

Heath Ledger: Yeah. I've played since I was a kid. I play at least one game a day.

MTV: That's dedication.

Ledger: Yeah, or obsession.

MTV: Smoking and chess?

Ledger: Yeah, they go hand in hand.

And another one in the UK's Telegraph paper: "At the same time he showed promise in other areas, as a junior go-kart racing champion and, aged only 10, as Western Australia’s junior chess champion; he also represented Western Australia at hockey."

Trio of Aussies in Gibraltar

The Gibtelecom Chess Festival began yesterday. It's one of these tournaments that I definitely must visit some time in the future. During the recent Australian Chess Championships, Malcolm Tredinnick just couldn't stop talking about the whole Gibraltar experience. So now, I have to go.

Aussie chess fans will be keeping an eye on three guys: Ben Lazarus, Moulthun Ly and IM Zong Yuan Zhao. Zhao, of course, is chasing his third GM norm, while Queensland powerhouse Ly will be gunning for his third IM norm. Good luck to all three.

Our Pinoy readers might also be interested to know that there is one Pinoy rep in the Masters section. He is FM Antonio Molina.

Murray Chandler Wins NZ Champs

GM Murray Chandler today won the 115th New Zealand Chess Championships with a score of 9 points from eleven games. He won his last five matches to eventually haul in the title. Chandler's run included two draws and a single loss to FM Stephen Lukey, a game that saw both players try out the currently popular Anti-Moscow Gambit.

115th New Zealand Chess Championships
Lukey, Stephen
Chandler, Murray
D43

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. h4 g4 11. Ne5 h5 12. f3 Nbd7 13. fxg4 hxg4 14. O-O Nxe5 15. Bxe5 Rh6 16. Qd2 b4 17. Na4 Nxe4 18. Qf4 f5 19. g3 Rg6 20. Qe3 Qd5 21. h5 Rg5 22. Rac1 Rxh5 23. Bxc4 Qd7 24. Bd3 Ng5 25. Kf2 Nf3 26. Rh1 Rxh1 27. Rxh1 Nxe5 28. Qxe5 O-O-O 29. Bc4 Qxd4+ 30. Qxd4 Rxd4 31. Bxe6+ Kd8 32. Rh8 Ke7 33. Nc5 Rd2+ 34. Ke3 Rxb2 35. Bxf5 Bg7 36. Rb8 Bh6+ 37. Kd3 Kd6 38. Kc4 Ba6+ 39. Nxa6 Rxa2 40. Nxb4 Rg2 41. Rc8 Ke5 42. Bxg4 Rxg3 43. Be2 Bd2 44. Nxc6+ Kd6 45. Rd8+ Kxc6 46. Rxd2 Re3 47. Bd3 Re5 48. Rh2 Re6 49. Rh5 a6 50. Rh7 Kb6 51. Kd5 Rf6 52. Rh1 Kc7 53. Be4 Kb6 54. Rb1+ Kc7 55. Kc5 a5 56. Rb7+ Kd8 57. Ra7 a4 58. Rxa4 Kd7 59. Bd5 Ke7 60. Ra7+ Kf8 61. Kd4 Rf2 62. Ke5 Re2+ 63. Kd6 Re7 64. Ra8+ Re8 65. Ra7 Re7 66. Ra1 1-0

The winner made some brief interesting comments over at Chess Chat.

Other top finishers are as follows:

7.5 Dive, Steadman
6.5 Van Riemsdijk, McLaren, Spain, Hart

Australia's FM Tim Reilly completed the event with 6 points.

Complete details of the event, including downloadable games, are available at the Auckland Chess Centre's webpage.

Don't Miss Post Mortems

I think you'll all agree with me that the ChessVibes crew have truly outdone themselves in their coverage of this year's Corus tournament. We love the videos.

For a little more grandmaster guidance, I've been enjoying Mihail Marin over at Chessbase. His dissection of round three's Radjabov - van Wely was particularly outstanding.

But the official event website, surprisingly, also has some excellent content. I don't know why, but I didn't check that site's own daily reports until this morning! Take round 9 and read especially that part about Ljubojevic - Kortchnoi. Discussing a certain moment in their game, this is what apparently ensued:

Kortchnoi: Looks like black is better
Ljubo: I was afraid you’d just lose
Kortchnoi: But I’m stubborn, and I’ll always be stubborn

It kinda makes me wish I was there. That's why I always love postmortems, especially by some colourful characters. Do you have a favourite postmortem moment?

Bobby Fischer's Favourite Bookstore

Drexel University's The Smart Set - which, by the way, is a must-read - has a nice little piece on Bobby Fischer. Sara Blask, a writer based in Reykjavik, recounts Fischer's time in a little joint called Bókin, a bookstore. Worth a read. From: "Bobby Fischer Read Here".

The last time Fischer visited Bókin was in early October, before he became sick. In many ways, Bókin was the deeply rooted giving tree Fischer so desperately needed, a place where he could either fuel — or seek shelter from — the storms brewing in his head. He remained obstinate until his dying day, refusing Western treatment for what would ultimately lead to kidney failure, a move he could not outsmart with any amount of intellect or logic. Bobby Fischer may have been able to defy his opponents but in the end, he couldn’t triumph over his own tired body.

Fischer Buried in Iceland

Robert James Fischer was buried yesterday in Iceland apparently near Reykjavik. It was a Catholic ceremony and attended only by a small number of people including his companion, Miyoko Watai.

From Reuters: Chess champion Bobby Fischer buried in Iceland.

Quote of the Day

Amidst all those shenanigans the other day in Wijk aan Zee, there was important news that we've nearly overlooked. Anand beat Topalov. In fact, it was the only decisive game in Group A. But it was in his post-game press conference that the Indian produced what must surely have been a fitting quote of the day. Said he:

I was a bit disoriented because of what was going on with Short and Cheparinov so I kind of decided to make a safe move and go there and have a look.

You'll see it at about 1:45 in the first video on this page.

Anyway, Short - Cheparinov was played last night and, perhaps with some degree of justice, the Englishman achieved victory. We can just imagine diehard English fans and those who've not forgiven the Bulgarian camp for their antics in "Toiletgate" collectively raise their middle finger at Ivan Cheparinov with a, "You got stuffed!" (Well I actually have in mind something a little more vigorous than that, but we're a family-friendly blog after all).

Once again, chessvibes.com has the game and, on this occasion, a music video.

Estimo: Pichay Camp Toyed with Law

It looks like my last post was a little too soon! Fresh in my inbox is a press release from Sammy Estimo, the man who filed a petition for a "temporary restraining order" (TRO) to stop his NCFP rivals, led by Prospero Pichay, from holding their elections on 19 January. This press release is addressed to various RP media and including this blog. It's rather lengthy, with a carefully bulleted list of statements and rebuttals. Here are some tidbits:

NCFP executive director lawyer Sammy Estimo said that the NCFP 8-man majority group which includes NCFP chair Congressman Man Defensor and Gov. Rocky Molintas, will file contempt charges against NCFP President Prospero Pichay, Mayor Abraham Tolentino and their five (5) co-respondents before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court for violating the TRO issued on January 16, 2008.

“NCFP President Prospero Pichay Jr., Mayor Abraham Tolentino and their co-respondents in the TRO case toyed with the rule of law. What they could not do directly, they did it indirectly. Their lawyers appeared in the TRO proceedings and when they lost and Quezon City Judge Reynaldo Daway issued the TRO, they brazenly defied it and toyed with the TRO,” Estimo said.

It is not true that the NCFP does not have a Constitution and By-laws. We have in our possession the original copies of the NCFP Articles of Incorporation (S.E.C. Reg. No.A2 00012818, October 16,2000) and the By-laws. We even submitted them to the court as documentary proofs that the Constitution and By-laws are registered with SEC contrary to the claim of Pichay and Mayor Tolentino,” Estimo said.

And:

Even Mr. Florencio Campomanes, who attended the electoral process, knows about the existence of the NCFP Constitution and By-laws and their SEC regulations because it was he, GM Eugene Torre and I who jointly prepared and helped each other to give juridical and legal personality to NCFP,” Estimo explained.

The press release ends with:

The unlawful Tagaytay NCFP polls disenfranchised hundreds of voting chess clubs nationwide. I understand only thirty six (36) clubs participated and certainly, this number does not represent the majority of chess voters in this country,” Estimo concluded.

It's a sort of yin and yang for RP chess. After outstanding news last week of Paragua's triumph in the "B" section of the 1st Leg ASEAN Circuit event and Gonzales' final GM norm, now we have this: a step forward, then several steps back! We'll be closely watching developments from here.

Pichay Gets New Term in Philippines

Our thanks to Pinoy journo Ignacio Dee for bringing this to my attention. The NCFP released the following statement: "Pichay, Tolentino get fresh mandate in NCFP".

In a rare show of force, the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) General Assembly voted to ratify its first real constitution and by-laws and then unanimously elected former Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero "Butch" Pichay and 14 others to a new, four-year term.

In a well-attended general assembly held at the Tagaytay International Convention Center (TICC) over the weekend, officers and representatives of various chess clubs and association from all over the country drafted and then approved the NCFP constitution and by-laws and proceeded to give Pichay with "one of the most resounding victories in a Philippine Olympic Committee (POC)-supervised election of a national sports association.

Pichay, whose able leadership in local chess produced three of the country's nine grandmasters in a span of only than five months since September 2007, garnered a perfect 175 votes in the election of 15 board of directors.

I think I'm not the only one who'll feel quite relieved.

Give That Point Back

Just checked the Corus results. Oh dear, a new scandal! There seems to be a new one every couple of weeks these days.

It all seems to be down to some new law of chess that we posted about last year. It's there in black and white. But is it now a law? Well, apparently not. It's certainly not in the Laws as currently published. And see this letter concerning the recent Anna Rudolf case.

Cheparinov has lodged an appeal. We think he deserves at least a rematch. Decide the point over the board!

Murray Chandler Grabs Lead

Grandmaster Murray Chandler has taken the lead in the NZ Chess Championships. The ex-champ has 6 points, just a slim half-point lead going into the ninth round. Michael Steadman is presently in sole second place on 5.5, followed by a half dozen players with five. Chandler will play FM Robert Smith in the next round.

In the second round, Smith lost out to IM Herman Van Riemsdijk. A fine win by the visiting Brazilian.

115th New Zealand Chess Championships
Van Riemsdijk, Herman
Smith, Robert
B41

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Qc7 7. Bd3 Nc6 8. Nde2 Bc5 9. h3 h6 10. O-O d6 11. Bf4 Bd7 12. Rc1 Rc8 13. a3 Ne5 14. Qd2 g5 15. Bh2 g4 16. h4 Qd8 17. Nf4 Ng8 18. Bg3 h5 19. Be2 a5 20. Nb5 Bxb5 21. cxb5 Nf6 22. Bd3 a4 23. Qe2 Ke7 24. Rfe1 Qa5 25. Rcd1 Rhd8 26. Bb1 Ba7 27. Ba2 Rc5 28. Nd3 Rxb5 29. Nxe5 dxe5 30. Rxd8 Kxd8 31. Rd1+ Ke7 32. Bc4 Rc5 33. Qd3 Bb8 34. f3 b5 35. Ba2 Rc6 36. Be1 Qa7+ 37. Kh2 Qd7 38. Qe2 Qb7 39. Bd2 gxf3 40. Qxf3 Ng4+ 41. Kg3 f6 42. Rf1 Rc8

Position after 42...Rc8

43. Bxe6!! Rf8 43... Kxe6 44. Qf5+ Kd6 (44... Ke7 45. Qh7+) 45. Bb4+ Kc7 46. Ba5+ Kd6 47. Rd1+ will lead to mate 44. Bxg4 hxg4 45. Qxg4 Bd6 46. h5 Qc8 47. Qxc8 Rxc8 48. Rc1 Rg8+ 49. Kf3 Kd7 50. Bb4 Bc7 51. h6 Rh8 52. Rh1 Ke6 53. Bd2 Bb6 54. Be3 Bxe3 55. Kxe3 Kf7 56. h7 Kg7 57. Kf3 Rxh7 58. Rxh7+ Kxh7 59. Kg4 Kg6 60. g3 Kg7 61. Kf5 Kf7 62. g4 Ke7 63. g5 fxg5 64. Kxe5 Kd7 65. Kf5 Kd6 66. e5+ 1-0

Links to round updates and live coverage are available here.

ACF Snubs Victoria, Again!

Last night I received an email from Box Hill Chess Club treasurer Trevor Stanning regarding a failed bid by Chess Victoria (CV) for the 2009 Australian Junior Chess Championships. It was submitted on 10th September last year and received its rejection notice only last week. At this time, we've no idea as to why the Australian Chess Federation rejected that bid or if there were other bids on the table.

Understandably, those luckless Victorians aren't exactly too happy about that. It's the second time in less than a year that their fine state has failed to win a major chess tournament!

If you're interested, details of that bid are now available for everyone else's scrutiny.

Fischer's Philippine Connections

Yet another Fischer post, but this one, dear readers, has a particularly unique angle. It's about Fischer and his Filipino connection, but most especially a romantic one!

In one of the "reactions" (to Fischer's death) videos on Chessvibes, GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic suddenly said that Fischer has an offspring in the Philippines. That just too me aback! I only quarter-remembered this bit of detail and was no longer certain if it was true. But a quick email from our friend Manny Benitez confirmed that Ljubojevic's statement is, indeed, correct. And now, this morning, I saw this:

Fischer played tennis at the Baguio Country Club and had a romance with a 30-year-old woman from Davao named Marilyn Young in Baguio City before he went on exile to Iceland.

Fischer’s certified Filipino heir, 7-year-old Jinky, was born in 2002 at the Saint Louis University Sacred Heart Hospital here.

The girl’s birth certificate bears the name "Robert James Fischer" as her father, but she kept her mother’s maiden name, "Young."

It's quite remarkable. Read more in Why Bobby Fischer loved RP, Filipinos. (Thanks again to Manny for pointing me to this article).

And we're a little late with these but here are obits from The Times and in The Guardian (by L. Barden).

"Fischer Remembered"

Macauley Peterson, from ICC, sent me this video ("Fischer Remembered") via my comments field.

Click To Play

More videos from Macauley are available here.

Zhang, Paragua and Sadikin Top ASEAN

As expected, Singaporean-registered grandmaster Zhang Zong and the Philippines' GM Mark Paragua topped their respective events in the 1st Leg ASEAN Circuit tournament in Indonesia. Both had 9 points. International master Irwanto Sadikin of Indonesia, also ending with 9 points, was the winner in the WIM section with 10 points.

Top finishers are as follows:

Grandmaster "A"
9.0 Zhang Zong
8.0 Tirto
7.5 Megaranto
7.0 Wesley So

Grandmaster "B"
9.0 Paragua
7.5 Nadanian, Gonzales
7.0 Nolte

WIM Tournament
10.0 Sadikin
8.5 Handoko
7.5 Chua

For complete details, visit www.indochess.com.

Our contact in PERCASI (Indonesian Chess Federation) tells us that six players scored norms from the event. RP's Rolando Nolte secured an IM norm, while Jayson Gonzales apparently also scored the GM version. That last is important news because it means that Jayson now has all three norms in the bag and all he has to do is reach a rating of 2500 to become a full GM! An outstanding result for Philippine chess.

EDIT: Final scores for the WIM section have been corrected as per advise from Sebastian Simanjuntak. Results for the last round were unintentionally omitted.

Gary Kasparov on Bobby Fischer

The National Public Radio has a couple of special reports on Bobby Fischer. In this one, Gary Kasparov describes Fischer's chess as "very refreshing" and attributes to the American legend a new style of chess.

And in Fischer Inspired Chess Boom in Pop Culture, the NPR talks about the so-called "Fischer Boom" which raged not only in the US but across the world.

Elsewhere on the Net:
The Independent - Bobby Fischer: The greatest chess player of them all?
National Post - Colby Cosh: Fischer's three lives
National Post - Colby Cosh on Bobby Fischer
National Post - Fischer tried to marry to escape deportation
Daily News - Finding Bobby Fischer
Guardian Unlimited - A self-sacrificed pawn
Guardian Unlimited - Death of a madman driven sane by chess
Slate - The Kingmaker
Guardian Unlimited - A beknighted genius
New York Times - Fischer Versus the World: A Chess Giant’s Endgame
Chicago Tribune - Chess legend, Cold War hero

Zhang and Paragua Set to Win ASEAN

There is one more round to go in the 1st Leg ASEAN Chess Circuit currently being played in Tarakan, Indonesia. Here we have round 10 results thanks to PERCASI's Sebastian Simanjuntak who's been sending me results and games daily.

Grandmaster "A"
Nadera - Zhang, draw
Torre - Kosasih, draw
Megaranto - Hamed, 1-0
Tirto - Situru, 1-0
So - Hafizulhemi, draw
Ginting - Purnama, 0-1

Grandmaster "B"
Nolte - Mahmud, 0-1
Gonzales - Nadanian, 0-1
Sukandar - Barbosa, 0-1
Prayitno - Barus, 1-0
Paragua - Mok, 1-0
Ardiansyah - Sitanggang, draw

WIM Tournament
Thi May - Sadikin, 0-1
Citra - Lindiawati, 0-1
Chua - Bernales, 1-0
Tay - Handayani, 1-0
Mendoza - Handoko, 0-1
Chan - Verdiana, draw

Zhang, Paragua and Sadikin will go into the last game as leaders and should also emerge as the eventual winners.

Bobby Fischer Dead at 64

I've just literally walked back in to my house and the first thing that I heard is that Robert James Fischer has just passed away aged 64. This is fresh news so I'm just dumping here the first few items on Google News.

(Note that some of these may be identical in content as they basically use the same source)

Visir.is - Bobby Fischer látinn (in Icelandic)
New York Times - Bobby Fischer, Chess Master, Dies at 64
BBC - Chess legend Fischer dies at 64
MSNBC - Former chess champ Bobby Fischer dead at 64
The Canadian Press - Former chess champion Bobby Fischer dead at 64
Reuters - Former chess champion Bobby Fischer dies
Bloomberg - Bobby Fischer, First U.S. World Chess Champion, Dies
CNN - Cold War icon Fischer passes away
Times Online - Bobby Fischer, flawed chess genius, dies in Iceland
The Guardian - Chess champion Bobby Fischer dies
Reuters Factbox on Fischer - Key facts about former chess champion Bobby Fischer
Telegraph.co.uk - Obituary: Bobby Fischer
Times Online - Raymond Keene: Bobby Fischer was 'pride and sorrow of chess'
Sports Illustrated - SI Flashback: Bobby Fischer
Iceland Review Online - Bobby Fischer Passes Away
New York Times - Reacting to Bobby Fischer’s Death
The Associated Press - Timeline of Fischer's Career
Time Magazine - Bobby Fischer - Chess Prodigy

Other interesting links (I'll update these over the next few hours)
My 60 Memorable Games in PGN - www.chess.com
My 60 Memorable Games/Fischer - www.chessgames.com
Bobby Fischer in Wikipedia
The game that shook the world - from www.chessbase.com
Interview with Bobby Fischer - www.youtube.com (Also available on YouTube is an audio recording of that infamous interview that Fischer gave to a Philippine journalist post 9/11. You can find other Bobby Fischer related entries in YT here.)
Fischer Fury - by Edward Winter (with thanks to Dr Kevin Bonham)
Robert James (Bobby) Fischer, by Bill Wall
Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy (via Google Book Search. You might need a Google account to view this)
Federal Grand Jury Indictment of Bobby Fischer
The Bobby Fischer Unofficial Homepage (Very comprehensive)
Bobby Fischer dies in Iceland - Chessbase
The Battle of the Brains Time Magazine - (first published on 31 July, 1972)

Chess: Poor View of History

Last November I posted a review by David Edmonds of Daniel Johnson's book, White King and Red Queen. Edmonds' review was largely favorable but in today's Australian Financial Review paper, I spotted anot