Tidbit of NCFP Past

I missed this last week, but it's related to my last post below. It looks like the man behind the UT Dallas chess team and a professor of literary studies, Tim Redman, didn't exactly impress ex-Pinoy Olympiad team skipper, Bobby Ang.

Here's Bobby:

I say all these nice things about Mr. Redman with mixed feelings, for he double-crossed us during the 2000 Istanbul Olympiad. The question of which federation to accredit as the official governing body of chess in the Philippines, whether it will remain the Philippine Chess Federation (PCF, this is the Art Borjal/Edgar de Castro group) or the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP, Campo/myself/Eugene Torre etc), was to be taken up in the General Assembly to be held during the Olympiad.

Campo and I had a merienda with Mr. Redman and one of his delegates, Jim Eades (this is the guy who wrote Chess for Dummies, a great instructional book) to campaign for their support. We had very friendly discussions after which Mr. Redman promised that the USCF will support the NCFP. To my great disappointment, however, during the actual General Assembly not only did they vote against us but their delegate (I forget his name but he was a big guy) threatened to walk out if the NCFP won.

Kiwi and Pinoy in Action

New Zealand's Puchen Wang and RP's GM-elect Julio Sadorra will be in action this coming weekend for their school UT Dallas as they face off their rivals in the so-called College Chess Final Four. Hostilities will be hosted by Booz Allen Hamilton in their headquarters in Washington, D.C., while games are expected to be broadcast on the Monroi site.

For some of our aspiring young chess stars in Oceania, I think a berth on a US college team bench might just be something to aim for. Get a degree and play plenty of chess at the same time!

Here is UTD's GM Alejandro Ramirez talking about chess as a sport.

Where's the Money in Myanmar?

Last year the first of a planned series of annual tournaments to celebrate the life of Campomanes was held in the Philippines. These are supposed to be hosted by all 10 of ASEAN's member nations. To make the whole thing happen, no less than FIDE boss Kirsan Ilyumzhinov sponsored the series to a tune of US$1 million. Therefore, that's roughly $100,000 for each event.

Thanks to a tipster, I've now just seen the details of the next Campo Memorial which is scheduled to take place in Myanmar from 5 - 11 July later this year. To my surprise, the prizes on offer there will be nowhere near the much-touted one hundred grand.

It is just $10,000!

Here's the section on prize fund that appears in the tournament presser:

4. Prize Fund (US$ 10,000)
Open: 1st US$ 3,000; 2nd US$ 1,600; 3rd US$ 1,200; 4th US$ 1,000; 5th US$ 700; 6th US$ 500; 7th & 8th US$ 300 each; 9th & 10th US$ 200 each.
Best Myanmar Players: 1st US$ 500; 2nd US$ 300; 3rd US$ 200.
Best Women Players and Best Junior Players (U-18, U-14, U-10) prizes are also awarded.
All the prize winners will get the special prizes (Quantum Shields, Quantum Pendants, Quantum Flasks and Quantum Bracelets awarded by Fusionexcel International). Information on these health products is available at www.fusionexcel.com.
Remark: The prize fund is guaranteed-minimum amount. It may be increased and the final one shall be announced before the start of Round 3. Prize money shall be shared equally among the tied-players.

Compared to the inaugural event, which did offer prizes totaling $100k, this Myanmar edition looks to be no better than a large weekender. Which makes me wonder if it's even a legit tournament!

Who knows what might have happened to the vast chunk of Kirsan's largesse. But whatever the reason, the shortfall is perhaps why the Myanmar tournament has had to seek sponsorship from some outfit called "Fusion Excel International", apparently the world's largest purveyors of "scalar energy"! Maybe you'd like a quantum pendant? It "promotes positive flow of energy and helps to maintain energy balance."

As my tipster said, "New Age Fruitloopery".

Chess: An Ideal Laboratory

Old, but I just saw this pop up in my feeds. From Seed Magazine:

Because chess is competitive and mentally demanding, yet objectively measured, the resulting studies of gendered performance can potentially be more conclusive and less contentious than other approaches to this subject have been. Often, comparisons of male and female brains appear to pathologize the female condition in a manner reminiscent of the Victorian-era pseudoscientific sexism and racism that persisted in opposition to 19th century minority-rights movements. One argument, famously posed by Simone DeBeauvoir and periodically reinvented to support women’s equality, claims that the industrial revolution rendered superfluous the physical strength that long justified masculine dominance. Areas like sports and combat are reminders of male physical advantage, and lead to questions as to why there should not be a corresponding mental advantage.

In "Why Chess May Be An Ideal Laboratory For Investigating Gender Gaps in Science".

Cordover's Crusade

The fire of revolution is ablaze across the Middle East....

Oh scratch that!

When I began to write this post I had in mind contemporary events. But given the language used by Melbourne chess businessman David Cordover, he apparently thinks of this, his latest war against the ACF, as a sort of crusade. I thought he was merely calling for a revolution. I was wrong.

He wants a new religion.

In a series of often acrimonious emails (to which I am cc'd) between himself and the Australian Chess Federation big wigs, David Cordover ends with, what seems to me, a threat of nothing less than all out war! To split Australian chess.

All this is over his new venture called "Tornelo".

If you missed it, the first shot in this war was actually fired by the ACF. This from their most recent newsletter:

The ACF has decided that only Swiss Perfect, Swiss Master or Swiss Manager are to be used for pairing purposes for any ACF event including ACF Grand Prix events or any event that is to be FIDE rated.

The Australian Chess Federation does not endorse in any way, or have anything whatsoever to do with, David Cordover's Tornelo system and any statements or implications otherwise are false.

Then adding

In connection with the above matter, the ACF Council has recently resolved that [it will have] nothing to do with David Cordover, his chess business or his Tornelo system is to appear in the ACF newsletter until he removes to the satisfaction of the ACF Council all references, inferences or implications that his Tornelo system is in any way related to the Australian Chess Federation or ACF ratings [obviously with the exception of the above notice itself].

Please note that if you wish to write Letters to the Editor debating this decision they must do so in ways that do not breach the resolution.

For the time being, in some ways aided by Mr Cordover's carelessness, not to mention his propensity for confusing and totally irrelevant diversions, the ACF has the tactical advantage. The national body can simply sit back and drag this along until the Melburnian does what he's been told to do.

1) That on tornelo.com you change the wording that was "Australian Chess Federation" to "Tornelo Demonstration"
2) That on auschess.tornelo.com you change the title that was "Australian Chess Ratings" to "Tornelo Demonstration".
3) That you remove the link on the top left hand side of auschess.tornelo.com that links back to the ACF website auschess.org.au and does not link to the ACF website from tornelo.com or auschess.tornelo.com

I looked at all that and thought, fair enough. Just make it happen and be done with it. But Mr Cordover apparently had some kind of epiphany. And, of course, being a successful entrepreneur he doesn't exactly like being told what to do - certainly not by what he considers as an aging Ancien Régime devoid of ideas.

He just had to have his own demands. And he just had to say this:

I will be quite honest with you [Bill Gletsos, ACF ratings officer, and the ACF] - if we cannot reach an amicable resolution then I will consider my other options to include actively encouraging clubs and organisers to withdraw from the ACF ratings system to use Tornelo (free) and simultaneously petition FIDE to allow an organisation OTHER than the ACF to deal with them for ratings.

Read it how you like, but that sounds like a new religion to me.

To be honest, I have some sympathies for David Cordover. Notwithstanding my unhappiness about that email, Tornelo (and yes, I've had a brief, very brief, play) looks to be quite attractive. Why wouldn't you want a fancy system that has detailed reports and fully searchable instead of this monstrosity?

I think the ACF needs to tread carefully here. They have every right to make their demands, protect their turf, and I support them. But they ought to state clearly why they have a problem with Tornelo, the technology. From a user's point of view, the tool seems to be far and ahead of what even FIDE has to offer.

The ACF's Bill Gletsos talks about David Cordover's past sins and why people don't trust him. Yet we know of at least one other ACF office-holder who was more than happy to do business with Mr. Cordover - none other than Mr Reliable, Dr Kevin Bonham!

As for our wannabe Martin Luther, he could start by doing what he was told to do in the first place: just get rid of any references to "auschess". Then he should genuflect before the ACF, say sorry to my mate Bill Gletsos, the High Priest (I gotta pay Mr Cordover for this moniker) of Aussie chess ratings, and stop talking about new religion. More importantly, he should just be out with it and tell us exactly how much Tornelo is going to cost.

Bottom line: any talk of new religion will fuck us all up. Whatever side you're on, we have to prevent that from happening.

Chess and Revolts

I began writing a post where the opening lines were:

The fire of revolution is ablaze across the Middle East. Led by the Tunisians, some 5 other countries, by my count, are in a state of emergency. By the year's end 2011 could well be stamped into our memories as the year of revolts.

Perhaps taking his cue from these distant events, Melbourne chess businessman, David Cordover, looks to be sparking a revolution of his own.

But then, I thought, I better save that for another day.

For the time being, let's make do with this: "A Chess Game in Libya"

Staying in power is a game you must play. Like the popular board game, “Chess”, one should look forward a few more moves, and protect your king to win the game. You must plan it well, and do timely moves. You have to put your opponent in apposition where you want him to be and do your planned attack.

Magic of Wood

Thumbs up to the Brisbane Times!

Anyway, now we use the checkers set regularly and we’ve even starting to dabble in chess. I don’t think I’d ever opt to play on the iPad if the physical board was at hand. Why? Because I want my son to appreciate that not all games need to be high tech. They don’t all rely on batteries. It’s not that I’m a luddite, it’s just that sometimes it’s nice to get away from technology. The feel of the wooden pieces and the sound they make on the board is all part of the experience.

In "Will Tablets Kill Boardgames?"

Another RP Grandmaster

There's always time for some good news, especially Philippine-related ones. That country is set to have another grandmaster. GMA has the details:

Julio Catalino Sadorra earned his third and final Grandmaster (GM) norm after beating American GM Alexander Shabalov in the 10th round of the University of Texas-Dallas Spring Invitational GM tournament in North Dallas, Texas.

Sadorra is still considered an International Master (IM) pending the official confirmation from the World Chess Federation (Fédération Internationale des Échecs, FIDE). He was one of the Philippines' brightest young players before moving to the United States to continue his studies at UT-Dallas where he is in his second year taking up Applied Mathematics.

Note that one of Sadorra's teammates is none other than New Zealander IM Puchen Wang.

You can see both guys appear in this UT Dallas chess team video.

Chess in Clay

Hat tip to Max and the Open Culture. This one really did cheer me up. Thanks Max.

Update from Tokyo

To be honest, I really haven't had the head space to think chess over the last couple of days. As you can perhaps imagine it's been terribly hectic over here. Aftershocks occur almost every hour, although, thankfully, most are barely felt. This morning, however, at about 10AM Tokyo time, a 6.2 struck the city. Quite mild but it had enough thrust to shake my apartment.

Other than aftershocks there is the threat of a nuclear meltdown. I try not to think too much about that.

Anyway, to all my fans, I'm sure you bastards are worried about me, I just wanted to say that I'm perfectly alright.