Arbiter Caught on Tape

Over on Chess Chat, they are talking about a very strange arbiter's decision that was caught on tape. Instead of resulting in, what seems to me, a likely win for black - the game ended peacefully. Take a look!

Pay close attention to the positions at 0.51 and 2.33.



Australian chess mandarin and deputy boss of the Australian Chess Federation, Bill Gletsos, summarises it neatly in his usual brutal style: "Total screw up by the arbiter".

Chess in Warrnambool

Well, of course, chess isn't nerdy. Kudos to those pupils over at the Warrnambool East Primary School!

3rd Asian Indoor Games

The powerhouses of Asian chess are once again gathering in the Hanoi, Vietnam for this year's Asian Indoor Games event. The Pinoy team will have the services of GM Paragua, GM "Joey" Antonio and WFMs Catherine Perena as well as Sherily Cua.

The Indonesians, on the other hand, have made an interesting decision. Instead heading for Vietnam, the Indon team will head for a tour of Europe in the hope of gaining tough practice for the 2011 Southeast Asian Games. The Jakarta Post has the details on this one.

Varshavsky Strikes Again?

The National Sudoku Championship event in the US finds itself in a minor controversy due to alleged cheating by a certain Eugene Varshavsky. What makes this of interest to chess fans is that back in 2006, a player in the World Open, in Philadelphia, was among a number of players also suspected of cheating. His name? Yep, Eugene Varshavsky!

NPR has the juice.

FIDE Creates Player Market

These recent rule changes (taking effect from 1 July, 2010) governing the transfer of players from one federation to another has at last placed an "official" value on players' heads. Destination federations must now pay up, a so-called "compensation fee".

For example, a GM rated 2700+ will cost €50,000; it's €30,000 for anyone rated 2600 to 2699 and €10,000 for a GM rated below 2600.

So, for Serbian GM Dejan Antic, who so desperately wants to move Down Under - the ACF will now have to fork out as much as €10,000 or roughly AUD$16,200 based on today's exchange rates.

The new rule was suggested by FIDE General Secretary Ignatius Leong and when I asked him about that, his point seemed to me perfectly valid. Said he: "Several federations have been investing in developing their players and receive nothing when players transfer. Hence, the adopting federation pays a compensation fee to the previous federation. Federations adopting players should be ready to pay both transfer fee and compensation as otherwise they benefit from other federations' long-term investment and simply takeover a "ready product".

On one level all of this makes sense. For at last we now recognise, not only the value of players, but also the investments made by their originating federations.

Imagine, just for a moment, if GM Zong Yuan Zhao suddenly decides to head for China and play for that country: to rediscover his roots, as it were. Why should the ACF not receive compensation from the Chinese? That's €10,000, thank you very much. I can just imagine the ACF boss rubbing his hands with glee!

And there lies another side effect of these new rules. By placing values on players' heads, FIDE has effectively also created a market. Now it will be possible for federations to trade players between themselves. Of course - federations being federations, busy with admin matters and politics - someone else must worry about the buying and selling. Who else should fill that gap but brokers?

With these developments, I might just consider a whole new career. After all, who's going to stop me from adding a little extra % for moving one player from fed X to fed Y?

Sachdev Walks Down the Aisle

I wonder if India has its own "Dancing with the Stars" program. They sooo need to get this chick Tanya Sachdev in that show. There's a real chess champion who can make chess utterly sexy. She's even managed to march down the catwalk for local Indian fashion design team Ashima-Leena.

When asked what it was like to walk down the ramp for the first time, Sachdev said, "After playing chess for so long I always thought walking the ramp would be easy, but now I can easily say that chess is much easier. Initially I had butterflies in my stomach, but once I was there, it was good fun."

From the Times of India.

Obama is World Champion

Adding to his totally undeserved Nobel Peace Prize, the big talking all promise messiah-like United States president, Barack Obama, stuns the world by becoming the next World Chess Champion. Yes, you read that right.

The World Chess Federation today announced that Barack Obama had become the world chess champion, nudging aside former undisputed champion Viswanathan Anand of India.

The news surprised some in the chess world, because Obama has never participated in tournament play. But FIDE officials said they felt certain Obama could become world champion if he ever decided to try.

Others were less surprised. Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgar noted the world championship is just the latest in a string of triumphs for the American president.

From the Tampa Bay Online.

Paragua To Break World Record

The 500-board simul world record that is currently held by Iranian GM Morteza Mahjoob could soon be broken by Pinoy GM Mark Paragua. Marlon Bernardino reports that the Mark will aim for 600 boards!

Taking on mostly 600 patzers at the same time, well, that's always an achievement, ain't it. Frankly, GM Paragua, the first Pinoy to reach "Super Grandmaster" status as Bernardino reminds us, ought to try and return to that elite company. Stick to serious chess, not this sideshow stuff.

But then again, when you've got a giant like a certain Wesley So casting such a shadow, what can you do?

By the way, go to the FIDE database, select Philippines, list by rating, then search. I get zero results. Nada.

Queen to Play

Attention Mr Reading and his supporters, here's a film for you, "Queen to Play". From the Miami Herald:

Attention all nerds and former high-school science-club members: Finally, there is a movie that shares your belief that chess should be a magnet for hot babes and sex. The French drama Queen to Play (Joueuse) is more eloquent and dignified -- here, chess serves as a gateway for self-discovery -- although the end result is still sex.

If that Mr Reading reference is a bit lost on some, then read here. Anyway, I found this trailer. Looks good, must watch this one, I think.

Aussies in World Juniors

The World Juniors are on again, this time in Argentina. Melbourne's Sarah Anton and Canberra's Emma Guo are participating in the girls, while the sole Aussie boys representative is Sherab Guo-Yuthok.

The official website in English is here, but the page downloads so slowly that I recommend accessing the critical info from the Argentina chess fed homepage here. Live games are also available.