Thursday, August 29, 2013

World Amateur Chess Championships 2014

All these chess news, the good and the very sad, have got me itching for a proper game again. I think my last “official” tournament was back in 2011, in some low key event near where I live in Tokyo. But if I ever play, I always want to treat it as part holiday. Luckily, I found just such an event – not too far from Japan.

It looks like the next so-called World Amateur Chess Championships is going to be hosted by Singapore. Always wanted to visit Singapore and this is just perfect. Problem is, this being some sort of national representation event it looks like I will need my federation’s endorsement! I will email them. Hopefully, I still have some friends in the ACF.

One thing I did find a bit odd in the WACC’s tournament regulations, however, is the rate of play. They are using the rather retro 40 moves in the first 2 hours, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game. I hadn’t realized that people still use this time control. Just imagine all the headaches that could ensue over rule 10.2! Anyway, what with all things vintage these days, why not this time control? It will at least bring back long old memories.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The weird audio that comes up unavoidably on this site makes me not want to come back. Can't even see where it's coming from on the page.

Derek Bridges said...

Sorry to leave this here but I didn't see an email contact. I thought you might be interested in the documentary I’m making about New Orleans chessmaster Jude Acers who has been playing $5 games in the French Quarter at his "World Chess Table" since 1981.

In 1964 a 20-year old Acers entertained a 21-year old Bobby Fischer in Baton Rouge in New Orleans (where he played Fischer to a draw at a simultaneous tournament), shortly after Fischer's 11-0 run at the U.S. Chess Championship; in 1968 Acers lived in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district and played pick-up basketball with The Doors and counted Janis Joplin among his acquaintances when he wasn't competing against top players at the Mechanics' Chess Club; Jude's 1970 win over U.S. Champion Walter Browne was voted a “Top Ten” theory game in the world for 1970 by a panel of six grandmasters and published in Chess Informant (Informator/Belgrade); Acers has been in the Guinness Book of World Records twice for simultaneous exhibitions and today Fodor’s 2013 New Orleans guidebook sends tourists right to Jude's table. Jude has also logged thousands of miles across the country via Greyhound bus giving chess exhibitions in prisons and malls. He's a great popularizer of the game.

We have already spent extensive time at Acers' table interviewing him at length when he's not playing and they're also developing storylines about people in Jude's orbit--a cast that looks remarkably like New Orleans.

An anonymous benefactor in recent years has sent Jude to compete in the FIDE World Senior Chess Championship held annually in Europe and the documentary team has recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise enough funds to join Acers in Croatia in November to cover Jude as he seeks to become the World Senior Chess Champion.

Here's a link to our Kickstarter campaign where you can learn more about Jude and our project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/304635435/the-man-in-the-red-beret.

I hope you give it a look and don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions.

Regards,
Derek Bridges

OzChess.com said...

How was Japan?

OzChess.com said...

How was Japan?

Anonymous said...

dont you need to be below 2000 to play world amateur?

Christian said...

Hi, great blog mate.

I am running a tumblr that shares the best chess news and videos daily.

Would you be interested in having your posts up there too?

URL: http://bit.ly/1aSijt6