Far from Chess

Out of the still ongoing aftershocks (we had an M6 last night), my 12 to 14-hour days, anti-nuke demos (I photograph the events) and the one million and one other things to do in Tokyo, I've had very little time for chess. So disconnected from chess, in fact, that I hadn't realised that the Doeberl Cup was on again!

Well, not until I saw a couple ofDoeberl Cup related updates by friends on Facebook. I'd provide a link to www.doeberlcup.com.au but the damn website is so slow to load I just gave up.

So, I bring you instead this video from Macauley Peterson which is a recap of the also ongoing US Championships. This is one is a recap of rounds 6 and seven.

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.

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.

So who won?

I just love this. It's an old story, but it reminds me of one of the best things in life. Late night blitz.




There's more on this by Macauley Peterson over on Chess Life Online from way back in December. Rightly so, Macauley is keeping the final score a secret. Being a Nakamura fan, I hope he won!

Help Christchurch

Since moving to Tokyo, I do now get my fair share of tremors. Most are barely noticeable. After the first time I felt a real shake, I logged onto Facebook and made a joke about it. But the 6.3 magnitude quake that struck the New Zealand city of Christchurch yesterday was no joke.

By the latest count, some 75 people have perished. Roughly two hundred or so are still missing.

I understand that there are quite a few members of the NZ chess community who are based out of Chrischurch or around the surrounding areas, among them being the affable FM Steven Lukey. Yesterday I saw that he posted a message on Australia's chess bulletin board, Chess Chat. I'm glad he's alright. Still, no news has been heard of other chessers in the area. But I'm hoping, as I'm sure we all are, that they escaped.

For many Australian chess players, of course, Christchurch is actually an important stop en route to and from New Zealand tournaments. I've been there twice myself for Queenstown. While very small compared to many other cities, Christchurch is stunningly beautiful.

I also remember well the giant outdoor chess set just outside the famous cathedral that now stands half destroyed. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the regular chess folks when the temblor struck.

If you want to help, please contact the usual charities.

New Doco on Fischer

Obviously as a follow-up to yesterday's post, one of our avid readers just sent in a tip about the latest doco on Bobby Fischer. This one called "Bobby Fischer Against the World", directed by Liz Garbus, recently premiered at Sundance.

I couldn't find the trailer, but here's Liz briefly talking about the film plus a brief clip.

Spanish Queen of Chess

Watching the "Secret Files of the Inquisition" on SBS tonight I learn that the queen in chess is actually Queen Isabella of Spain. Scroll to about 3.30 of this video.



A quick google after the episode reveals this:

"In its original form, the equivalent of the queen was male, a piece known in Spanish as alferza, from the Persian, meaning something like vizier or adjutant," said Govert Westerveld, a Dutch chess historian and former youth champion who lives in Spain.

"The figure was weak, and its movements limited. Later, around 1475, when Isabella was crowned queen of Castile, the figure became female but able to move only one square at a time, like the king. Not until 1495, when Isabella was the most powerful woman in Europe, were the present rules of chess established, in which the queen roams freely in all directions on the board," Dr Westerveld said yesterday.

More in "Check: powerful queen who changed the world also transformed chess".

Gold Coast Chess Vid

A nice video from the just concluded Gold Coast Chess Festival. Congrats Junta Ikeda.

Ryobi's Chess Ad

It seems that the Christmas quiz was a bit too hard for our readers. So no one scores the prizes on offer. Anyway, here are the correct answers: (i) Ryobi and (ii) False. Yep, IM Stephen Solomon has, in fact, beaten GM Ian Rogers in a weekender. I was there the first time it happened.

First, the Ryobi ad.



And now, the game.

Fairfield Summer Cup 2001
Rogers, Ian
Solomon, Stephen

(The in-game comments were those I wrote for the NSWCA/ACF bulletins back in 2001!)

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. e3 c6 4. Nd2 Nbd7 5. Ngf3 e6 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O h6 8. Bh4 b6 9. c4 Bb7 10. Bg3 O-O 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Ne5 c5 13. Qf3 a6 14. Rac1 Ra7 15. Rfe1 c4 16. Bb1 b5 17. Qf5 Re8 18. e4 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Bc8 20. Qf3 Bg4 21. exf6 Bxf3 22. fxe7 Raxe7 23. gxf3 d4 24. b3 Qa5 25. Red1 c3 26. Nf1 Rd8 27. Rd3 Red7 28. Rc2 Qb4 29. Re2 a5 30. e5 Rc8 31. Ne3 Qa3 32. Nc2 Qb2 33. Re1 a4 Right about now, Solomon was down to his last 5 minutes. There is nothing like a Solo in blitz mode. He moves the pieces swiftly and efficiently. Earlier, Lee Forace asked him how many moves he could make in 1 second. Solo’s reply? Five moves! 34. b4 a3 35. f4 Rc4 36. f5 Rxb4 37. e6 fxe6 38. fxe6 Re7 39. Nxd4 Rxd4 40. Rxd4 c2 41. Rd8+ Kh7 42. Bxc2+ Qxc2 43. Rd7 Rxd7 44. exd7 Qd2 45. Re7 b4 46. h3 b3 47. Be5 Kg6 48. axb3 a2 49. Bxg7 Qd1+ 50. Kg2 Qd5+ 51. Kg1 Qg5+ And with a little smile, Rogers resigns 0-1

The Evil Chess

There's a cool new show that's set to air on US TV screens next month - "The Cape". But what's interesting is that for some reason, the evil villain is called "Chess". Check out the trailer.

Talking Nonsense

The problem with so much art, particularly so called "modern" art (or are we now "postmodern"?), is that they're too over-hyped and way overpriced. Like this one:

How the Aussies Got Thrashed

I don't usually post two videos immediately after each other but this one really can't be helped.

In case you're wondering how the Australians lost that cricket test match by an innings and 71 runs, have a gander at this.



Like the captain, they're pretty boys, not cricketers, more worried about the next big paycheck from the next commercial gig like this one.

I appreciate that not all of our readers understand cricket. Well, this defeat is like Manny Pacquiao pounding the face of his opposition with a left, a right and an uppercut before a KO. It's like your favourite football team trouncing the other side 10-0. Or a bit like Hussain Bolt leaving the rest of the field by a good 2 seconds to the finish line. It's a bit like this.

WCh Women, Turkey
Sebag, M.
Vasilevich, I.
C67

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Be6 10. h3 h6 11. g4 Ne7 12. Nd4 Bd7 13. Ne4 Ng6 14. f4 h5 15. Ng5 Bc5 16. Be3 Ke8 17. Rae1 hxg4

Position after 17...hxg4

18. e6 fxe6 19. Ndxe6 Bd6 20. Bc5 Bxc5+ 21. Nxc5+ Ne7 22. Re5 1-0

High Rise Chess Match

High above the city of Melbourne was this tense chess match. Awesome stuff!



Some details in the Melbourne Leader.

Best Goal Ever

As I watched this very funny Man U goal over the weekend, I thought that it's a pity that football doesn't have anything like Appendix B.3.c, a rule for blitz, which says in part: "An illegal move is completed once the opponent’s clock has been started. The opponent is entitled to claim a win before he has made his own move."

OK, the Spurs team and their fans couldn't exactly claim an immediate win when Nani handled the ball, but they were at least entitled to a free kick. They thought so, anyway.

But nope! This is what happened.



I don't know, but that's almost like the equivalent of player A making an illegal move, B motioning to summon the arbiter, then A suddenly picks up a piece and, BANG, checkmates player B.

Beaten by a Can

H/T to Gambit.

Olympiad Goes to Norway

Chessbase have just reported that the 2014 Olympiad will be held in the Norwegian city of Tromsø! The Norwegian bid edged out their Bulgarian rivals who planned to host their event in Albena. I have to admit, I was slightly leaning towards the Bulgarians on this one. That was largely thanks to this impressive video that features sun, surf and gorgeous people.

Still, Tromsø looks quite enticing, too. I just hope that they think to actually hold the event in agreeable weather. The place looks quite nice in the summer time. Here's a promo vid by the Norwegians.

Aussie Stud in Olympiad

Back home in Tokyo now and, of course, the first thing I do is log on to the Olympiad. There waiting is a grand spanking new official site! Faster and prettier, like the blonde Sava Stoisavljevic (who's the chief arbiter of this event), the site now also seems to be quite reliable. I've actually got all the Australian games up on my browser!

Very interesting for folsk Down Under was the little Trans-Tasman test match up of the New Zealand and Australian women's teams. That ended in Australia's favour 2.5 - 1.5 after WIM Arianne Caoili pulled off the only victory, against Helen Milligan, on board one.

Speaking of the women, by the way, here's a special report on women in the Olympiad. See if you can spot the Australian stud.

Seeking the Endgame, Ep. 2

Episode 2 of Simon Terrington's "Seeking the Endgame" is up on the BBC site. Once again, Australian grandmaster Ian Rogers delivers the quotable quote.

In the program GM Rogers says, "People think that chess players are clever and we like to keep it that way", and adding, "I don't think you can necessarily read too much into the fact that a player's a good chess player. I mean [there] are a lot of dumb chess players to be honest!"

It was either that or this: "You can be fat and play a good game of chess", emphasising the game's unattractiveness to sponsors.

One other good thing about the 2-part series is that we get to at least discover some chess related music, like this one.

Check Out The Speed Chick

I can assure you, I've got no connections with these Eleviv guys, but when I saw the vid(courtesy of a recent poster's blog) I just couldn't resist.