I've had a glimpse of the massive online digital archives of the Scotsman newspaper, which go back to 1817. There's quite a bit of chess in there, including tidbits on Morphy's visit to Europe.
August 2005 Archives
I just updated US Championship website with the results of the US Open. (Actually it was updated a few days ago, but now with spiffy photos.)
An interesting article at Wired about online cheating at poker sites using software robots. The programmer at the center of the piece has an amusing set of rationalizations about why this is okay, starting with "everyone is doing it" and ye olde "it's a service to point out the weakness of the services." Making a buck, in other words.
You'll remember this hot topic about the organization mess at the World Youth Games in Belfort, France a few weeks ago. FIDE has responded with surprising speed and decisiveness.
Some follow-up to Stan Kriventsov's letter and related comments. Thanks to Carol Jarecki and Ernie Schlich for their help. The short version is that things are backed up.
Well, "GM-elect" that is. Despite narrowly missing Sergey Karjakin's record of youngest GM by 23 years, Michigan's Ben Finegold is quite pleased to be America's latest Grandmaster.
Continue reading GM Finegold.
With the various recent cases of fictional tournaments being rated, what about rating tournaments that actually happened? American IM Stan Kriventsov is wondering why his recent US events aren't on the list of tournaments to be rated by FIDE.
I'm not sure if this is tragedy, comedy, or heroism, but FIDE has just approved a request to let 15-year-old Gaston Needleman into the World Cup.
Today I received this letter from GM Alexander Onischuk, one of the seven players in the much-discussed tiebreak at the Continental Championship.
The official site of the San Luis FIDE world championship is doing its best to provide some buzz and build-up. They've posted three player Q&A items so far, each more boring than the last. Blame the questions, not the answers.
The item on the Continental Championship has already started buzzing about the tiebreak round robin held to find the six FIDE world cup qualifiers from the seven players who tied with eight points. Six strong GMs and 15-year-old Argentine Gaston Needleman played 15-minute games to find a single loser, bizarre to say the least.
Every year since 2001 Chess-in-the-Schools and the New York City parks department has put together a remarkable event right in the middle of Central Park.
Cuba's Lazaro Bruzón won clear first in the Continental Championship. Seven players tied for second a half-point back.
Based on my traffic patterns, many DD readers never visit the message boards. Meanwhile, some people seem to spend half their lives there.
If you are nostalgic for the early days of the internet, back when web pages were mostly poorly formatted text with ill-fitting photos pasted in, you're in for a treat. The US Chess Federation has put up a new homepage.
When Adams lost to Hydra 5.5-.5, one of the things that upset me the most was some of the commentary on the ICC. Hydra's brilliant combination at the end of the second game was not unveiled gradually in a dramatic way, but instantly cited by computer programs.
From an Icelandic magazine recapping the Fischer saga, the last paragraph has something of an update.
Just in case you thought chess sponsorship was tough, and it is, this article on the US marbles championship might cheer you up.
The dismal, horrible, really, really bad result of the Russian men's team in Gothenburg last week even made into the English versions of the Russian papers.
GM Vadim Milov posts a long open letter detailing his unsuccessful case to challenge FIDE in court over his inability to play in the Tripoli KO WCh last year.
This suite of interesting events starts tomorrow in Germany. The headliner is the GRENKELEASING rapid match of Grischuk taking his turn to put his head into Anand's mouth.
(Apologies to Fred and Ginger.) Gata Kamsky is the top seed at this year's Contentinal Championship starting today in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
This week I'll be meeting up with Jennifer Shahade, the 2002 and 2004 US Women's champion, Black Belt and Dirt contributor, and the author of the new book "Chess Bitch: Women In The Ultimate Intellectual Sport."
Continue reading Author, Author.
A few nice photos of a cool board and pieces I just stumbled into on the blogosphere.
This great event is well underway in Gothenburg, Sweden. The traditional powers have risen to the top for today's sixth round.
This is way too easy, but even Peter Leko's football matches end in draws!
Never one to settle for just one record, US GM Susan Polgar seems to have broken quite a few during her marathon simul in Palm Beach Gardens. The main one is the most games going at the same time, which she has pushed up to 326.
The official site is on the air. This link goes to the English version. The event beings on September 27. It's a predictably heavy website, also chock full of historical, typographical, and every other type of mistake you can think of, in both the Spanish and English versions.
Not mincing words, that headline comes from one of the coaches of the US World Youth team that just finished well in Belfort, France. I'd already mentioned one report of miserable conditions at the event from the president of a different federation. But coach Aviv Friedman gets into the details on the record today.
Continue reading Shame, Thievery, and Anarchy.
