Today’s winning MELANCHOLY

David Padovan

“Some of the worst mistakes in my life were haircuts”

― Jim Morrison

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”It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.”

― Edgar Allan Poe

“Melancholy is the happiness of being sad.”

― Victor Hugo

Chess items…

An old Benson and Hedges commercial using chess.  A King’s ransom….nice touch to it!

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My god!  Tampons and chess!

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I have nothing against nudes and chess!  Lois Mitchell by Ron Vogel.

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Today’s winning beach BUM!

Tuesday coffee…

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Hello Tuesday morning!  October the 13th–‘Lucky Tuesday‘!  To start this thread, I think it is time to congratulate the winners of some high-profile chess events that just finished this weekend and/or yesterday…

Congrats to 24-year old world champion Magnus Carlsen for winning the World Rapid Championship yesterday in Berlin with an undefeated score of 11.5 points from 15 games.

Certainly it is something remarkable (to me , anyway) to go thru such a gruelling 3 day event undefeated, but then again let us not forget that Carlsen did NOT run away with the event and several grandmasters were hot on his heels.  Magnus’s final score was just one point more than the next 3 finishers (Nepo, Dominguez and Radjabov)  and just 1.5 points ahead of 11-other players.

Two Canadians participated-GM Eric Hansen and IM Tomas Krnan.  Eric finished with a very respectable 8.5 points, while Tomas with a more modest 7 points.  The World Blitz Championship (FIDE likes to join these two events) begins later today…GOOD LUCK, Gentlemen!

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Congrats to 29 year old Harikrishna for winning the 2nd Poker Stars Isle of Man International!  His final score–7 points from 9 games–was equalled by the Frenchman Fressinet as well as the Armenian Sargissian, but the Indian was blessed with the higher tie-break. Congrats to all three!!!  As well, the readers might want to take a look at their games played in this tournament…this writer feels that some of the BEST chess played in the past decade was played by these gentlemen!  Must be something about the air and healthy lifestyle associated with the Isle of Man!

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FINALLY,  congrats to 27-year old Nakamura for out-surviving LeQuang in the final tiebreak game! With this victory the American walked away with a cool $100-k, despite the controversy involving a 9-move draw in the last regulation-time control game.

It is not known if Millionaire Tournament organizer Maurice Ashley will want to organize a third event next year…much depends on how his sponsors evaluate the public interest in what must be a money-losing tournament.

Today’s winning 5-second tactics

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THEME: TRAPPERS TRAPPED!

1.

gm  Barcenilla, R

gm  Akobian, Var

Millionaire Chess Op  Las Vegas  Yesterday!  Black had just taken White c-pawn (25…Bxc4) , thinking that Akobian had overlooked it. At first sight, Black seems correct! White has problems along the c-file, so can not capture the Bishop; furthermore, playing 26.Rc5 loses as Black trades Rooks and follows up with …Rc8. Could it be that Akopian simply dropped the c-pawn?

WHITE TO PLAY AND CRUSH!

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2.

gm Yu,Yangyi

gm  Rombaldoni, Axel

Millionaire Chess Op  Las Vegas  2015.10.11  The chinese superstar offered his e-pawn to his opponent,  setting a trap, which White accepted (26.Rxe6). The Italian grandmaster correctly reasoned that  if now 26…Rxe6 27.Qxe6+ Kg7 28.Be4 he is simply a pawn up; furthermore, if  26…Bc8 27.Rxg6+! hxg6 (27…Ng7 28.Rxe8 Bxg4 29.Rxf8+ Kxf8 30.Rxg4 and White is even better!) 28.Qxg6+ Ng7 29.Qh7+ and White has atleast a perpetual). Equally fruitless for Black would be 26…Qc6? 27.Be4 Qc7 28.Bxb7 and the game is won for White;  26…Nxf4? 27.Bxf4 Bxf4 28.Rxe8 is ditto.

WHAT DID WHITE OVERLOOK?

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Millionaire Chess Op  Las Vegas  2015.10.11  Akobian, Var.–Barcenilla, R: 26.Rd8+!  (The first point is that if 26…Rxd8 27.Bxc4 Rac8 28.Bxf7+ Kxf7 29.Rc5 and White wins easily ) 26…Bf8  and now the way to force immediate resignation is 27.Rxe5! when the threat of Rg5+ and Bd4(+) is devastating.   In the game White played less precise with 27.Rxf8+ Kxf8 28.Bc5+ Rxc5 29.Rxc5, though still had enough advantage to win the game.  Black resigned on the 35th move.

Millionaire Chess Op  Las Vegas  2015.10.11  Rombaldoni, Axel–Yu,Yangyi: 26…Nf6!! 27.Qh3 (Now if 27.Qe2 Qc6! 28.Be4 (what else?) when both 28…Nxe4 and  28…Rxe6  are reason enough for White to throw in the towel. Had White seen what was next, he should have tried 27.Rxf6!? Rxe1+ 28.Bxe1 Rxf6 though Black should eventually win) 27…Qc6! Again!  This is the basic idea of Black’s little trap. White was hoping for 27…Bc8 when 28.f5! is an unclear mess. The game continued  28.Be4 Nxe4 29.R1xe4 Bc8! 30.Re1 Rxe6 31.Rxe6 Qf3 32.Be1 Bxf4 0-1

Chess, potpourri and other nonsense

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PUTIN : ICONIC TREND SETTER?

( Part I)

There is no escaping it: Vladimir Putin’s chess board magic is the iconic symbol of our time. Putin may infact be the smartest politician on planet Earth! There is something UNCOMFORTABLE about this idea, mostly because it is a reflection on how STUPID our own politicians are…IN ANY CASE, have you observed the increasing frequency of the use of chess in the media? Remarkable, isn’t it! Thank Putin for that! Here is a Canadian news segment that pitches the upcoming Canadian election  and how little Canadians actually understand the electoral rules, against a background of chess. ENJOY!

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‘Checkmate, bitch!’

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This question has been hotly debated for hundreds of years without a clear consensus. BUT FINALLY yesterday in the very last round of the Millionaire Chess Tournament in Las Vegas, infront of millions of TV and internet viewers–and with Maurice Ashley biting nervously his nails in the corridors–the chess-world was given the Mother of all answers…that ends the debate!

CHESS IS A DRAW! 

Nakamura–McShane

Millionaire Chess Open (yesterday)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3

6…Ng4!

Threatening to double White’s pawns with …NxB

7.Bc1!

Now Black’s Knight is looking silly!

7…Nf6!

That shows White, doesn’t it!?

8.Be3!

White refuses to be intimidated!

8…Ng4!

9.Bc1!

DRAW AGREED!!!

Neither side can make progress without incurring unreasonable risks…

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OFCOURSE, joking aside, a big controversy ensued! Tournament organizer Maurice Ashley had invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote his event and get world wide coverage. He felt SHAFTED by both Nakamura and McShane!  Rightly so…

Maurice Ashley (second from right) considering forfeiting both Nakamura and McShane (foreground). “If we’re ever going to be a televisual game we cannot have games like this…I consider it a stain on our game.”  Read more HERE and HERE.

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FUNNY VIDEO!

The website www.gorilla.org starts with:

‘Gorilla conservation starts with people. The Gorilla Organization has worked for more than two decades to save the world’s last remaining gorillas in the wild. The Gorilla Organization is a UK Registered Charity and a member of Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB) – committed to the highest standards of good practice and work to ensure our fundraising activities are open, legal and fair.’  Even if you don’t care so much about gorilla’s, this short video is fun!

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PUTIN : ICONIC TREND SETTER?

(Part II)

Even religious fanatics prophecising the doom and gloom of certain parts of the bible are using the symbolic nature of our noble game in their propaganda:

‘The Persians invented Chess…but the Russians mastered it. This week’s update by FBC’s John Haller looks at the shuffling of power in the Middle East and the potential impact on Israel, the recent attack in Oregon that singled out followers of Christ and yet another ACLU lawsuit that demands that a Catholic hospital provide abortive services.

What is Putin up to, and how will the power void and projection of weakness unmistakably signaled by the US President affect events worldwide? So many pieces on the board are moving and the end times game is playing out right on schedule, just as God predicted. All the pieces are falling into place.’

https://vimeo.com/141377113

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Interacting with the audience…

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PUTIN : ICONIC TREND SETTER?

(Part III)

Music video of Champagne Duane performing “I Got You” featuring Jonny Cool (Jonathan Sanders). Filmed at 109 Salmon Studios by Director Kevin Hasenkopf for V1Creative on February 7, 2015.

“I Got You” is a song about camaraderie, while the video explores the idea of competition. The competitive nature of two emcees on one song can be seen in the use of contrasting black and white environments, a parallel between Duane and Jonny’s unique styles. Themes such as ring girls, vying for female attention, and a chess match add to the rivalry. The opposing sides working together ultimately represent how their differences actually push each other forward.´

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Why not make this year’s Halloween

a SCIENCE project!?

She doesn’t seem impressed with that last suggestion…Ok, then, let’s forget the Jaws music!

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IN PRAISE OF LIBRARIANS

 

“Nympho Librarian” by Les Tucker (Jake
Moskovitz) New York: Bee-Line Press, [1970] Cover by Paul Rader

 

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She likes it BLACK!

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I hope the answer is PARTY!  Life goes on…

Leonard Cohen is a BIG fan of Doritos, like me.

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The extra-ordinarily sexy Jill St.John

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POOR FRANK.

FRANK IS MISUNDERSTOOD…

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Today’s winning TAIL!

The lovely Canadian Amelie Tremblay. Photo by Donat Boulerice

“Men who do not forgive women their little faults will never enjoy their great virtues.”

― Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam

Sunday’s winning 5-second tactics

´We have to be willing to break in order to become.’

― Jeanette LeBlanc

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gm Zapata,A

gm So,W

Millionaire Chess Op  Las Vegas  2015.10.8   Position after 25 moves. White has a powerful bind on the kingside, and can probably build up his game decisively with Qd3,Re3 and Rh3. But So wanted something faster..

WHITE TO PLAY AND CRUSH!

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gm Stopa,J

gm  Shankland, S

Millionaire Chess Op  Las Vegas, yesterday!  Position after 36 moves.  This one is easy, but heck, it is Sunday! The Black King is exposed to an attack of Queen and Rook. Do you see the win?

WHITE TO PLAY AND CRUSH!

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Millionaire Chess Op  Las Vegas  2015.10.8 So, Wesley–Zapata, Alonso: 26.Nxh7! Rxf1+ ( equivalent is 26…Kxh7 27.Rxf8 Qxf8 28.Rf1 Qg7 29.Rf6 followed by a big bang on g6; the White Queen and pawns should be enough to mate) 27.Rxf1 1-0  A bit premature, but how to stop the line given above?

Millionaire Chess Op  Las Vegas  2015.10.10 Shankland, Sam–Stopa, Jacek: 37.Qh8+ Ke7 38.Rxf7+ 1-0

Today’s winning CATCH!

“But for every man there exists a bait which he cannot resist swallowing.”

F.Nietzsche

Chess, Munsters and tournament Ethics

Below is an article that was brought to my attention today concerning inappropriate behaviour by parents/children at chess tournaments in Georgia. Especially school tournaments. I suspect that the problem the author focuses on is not just isolated to Georgia, but is familiar to virtually EVERY chess tournament involving parents and their young children…

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LINK

Warning: this article will most likely provoke those who may recognize themselves in its narrative.  Good!  You’re my target audience.

We have a problem.  Not with chess itself – it’s a wonderful game played by all sorts of interesting people of all ages.  The Georgia Chess Association is proud to offer a full calendar of scholastic tournaments for kids in grades K-12 and a variety of events for the entire community, including specialized tournaments just for women and senior citizens.  We’re also pleased to include other chess organizations’ tournaments on our calendar and we encourage our members to participate in as many of these as possible.

The problem goes beyond the game of chess, and unfortunately seems to have become endemic in our society.  Some call it disrespect, thoughtlessness, or just plain rudeness.  Others call it a lack of manners or proper discipline.  The problem is inappropriate behavior and just about everyone would agree that it’s unacceptable at a chess tournament.

We’re not just talking about poor sportsmanship at the board.  Yes, more than a few of us may recall an instance or two in which a player exploded in anger or frustration during a game or interrupted a tournament for personal reasons.  In these cases, the situation either resolved itself very quickly (reflecting badly on the perpetrator) or the tournament organizer or tournament director (TD) stepped in to administer the situation.

The bad behavior referenced here is more along the lines of inconsideration for other players, parental inattention to kids getting out of control, and aggressive defensiveness towards tournament staff who are trying to restore the peace and order that a chess tournament requires.

These issues seem to occur less frequently at a scholastic tournament (one that’s just for kids) or at an Open tournament for adults and experienced, older scholastic players.  These serious middle and high school students are usually intensely focused on their games and know how to conduct themselves between rounds.

Rather, the problem manifests at tournaments when young kids participate alongside adults or play in a separate scholastic competition that shares the same facility as the Open event.  Young elementary school kids can get a little carried away in the excitement of participating in a tournament and forget that they´re not just around playmates.  Unfortunately, the problem is exacerbated by their parents who don´t seem to realize how disruptive their kids have become to those still playing.  Sometimes, when the situation is pointed out to parents, they choose to do nothing to stop it.  And sometimes the parents aren’t even physically at the tournament, having dropped off their kids and leaving them unsupervised for the day.

Here are a few complaints from a recently held tournament:

“The children were running around the hall as though it was recess at the elementary school. They were up-and-down, in and out of their chairs.  As they ran up and down the rows they were constantly bumping, elbowing or kicking the chairs of other players.¨

“Parents (were) doing nothing but tapping on their laptops, cell phones or chatting.”

“Not only was parental lack of supervision a problem, but also lack of TD supervision. There was often not a TD in the playing hall. The TDs and organizers need to set the tone. But mainly the parents need to supervise and control their children.”

 

So what can be done to remedy the situation?  Let’s look at each of the three parties involved here:  the kids, their parents, and those who organize these tournaments.   We’ll start with the least culpable of the three, the tournament organizers.

First off, no tournament organizer or tournament director holds the title of babysitter, nor should they be expected to be in charge of teaching manners or self-discipline to any child other than their own.  That said, it is still the responsibility of those hosting the tournament to ensure that there is sufficient staff to guide non-participants away from the playing hall and to quickly intervene in any disruptions.

Speaking for the GCA, we know something about hosting lots of kids at a tournament.  Yes, these are primarily scholastic events without adult players, but we’ve found that “feet on the beat” helps tremendously.  Many of our scholastic events attract hundreds of kids, with our largest annual tournament involving over 1100 K-8 players in school vs. school team competition.  We rely heavily on our volunteer ambassadors to keep spectators out of the tournament hall, ensure that the hallways are kept quiet and free of conversation (and electronic noise!), and manage the flow of tournament traffic.  As parents ourselves, we know that young kids are, well, kids who need to vent their excess energies throughout a long tournament day. That’s why we try as often as we can to have a venue with an outside area where kids can run, throw balls, and hang out with their friends between rounds.  Schools work well, especially when they can make their playing fields or courtyards available to our group.  More often, however, we´re restricted to using a hotel or convention center, with only a large ballroom for a Skittles area.  And it’s a constant challenge to keep the noise and distractions far away from the games in progress!

Not every tournament organizer will want or be able to staff enough help to manage unruly kids.  If kids present a continual disruption to adult tournaments, especially if parents do nothing to rein in their children, scholastic players may find as a consequence that there will be far fewer tournaments for them to play in.  An organizer who would traditionally run a one day scholastic tournament during a multi-day Open event may decide that it’s just not worth alienating his adult players, some of whom travel a good distance to play, to keep a separate scholastic event.

When disruptions occur, the main focus will inevitably be on the kids. Some people will say that young kids should not be held responsible for their misbehavior, that it is the failure of their parents to properly teach them good manners and closely supervise them at a tournament.  While I certainly agree with the statement about the parents, I don’t totally absolve the kids. 

If they are school-age and have the self-discipline to study chess, then they are old enough and smart enough to know when they’re behaving properly and when they’re deliberately getting away with a bit of mayhem.  Even young chess players know that peace and quiet is necessary to concentrate on the game.  If kids can learn to be quiet in a school library, they can learn to be quiet at a chess tournament.  And individually, most of them demonstrate that they know this and usually behave pretty well.  It’s when they join a pack of kids that a group mentality takes hold, and soon they forget where they are and get carried away.  This can happen innocently enough even when the focus is on a chess game.  A group of kids finished with their round may crowd into a room too close to the tournament hall to play blitz chess, and get a little too noisy in their excitement.

Most of the responsibility, though, falls on the parents.  Besides teaching their children basic manners, self-discipline, and responsibility for their actions, parents need to use proper judgment before registering them for any tournament:

–  Is your child mature enough to play in a tournament alongside adults?  Generally, kids under age ten do best in scholastic tournaments.  If they can’t show proper respect to adults and other players, quietly occupy themselves when they’re not playing a game, or restrain themselves from running or talking too loudly, then they should keep to scholastic tournaments until they can.

–  How long can the child sit and concentrate on a game?  If an hour is the limit, stick to scholastic events.

–  Is your child playing in the proper section, based on his or her rating? If a kid is greatly outmatched, then the game will be over that much more quickly and the child will have more time between rounds to possibly get into trouble.  Also, competing in too high a section may even discourage him from wanting to play in a future tournament

–  At what point for your child is a day of chess too long?  Every tournament offers at least one bye, so take advantage of the opportunity and let your child skip a round in favor of a break in the day.

–  Does your child have high reserves of physical energy?  Use the time between rounds for a little physical exercise outside, whether that’s by kicking a ball around or just taking a walk.

Sometimes parents can become aggressively defensive about their children.  If a TD or other tournament staff member approaches you about your child acting inappropriately, please understand that they are just trying to maintain an orderly tournament. Each round’s pairings are derived from a number of factors, such as USCF ratings and points earned thus far in the tournament, and often determined by a tournament software program.  There will be times when opponents within a section appear mismatched in playing strength, when someone has to play either black or white in two consecutive games (instead of switching sides every round), or when someone has to take a forced “bye” (an uneven number of players in a section causes one to sit out a round, though the person with the “bye” receives a full game point).  Take the time to learn some of the main tournament rules, or gently ask the TD or staff for an explanation if there’s something that doesn’t seem to make sense.   If your child is playing in an Open tournament, remember that the event is intended for both adults and kids to enjoy and that it’s a true competition, not just a learning experience for the kids.

Most importantly, parents need to be there for their kids.  Be physically present or coordinate with other parents to provide shifts of supervision throughout the tournament.  Know where they are and what they are doing outside of the tournament hall.  Make sure that they have something to eat and drink throughout the day – chess is not unlike other sports in that it uses up a lot of energy!  Also, ensure that they have books, homework, or quiet entertainment to keep them occupied between rounds.  Plenty of parents bring in their own work, read books, or catch up with friends while their children are playing.  That’s all well and fine; it can be a long day for the parents, too. Just be sure to keep an eye on the kids – the tournament organizers will be most appreciative!

Proper tournament etiquette can be summed up in one word: respect.  If everyone shows respect for the event and respect for the other people at that event (the tournament organizers and directors, the players, the parents, etc.), then most of the problems go away or are at least greatly mitigated.  And it certainly makes for a much more pleasant tournament experience for everyone.