August 25, 2004
British Champ Overcomes Diabetes
Scotsman.com News reports that Jonathan Rowson overcame a diabetes attack to win the 2004 British Championship. A well-timed Snickers bar helped Rowson fight his debilitating low blood-sugar level to become the first Scotsman to win the British title in 58 years. Rowson stated:
Diabetes isn’t the end. Mental attitude, medication and lifestyle allay affects which I know can be terribly debilitating. I believe I prove it is not a barrier, but I’ve had to train myself to do that.It means I’m probably even more aware of my physical and mental states, and I’m sure it’s made me a better player.
August 22, 2004
Senate Candidates Err
USCF Master Todd Bardwick points out in a Rocky Mountain News piece that Colorado Senate candidates Democrat Mike Miles and Republican Bob Schaffer both chose to play a game of chess in public with the board set up wrong (i.e., black squares on the right side of the board). Justice was served, however, as both Miles and Schaffer their respective primaries.
August 15, 2004
CJA Awards
Popular chess author and GM Andrew Soltis won the "Chess Journalist of the Year award this year at the U.S. Open in Fort Lauderdale.
Respected postal chess organizer Helen Warren and GM Robert Byrne tied for the new "Lifetime Achievement award." Thanks to fellow Movable Type blogger About Chess for the news.
August 14, 2004
A Glorious Chess City?
Haaretz - Israel News reports on a plan that sounds just a tad too ambitious:
The president of Russia's Kalmykia region plans to build an international chess city in Dubai with investments of around $2.6 billion, a joint statement said yesterday.Kalmykia's President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and chief executive of Dubai Projects, Sulaiman al-Fahim, said the city would include 32 buildings shaped like chess pieces and cover an estimated area of 64,000 square meters.
"Dubai will play host to over 60 million amateur and professional chess followers from around the globe annually.
August 09, 2004
Tavis Smiley Show Features Chess Player
The archives of NPR's Tavis Smiley Show feature Orrin Hudson's Life Lessons in Chess, with "teacher, mentor and motivational speaker Orrin Hudson about how life is like a game a chess and what young African Americans can learn from it."
August 08, 2004
Anand on Top
Viswanathan Anand's performance in the Dortmund 2004 supertournament leads Mig Greengard to conclude "[Y]ou won't find many who would dispute the fact that Anand is playing better than anyone in the world right now."
The "Anna Kournikova of Chess"?
Partly wrapped in a fur coat that leaves very little to the imagination, Maria Manakova smiles suggestively at the camera.This 30-year-old female grandmaster has caused a minor sensation in the otherwise stuffy world of chess with a series of raunchy photo shoots for glossy magazines. ...
She was ranked No. 20 among the world's female players in the 1990s, but only recently began to exploit her looks. In the spring, she appeared on the cover of Russia's Speed magazine and this month's edition of Pro Sport features "artistic" shots of her in designer underwear.
In a recent interview, she poured scorn on female players in "dirty, baggy trousers," urging them to wear miniskirts instead to attract sponsors. "Enough of begging for money from businessmen and politicians who happen to fall in love with chess to their own misfortune," she argued. "It's time to work for this money, if not with behavior then at least with appearance.
August 07, 2004
Fischer to Renounce Citizenship
Brendan I. Koerner explains in Slate how Bobby Fischer can carry out his expressed desire to renounce his U.S. citizenship.
Fischer's apparent descent into mental illness, evidenced in part by his applauding the 9/11 attacks against the U.S. is sad, but few Americans will be sad to see him renounce his citizenship at this stage.
August 04, 2004
Is Chess Dangerous?
Two Louisiana men took their game a little two seriously, as one player rammed the other's head through a plate-glass window.
Thanks to the excellent Daily Dirt Chess Blog for the link.
August 03, 2004
Arnold Denker Scholastic Event
One of the nice things about the Arnold Denker Tournament of Champions is that it leads to favorable stories about chess in local newspapers, like this one from an Arkansas paper.
Held every year in conjunction with the U. S. Open, the Denker tournament is considered by many the most prestigious scholastic chess event in the nation.
August 02, 2004
Kasimdzhanov New FIDE Champ
Rustam Kasimdzhanov claimed the FIDE world championship by defeating Michael Adams by a 4 1/2 to 3 1/2 score in the final of the FIDE world championship in Tripoli, Libya.Lubomir Kavalek has the details in the Washington Post.
August 01, 2004
August Site of the Month: VCF
The Virginia
Chess Federation web site is the August Site of the Month. There
are many state organization chess sites, but this is one of the best.
Congratulations to VCF President Mike Atkins, VCF Webmaster Donnie Means
and their predecessors. Our archives have a
list of past winners.
July 31, 2004
Fischer To Appeal Deportation
Yahoo! News reports that Bobby Fischer will appeal a deportation order to the United States next week for the second time and to apply for temporary freedom from a detention center in Japan.
July 22, 2004
Fischer Arrested
Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer is complaining about rough treatement after being arrested in Japan for a passport violation. If sent back to the U.S. he faces a possible 10 year prison sentence for playing his 1992 match with Spassky in violation of economic sanctions against the host. A story in Forward discusses Fischer's extreme anti-Semitism.