.jpg) Alekhine's Parrot
Welcome
to the weekly leader
of chess events around the world.
7-5-2008
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While looking for a caption of
Pony Express to illustrate the Alex Baburin letter below, I thought I’d have
a go at a caption for it. Then I thought, “are readers wittier than me?”
So I then thought I’d introduce an image every week – not necessarily a
chess one, but the goal is to suggest a chess caption, and challenge readers
to do better. Winning captions will receive an actual prize! The review
committee [me and my hound-dog] will weigh current chess events in mind in
awarding first prize. Other rules will be made up as we go along.
This week you get 2 choices – beat the
Parrot with either the Pony express caption below, or try
this one! |
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Its new,
its boring, its been done before, but... Beat The Parrot!
“2009 US Women’s Chess Champion Play-off Pentathlon, Part 3
– The Egg Race” |
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Chess Media
GM Baburin
wants your opinion
GM Baburin
comments on the [slow] July FIDE rating list:
The trouble with omitting Foros is that FIDE broke its own rules on
several occasions in the past (i.e. for Linares). I am not
calling on FIDE to break rules again – I think that FIDE should set a
different deadline for submitting tournaments for rating - the current
period of 15 days is ridiculous in this day and age – do chess
organisers deliver tournament cross-tables using horses? Do FIDE
guys calculate them using pen and paper? Hardly... With
e-mail and computer calculations something like 2 days would be a
reasonable deadline – and then FIDE should make no exceptions! |
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And here is your
prize for beating the Parrot, from a Chessville
advertiser:
The Colle just
grew up … and now it eats “silver bullets” for breakfast!
ZUKE ‘EM:
The Colle-Zukertort
Revolutionized
Refining the main line, Refuting the pet defenses, Redefining
what an opening book should be. New ideas against … practically
all defenses
www.zukertort.com
You win, you get one! |
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This
may sound like a theoretical dispute for some chess fans, but for the chess
pros affected it could mean serious loss (or gain) of income! If you have an
opinion on these matters and would like to share it with other CT readers,
drop me a note to
ababurin@iol.ie
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Check Your State – SPICE
Cup Reps
Susan Polgar writes: PLEASE
CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY (SusanPolgar@aol.com)
IF YOU QUALIFIED AND YOUR NAME IS NOT LISTED!
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Conf Sayaka Foley
Arkansas
Conf Crystal Qian |
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[Caption, see
beat the Parrot
competition above]
“Carlsen wins again, I gotta get this to FIDE – you guys hurry
up and fix the wires already!” |
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California (Northern) Conf
Rebekah Liu
California (Southern) Conf Nisha Deolalikar
Colorado Conf Alexandra Lasley
Connecticut Conf Alexandra Wiener
Delaware Conf Ann Marie Fitch
District of Columbia
Florida Conf Rita Mirchandani
Georgia Conf Ananya Roy
Hawaii Conf Ashbea Oyadomari
Idaho Conf Erica Barkell
Illinois Conf Sonya Vohra
Indiana Conf Emily Tallo
Iowa Conf Dhrooti Vyas
Kansas Conf Katrina Pritchard
Kentuck
Louisiana
Maine Conf Sorel Edes
Maryland Conf Fiona V. Lam
Massachusetts Conf Michelle Chen
Michigan Conf Ashley Carter
Minnesota Conf Morgan Mahowald
Mississippi Conf Melanie Newell
Missouri Conf Joanna Gossell
Montana
Nebraska Conf Elizabeth Oliver
Nevada
New Hampshire Conf Avary Bell
New Jersey Conf Eve Zhurbinskiy
New Mexico Conf Rebecca Anne DeLand
New York Conf Linda Diaz
North Carolina Conf Amelia Wheeless
North Dakota
Ohio Conf Brianna Conley
Oklahoma Conf Michelle Farell
Oregon Conf Taylor Bailey
Pennsylvania Conf Shinan Jin
Rhode Island
South Carolina Conf Hannah Whatley
South Dakota Conf Kaitlynn Loos
Tennessee Conf Autumn Douthitt
Texas Conf Sylvia Yang
Texas Conf Rheanna English
Utah Conf Jamie Olsen-Mills
Vermont
Virginia Conf Susan Brown
Washington Conf Leanne Hwa
West Virginia Katherine E. King
Wisconsin Conf Mira Ensley-Field
Wyoming
WILD CARD Conf Victoria Bian
Special Invitation Conf Courtney Jamison
SPNatOpen Conf Claudia E. Munoz
LVPolgarWorldGirls Conf Annie Wang-U8
LVPolgarWorldGirls Conf Alisha Chawla-U8
LVPolgarWorldGirls Conf Rebecca Lelko-U19
All
Star Team Conf Michelle Xueying Chen
Chess Media
– Ding-dong
“Our Nigel” speaks up again at
Chessbase and causes a [usual] furor, this time with the UK Telegraph’s
Jonathon Rowson, Scotland’s top player. Nigel Short is for sure a
plain-speaker, and unlikely diplomat, and instead of indepent country teams,
opined on a joint UK team incorporating Scotland with the English one. A
too-and-fro interchange ensued, Short mocking Fide’s acceptance of each
individual UK country, and causing this reponse from Rowson on Short:
 In
a brief remark published on Wednesday, he labeled the notion as offensive
and betraying "complete ignorance of the unique geopolitical situation in
Britain, where several nations peacefully coexist within one nation state".
But this elicited an angry reaction from
Short, who mocked the status quo where five federations are recognized by
FIDE, chess's governing body.
The Parrot doesn’t really
understand why Our Nigel brought this all up – or what it would achieve if
there was any ‘unification’, except that the Parrot’s family lived in the
Highlands of Scotland for a thousand years, and hardly recognised even the
Lowlands as being very different from the Sassenachs proper – and with
substantially differing culture and values. Sassenachs in the highlands is a
version of ‘Saxons’, and a relatively polite terms used to describe English
people.
While the interchange will no
doubt continue for a week, I suggest to GM Rowson an old saw: “There is
good, even in a Saxon.” Though, in truth, it is not much said.
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Chess Media
USCF Board dislikes
interviews, likes leaks
I will post a few items (of dozens and dozens) of leaks by the
board to Jerry Hanken (now that I have a written consent by the other
side) and others as soon as I have a chance. Then all USCF members
will see the pattern of conduct by the board majority, wrote Susan
Polgar this week.
The
item below will show the conduct of Bill Goichberg and other board
members (this was copied / sent / forwarded to other USCF insiders and
it floated around and even landed on one of the public forums and
finally it got back to me). There was no discussion or debate, just an
under the table deal instigated by the President himself. |
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State of Play
A
week is a long time in chess politics and this week the fur flew
and a gauntlet too. Susan Polgar offered to resign if USCF
material was released and her statements were proved wrong. On
the other hand, she said, if she was proved right, President
Bill Goichberg should resign along with the rest of the board.
If you would like
to read more about the specifics of ‘the gauntlet’ try
this URL. |
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"What should we do about military
liaison? ...I see no evidence that she has done any work for USCF as a
board member; she seems motivated entirely by self interest....
...Probably just as well, as if she did
speak to him it's not likely she would have been working in the interests of
USCF.
...I wish we could remove her as
Scholastic liaison, but don't know who could replace her. At least, one of
you should become military liaison. If you could discuss this with each
other and one of you make a motion that the other be the liaison, that would
be very good."
And the truth
is that Susan Polgar has been working with top levels of military chess for
this year’s event – The Parrot knows because he was too. I also know there
was no independent USCF presence, didn’t cost USCF a red cent, and why why
why when so many other things need attention, are board members conspiring
in the dark to destructively compete with existing healthy relationships in
promotion of chess?
Mangalia Chess Festival With New
Scoring System
Chessdom made the first report about
the innovative 3, 1, 0, scoring system – what do readers think?
European Champion Sergei Tiviakov
wins with 23 points from 9 rounds.
The 2nd Mangalia International Chess
Festival, popular "Neptun", took place on June 21-29 at the Romanian
Black Sea coast. The tournament was exceptionally strong, with
European Champion Sergei Tiviakov as top seeded, but the first thing
that catches the wandering journalist's eye is highly unusual scoring
system.
Here are the tournament rules: each
game bears three points instead of the "normal" one. In case of
decisive result, the winner receives three points, the defeated signs
zero. But if the game ends in a draw, each player takes one point and
then they move in to play Armageddon blitz game (5 minutes for White,
4 for Black + draw odds) for the remaining third point. Thus a game
can give 3-0 or 2-1 score.
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Editors Note
Readers are asked to consider this variation of 3, 1, 0, scoring
system at Mangala, rather than the Armageddon finish. The
Parrot thinks he knows your opinion on that. The twist
with this particular tournament is that by playing another blitz
game the result can be that you score 2 points as result of your
initial draw, and therefore the result of two drawn games can be
4 points, whereas for a win and a loss only 3 points. The
result can actually reward drawish play rather than penalize it
as in other 3, 1, 0 systems.
Any opinions or experience of these novel systems out there?
Write to the Parrot. |
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However, in regard with FIDE rating
calculations, the usual 1; 0.5; 0 system applies. This extravagant scoring
plan will surely cause lots of discussion, particularly in combination
with the issue of Armageddon games, raised after the US Women's
Championship tiebreak.
Final leader
standings:
1. GM Sergei Tiviakov (NED 2635) - 23 points (5 wins)
2. IM Jean-Pierre Le Roux (FRA 2482) - 20 (6)
3-6. GM Erwin L'Ami (NED 2600), GM Viorel Iordachescu (MDA 2584), GM Dmitry
Svetushkin (MDA 2568) and IM Gergely Szabo (ROU 2516) - 19 etc
Big Bucks at Bilbao
[convert Euros to Dollars at 1.5] The
Bilbao super tournament will take place on September 2-13, 2008. The field
is very strong with 6 players competing in a double round robin format:
Anand, the in form Vassily Ivanchuk, Veselin Topalov, Magnus Carlsen,
Teimour Radjabov and Levon Aronian. Time control: 90 minutes for the
first 40 moves and another 60 minutes to finish the game. The total prize
fund amounts to €400,000:
€150,000 for 1st
€70,000 for 2nd
€60,000 for 3rd
€50,000 for 4th
€40,000 for 5th
€30,000 for 6th
The players:
Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2798
Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2781
Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2777
Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2775
Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2744
Aronian, Levon g ARM 2737
Susan Polgar
will be joining former WC Boris Spassky and the best chess commentator in
the world Mr. Leontxo Garcia at the commentary booth.
The
Sparkassen Chess-Meeting
takes place in Dortmund 28th June - 6th July 2008. Participants: Kramnik
Vladimir RUS 2788, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2752, Leko Peter HUN 2741,
Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2740, Van Wely Loek NED 2676, Nepomniachtchi Ian RUS
2634, Naiditsch Arkadij GER 2623, Gustafsson Jan GER 2603.
Official site
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Round
1
Gustafsson - Kramnik 1/2
Mamedyarov - Leko 1/2
Naiditsch - Nepomniachtchi 1/2
Ivanchuk - Van Wely 1/2 |
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Round
2
Gustafsson - Naiditsch 1-0
Kramnik - Van Wely 1-0
Leko - Ivanchuk 1-0
Nepomniachtchi - Mamedyarov 1/2 |
 TheParrot
Squaawks….!
Conversations in the
real world.
Last week's public and private
mail brought more denial of disaster - directly from those shoved in front
of the bus to explain the world's dismay at the finale of the US Women's
championship – and accusations published at the presumably neutral German
site Chessbase, some by Euro-TDs used language such as 'demeaning',
'degrading', as well as those who opined that the American championship
decider for women was not even chess as they know it. The answers from the
proxies were to wonder if such reprobation even existed? Besides, why was I
being personal about it. Personal, I asked?
To report what
genuinely seem like widespread dismay is to make the matter, so I am to
understand from officials, my personal issue - and no form of journalism
they ever encountered. This will not surprise USCF watchers, who note
extensively in private, that all is personal there. Perhaps any other form
of the art is indeed strange to them, and they should get out more?
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The point of all [as Bill Clinton much said] is
that it ain't personal! US Chess is not a 'brand' or some form of
private-member club as we see recently argued by a delegate; it is a
trust.
And what is entrusted to USCF on behalf of chess
in America is currently questioned by many parties on the chess scene
to the point of its effectiveness - as it should be, as all public
trusts should be if those who grant them that trust are to play their
own part of responsible citizens.
Now - that questioning does not challenge USCF's
right to pursue what it does with our trust. Not normally. But when
widespread acts of denial exist, and then posturings by proxy
representatives only address the organization itself – not the benefit
to the chess community - these reactions bring about a
necessary challenge to what is actually being managed?
When things go wrong, and keep going wrong, but
there is denial and seeming indifference to widespread opinion, and
when so much red ink flows… then its time to ask the question if USCF
can manage what is entrusted to it?
This question must be in the form of a challenge,
since it is simply not possible to adjust or correct what is not even
admitted to be wrong!
"Polgar's
latest screeds" as a flak named a usenet thread this week, raise the
issue of who benefits from any action – in question was respective
girls and boys tournament funding. It is not certain the Denker is
better placed in Texas than in Jersey City, but it is a viable
question to raise, especially since it ostensibly is a million dollars
better off in Texas for off-set colleague tuition, and player
overhead. There may be reasons why a Texas location is not suitable,
but current location and funding doesn’t appear to be about player
benefits. |
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Squaaawk Back
dear parrot,
you write of Susan Polgars' possible
attempt to beat 'her own simul record'. are you aware that her
record is a matter of dispute between her Andrew Martin who
claims that he actually holds the record. not surprisingly, his
claim is made in a rather gross, annoying and ill-tempered (may
i use the term 'macho' ?) manner - he has posted it on the web -
while Susan Polgars' response is measured and gracious. (maybe
by now they've both had the wisdom to 'un-post their exchange
and move on )
i suppose that a serious point - if there
is one worth squawking about - is that there are no 'official
rules' for simuls that would allow one to actually be 'official
champion'.
(martin's ill-tempered contribution to the
matter managed to stop any interest on my part in any of his
products and endeavors - however valuable they may be in
themselves)
simuls are, largely, 'stunts' whose
virtues, if any, are to call good attention to chess - a sort of
'GuinnessPolgars' World Records' thing to cause a gasp in
response - and perhaps recruit a new player or sponsor.
ever since i read the exchange between ms.
polgar and Mr. martin on the matter, i've been waiting for an
opportunity to squawk! thanks for providing one.
James Breeden |
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When that
question, and such others as the recent Mil-Chess dialog [see above] are
not discussed in public, but only by a partial US board contest, and they
conspiring against other board members to the effect that USCF would want
to destructively compete with other chess promoters already engaged in
Mil-chess - this orientation has not any public benefit.
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These types of issues raises a much bigger
questions about USCF's role in chess in the USA. Is it so compromised
that it has become dysfunctional, beyond a bit of tweaking to put it
right?
I personally am pleased to encounter every view
point - no real chess fan should be excluded - but when secret
conversations persist even at board level, and publicly proxy agents
for these people seek to repress discussion of issues by abusing those
who vigorously promote the game… that is no public benefit either.
When some writers of very uncertain character
seek to manipulate conversations that have anything to do with our
children in chess [those who seem unlikely to even pass a high-school
level back-ground check], neither does that forward us.
Yet this is the ‘corporate-culture’ of chess in
the USA. But its not the only chess culture, and methinks its time for
a national conversation which is not dominated by loud, borish,
and invested voices – and where the chess burocracy is not the only
topic on the table. |
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Squaaawk
Back
With the USCF's most recent fiscal year having just ended on
May 31, 2008, one can't help but wonder what its loss will be
for that year.
Does that sound presumptuous? Perhaps, but it's hard to believe
they would have been in the black. Will the numbers come out by
the end of the summer or will there be any foot-dragging?
For the record, if you look at their recent financial statements
on the USCF website, they look rather 1970's-ish. In other
words, they appear to have been typed on a manual
typewriter--rather crude looking in this day and age.
Howard S. Sample
Toledo |
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The chess public seem very ready to
discuss real foundations for chess in the C21st.
Conspiratorial
sentiment conceived in the basement of chess HQ, does not seem at all likely
to appreciated or supported in a complex society and where more engaging
stratagems are indicated to negotiate and promote a national trust.
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Squaaawk back to
TheParrot… Hey!
It’s your game.
Speak up or have other people speak for you. |
Rare Chess Pictures:
A
Chess Set inspired by the novel 'Alice through the Looking Glass' where the
pieces magically turn transparent when they touch the board.
In ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’ by Lewis Carroll, Alice falls through a
mirror and on the other side of the mirror, she becomes a piece in a game of
chess. Inspired by this, the chess pieces have an opaque mirror finish, when
they touch the surface of the board they magically turn transparent and
reveal the identity of the piece contained inside them. When removed from
the board they revert to being opaque, hiding the identity of the piece.
This is a comment on how a chess piece has no value unless it is in play on
the board. If removed from the board, a pawn and a queen are equal, in that
neither have any value.
The theme of 'Alice through the Looking Glass' is the difference between the
real world and the world behind the mirror. In keeping with this theme there
is a contrast between the unlit mirrored piece and the clear glass piece.
Each unlit mirrored piece is a smooth and modern shape. Each lit piece is
clear glass, with the negative shape of a traditional, delicate Staunton
chess piece enclosed within it. In the book the White Knight talks about how
he thinks better when he is upside down. In a reference, the White Knights
in the set only work when they are placed upside down. This joke is hidden
to all but those who know the background of the chess set.
The Chessboard is made out of LightPoints a material manufactured by Schott,
which is
glass that has LED's embedded in it; the pieces are coated with Mirona, a
Material that turns transparent when light shines through it. When the piece
is placed on the board it completes the circuit and lights up the LED under
it turning it transparent, like magic.
This product was designed in response to a brief set by Schott UK Ltd. for
Final year students of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
Afore
ye go:
Next week,
reader’s captions to beat the Parrot will appear here!
Write to TheParrot.
Top of the Page
The Parrot's Archives
TheParrot's Special Reports
Polgar &
the USCF: A Parrot Special Report combines the text of GM Susan
Polgar's remarks, published in last week's Squaawk, and the USCF's
carefully worded response. Also, a further response from Ms. Polgar.
Scholastics - the Soul
of Chess?: Is the Scholastic chess movement actually bad for
chess? Maybe, or so argues Tom Braunlich in an
article extracted here at Chessville (Scholastics
and the Soul of Chess).
TheParrot's Special
Report addresses some very strongly worded reader opinions, along with
Braunlich's reply.
USCF's Book &
Equipment
Deal with Chess Cafe: It all started with the following posting by Larry Parr in one of the public
newsgroups last week: "Gentlemen, The USCF Executive Board has caved to the
ChessCafe. That is the report I received from a source. By a 5-1 vote the
EB has decided WITHOUT OFFERING A PUBLIC TENDER to alter favorably for the
Cafe the terms of its contract and to extend the Cafe's sales agreement
until 2012. Further, the Cafe will have over $100,000 of its $250,000-plus
debt to the USCF forgiven. The vote was 5 to 1."
USCF's
Fingerfehler: A related issue
has also surfaced, the alleged blacklisting or boycotting of certain authors
by USCF Sales.
USCF Sales is the name of the business entity, operated by Hanon Russell of
Chess Café, which
has contracted with the USCF to provide book & equipment (B&E) sales on
their behalf. TheParrot
received this message (12/29/2005) from GM Raymond Keene, regarding
the controversy on USCF Sales...
Who Cares? - Women and
Children in Chess:
Months ago the Parrot wrote to the USCF board via Bill Hall Executive
Director of USCF, asking after standards in place to avert offense to
women and children in chess. These concerns, although according to
Hall were delivered to the board, have not been addressed nor even
acknowledged. Perhaps this is a cultural thing,
but in some cultures is not dishonorable nor some game of politically
correct words, to actively protect women and children from offence - in fact
it is considered manly. The issues before the board were
about the treatment of women and children, and the lack of standard evident
in the works of USCF agents paid and unpaid – and who even sometimes wrote
anonymously, but let it be known that they wrote as USCF agents.
And what happens if you don’t …
Now we have a collision of
speculations about new board member Sam Sloan's standards with these
non-existent USCF standards...
Top of the Page
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