Free Download: Journey through Chess

Here is a free download for all our readers and visitors. Another book written by UK's Number 1 chess author and teacher, Richard James. Journey through Chess was published this year for free. It is a collection of the most important ideas and concepts from his heavy-traffic, rich-content chess website, ChessKids Academy:

Journey Through Chess by buenaventura_f_a

Interview with GM Susan Polgar 2012

Here is an interview with GM Susan Polgar and Lisa Suhay on WPR Kathleen Dunn Show about the various aspects and benefits of chess:

Dyscalculia Conference in London

Do you have money to go to London?

If you have, then by all means you should go to London and see the fantastic place where the Fab Four grew up, the 2012 Olympics happened and attend the 5th National Conference: Dyscalculia and Maths Learning Difficulties:

LW Dyscalculia Conference Leaflet 2013

World Chess Championship 2012 Rules and Regulations

The World Chess Championship 2012 is on May 10, two days from now. You guys better not miss a single game. It will be fought in Moscow between two seasoned players, reigning world chess champion Vishy Anand from India and challenger Boris Gelfand from Israel.

And here are the rules and regulations, summed up by BusinessWorld's Chess Piece columnist Bobby Ang:

The match will consist of 12 games with a time control for each game of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting after move 61 has been made.

If the scores are level after the regular 12 games, then we go into tie breaks.

1. Four tie-break games will be played with 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds after each move

2. If the scores are still level, then a match of two games shall be played with a time control of five minutes plus three seconds increment after each move. In case of a level score, another two-game match will be played to determine a winner. If still there is no winner after five such matches (total 10 games), we will go into sudden death.

3. In sudden death the player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the color. The player with the white pieces shall receive five minutes, the player with the black pieces shall receive four minutes whereupon, after the 60th move, both players shall receive an increment of three seconds from move 61. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces is declared the winner.

And my Scribd copy of the complete set of rules and regulations, including the schedule for the event, for the World Chess Championship 2012:  

FIDE World Championship 2012 Rules and Regulations

Earth Day 2012

Today is Earth Day and everyone thinks going green is the best way to solve environmental problems plaguing our Mother Earth.  Environmental activists all around the world have tried in vain to help in preventing further damage to our only home which has suffered greatly since the dawn of industrialization.

I say "unless greed, abuse of power and selfishness is not addressed among the world's elite, our environment will never recover from further destruction".

The year 2012 is critical for all humans. Will we be seeing the end of times to see the new Era of Peace for Mankind? I repeat, it is the end of times that we are to look into and not the end of the world. It is the end of sinning for mankind and the reign of peace that we are looking forward to seeing.

Will our race be ready for the challenges ahead?

I guess these activists are screaming to their hearts discontent and yet missing the point. Greed, abuse of power and selfishness have led humanity to where we are now. We are now in a new dimension where the fight between good and evil is obvious.

Which side will you be in? It's your choice.



   

European Chess: Sexy No More

Of course you all remember the movie Austin Powers, The Spy who Shagged Me and in it was a chess scene in it was a chess scene:

 

From time to time, we stumble into online news and images that shows female chess players wearing short shorts and shirts that gives you a sneak preview of what you can or can't have just in case both of get drunk in one of the wild parties that only happens in your head.

Today we celebrate the International Women's Day with news from the European Women's Chess Championship. The ECU Dress Code Regulations were specified courtesy of WGM Anastisiya Karlovich and it's interesting to hear from her all about décolletés or in plain English, cleavages:

"Décolletés are partly covered in our regulations, which state that in respect to shirts the second from the top button may also be opened, in addition to the very top button. But, nothing is written in our rules about the length of skirts or dresses.

There are several special rules in some companies which put restrictions on the length of skirts and dresses – no shorter than 5-10 cm above the knees for example. I can see that there are many players here who wear very short skirts. It's nice to see chess players with short skirts – they are very pretty girls. But I believe there should still be some limit."

European chess, sexy no more!

Free Download: Chess Evolution Weekly Newsletter Maiden Issue

Here's the First Edition of the Chess Evolution Weekly Newsletter from the guys who gave us Chess Evolution Series.

The newsletter comes with a PGN File that features the best games of the week.
CEWN - English - Issue 11

Chessbase Error

One of the best online chess news website, Chessbase, published Magnus Carlsen's March 2012 FIDE rating as 2535. We all know this is wrong and that from time to time, the gods of online chess publication can err.

This is an oversight and I hope this is corrected ASAP. 

Here is the Screencast:

60 Minutes with Magnus Carlsen

CBS News presented 60 Minutes with Magnus Carlsen, the world's current top player on the FIDE ratings. The 21-year old Norwegian also known as the Mozart of Chess is being compared the late great American 11th World Chess Champion Robert "Bobby" Fischer".


While Magnus Carlsen earned the highest title in chess at the age of 13 years and 148 days in April 26, 2004. Robert "Bobby" Fischer became a grandmaster at the age of 15 and 1/2 years old. 


But unknown to many, Carlsen and Fischer are said to be having the characteristics of a person with Asperger Syndrome. 


If you'll ask me, I don't see this as a negative element in their lives. In fact I've been working for more than a decade now in the area of special education and I totally understand why there's this buzz about Carlsen and Fischer. 


Persons with Asperger Syndrome have changed the the course of the world and you can check the list here.


The New York Times even run an article Dealing in Chess, Bet on This Norwegian and in it it said:

Henrick Carlsen said his son’s progress in chess was typical for him. “Sometimes, he’s been thought to be slow,” he said. But when he gets interested in something, “then he accelerates.” He added, “I don’t think he is conscious of this approach. It is innate.” He said that his son, from a young age, exhibited an ability to focus single-mindedly. One day, the father recalled, when Magnus was 4, he spent six hours building a train out of Legos. A half-hour after he went to bed, Mr. Carlsen found him in the dark “wide awake and staring into space, and I thought, ‘O.K., this is too much.’ ”

Magnus’s parents have not had their son tested for developmental disorders because he is well-enough adjusted socially. “Magnus seems to be fortunate enough to have the right characteristics to be considered normal despite the fact that he has some traits that might lead others to call him abnormal,” his father said. “Most people like him.”

But Carlsen clarified this over at Chessbase' Magnus Carlsen on Golden Goal.

Anyways, let's watch the video from CBS News:

Summary of FIDE Chess Ratings for 2011

The end of 2011 is days away, I'd like to sum up the chess ratings for the Filipino chess players and our country's ranking-rating compared to all the FIDE-member countries.

Let us start with the most recent November 2011 FIDE released rating. Philippine's Top Ten:

1. GM Wesley So 2659
2. GM Oliver Barbosa 2571
3. GM Rogelio Antonio Jr 2557
4. GM Mark Paragua 2522
5. GM Joseph Sanchez 2518
6. GM Richard Bitoon 2515
7. GM Julio Catalino Sadorra 2506
8. GM John Paul Gomez 2506
9. GM Darwin Laylo 2502
10. GM Eugene Torre 2502

Such a nice thing to see, all of our players in the top ten all have their grandmaster title. Just to give you a backgrounder on this numbers game, here is Wikipedia's entry:

"The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor.

The Elo system was invented as an improved chess rating system, but today it is also used in many other games. It is also used as a rating system for multiplayer competition in a number of video games,^[1] and has been adapted to team sports including association football, American college football, basketball, and Major League Baseball."

And in the FIDE Country ranking where the average rating of the top ten players are used to determine the standings, the Philippines is on 33rd out of 145 countries. We have 16 Filipino chess grandmasters and a couple of players are on the side waiting to fulfill the required 2500 rating to become a full-pledged chess GM.

The Global Top Ten:

1. Russia
2. Ukraine
3. France
4. China
5. Hungary
6. Armenia
7. USA
8. Israel 
9. India
10. Azerbaijan  

Russia has maintained their world dominance in the game of chess although the current world champion is a native of India. It won't be a surprise if one day Ukraine, France and China overtake the Russians in this game.

The Secret Life of Adolf Hitler

Tired of the day I just had coupled with boredom brought about by the holidays, I thought of typing in movies to watch inside the search box of YouTube and I discovered a treasure for history fanatics like me:


 

More documentaries to come, thanks to OPENFLIX of YouTube.

Operation Endgame

I was searching for an Endgame video to post here but was surprised to find this video. Conspiracy theory that reflects the mayhem happening all over the world. Unrest in the European continent, economic meltdown and disasters that's man-made and natural.

Is there an elite, secret society aiming to wipe-out eighty percent of the human population? Scary thoughts to think about!

Youngest Chess Grandmasters List 2011

Thanks to ChessBase.com,we now have an updated list of the youngest chess grandmaster in the world. Our very own, GM Wesley So is placed on 8th spot. If I my memory serves me right, Wesley was on the 7th spot when he achieved his GM title in 2008. Oh yeah!, I was right there at the Fiesta Mall Duty Free Paranaque when he claimed his spot in history.  Everyone was beaming as the local hero drew his game against the Iranian GM for the GM title.

Ukrainian GM now a Russian Chess Team player Sergey Karjakin remains on top, capturing the coveted GM title at the age of 12 years and 7 months. Well this list was updated because of the player placed on the 19th, Daniil Dubov of Russia who recently claimed his GM title. Read his story here.

So here is the list of the Youngest Grandmasters in History as of 2011:

No.	Player	Nat.	years	mths	days	born	GM	FIDE
1	Sergey Karjakin	UKR	12	7	0	1990	2002	chart
2	Parimarjan Negi	IND	13	4	22	1993	2006	chart
3	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	13	4	27	1990	2004	chart
4	Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	13	10	13	1985	1999	chart
5	Richard Rapport	HUN	13	11	15	1996	2010	chart
6	Teimour Radjabov	AZE	14	0	14	1987	2001	chart
7	Ruslan Ponomariov	UKR	14	0	17	1983	1997	chart
8	Wesley So	PHI	14	1	28	1993	2007	chart
9	Etienne Bacrot	FRA	14	2	0	1983	1997	chart
10	Jorge Cori	PER	14	2	0	1995	2009	chart
11	Illya Nyzhnyk	UKR	14	3	2	1996	2010	chart
12	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	FRA	14	4	0	1990	2005	chart
13	Peter Leko	HUN	14	4	22	1979	1994	chart
14	Hou Yifan	CHN	14	6	2	1994	2008	chart
15	Anish Giri	RUS	14	7	2	1994	2009	chart
16	Yuri Kuzubov	UKR	14	7	12	1990	2004	chart
17	Dariusz Swiercz	POL	14	7	29	1994	2009	chart
18	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	14	10	0	1990	2004	chart
19	Daniil Dubov	RUS	14	11	14	1996	2011	chart
20	Ray Robson	USA	14	11	16	1994	2009	chart
21	Fabiano Caruana	ITA	14	11	20	1992	2007	chart
22	Samvel Ter-Sahakyan	ARM	14	11	?	1993	2008	chart
23	Andrei Volokitin	UKR	15	0	22	1986	2001	chart
24	Yangyi Yu	CHN	15	0	23	1994	2009	chart
25	Koneru Humpy	IND	15	1	27	1987	2002	chart
26	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	15	2	19	1987	2003	chart
27	Pentala Harikrishna	IND	15	3	5	1986	2001	chart
28	Le Quang Liem	VIE	15	3	17	1991	2006	chart
29	Yaroslav Zherebukh	UKR	15	3	?	1993	2008	chart
30	Judit Polgar	HUN	15	4	28	1976	1991	chart
31	Alejandro Ramirez	CRI	15	5	14	1988	2003	chart
32	Arkadij Naiditsch	GER	15	5	?	1985	2001	chart
33	Bobby Fischer	USA	15	6	1	1943	1958	-