Do you know Alisa Maric? I didn't know her until a short time ago. Here in the United States we don't hear about foreign Chess celebrities unless we really look hard ... or in my case ... stumble upon them by total accident.


Thanks to Susan Polgar's Blog I did manage to find an interview with Alisa Maric from LatestChess.

The real miracle of Alisa's success is two-fold. Firstly, she has managed to juggle a successful career as a female professional (hard in any country in the world). And secondly, her twin sister Mirjana is also a chess grandmaster! In fact Alisa and Mirjana are the only twins in recorded history to ever hold the GM title together. That makes her interview that much more entertaining ... you should run over there and check it out!

Can you guess who these beauties are?

Recently, WIM Luciana Morales wrote an article for Chess Life Online that reveals some of the ingredients that has brought the Scorpion Chess Club (the Brownsville, Texas based College Chess Club) to prominence.

Backing up just a bit before sharing a part of that wonderful article. I met Luciana shortly after I took over the facebook chess blogger group. She seemed pretty cool and down to earth. That's just a tidbit of my own personal nostalgia. On to the Quote:

What got us into the Final Four

Initially we were ranked 10th in the 2008 Pan-American Championships because of our rating. So how did we manage to get 3rd in the final standings in Dallas? I was not supposed to tell you about our secret, but here it goes. Now don’t tell anyone.

· INFRASTRUCTURE. Our chess team is at the top of the university’s list of assets. As a result, a few months ago our general headquarters moved to the Student Union, generally used for enhancing the college students’ lives. Specifically, we are now in possession of a huge office that makes our guests woo. You can tell we now have some extra motivation to train harder.

· TEAM SPIRIT. One day Dan Fernandez came up with an idea and nominated himself for the position of Sports Coordinator. His initiative started paying its fruits since the team grew more united. And healthy as well, I assume. Now every Sunday you can see us playing tennis. I know that there are other days for intramural activities like basketball, “Wii” sports and videogames. Personally, I prefer the more sedentary game “Risk” but my pals do not like it anymore since it brings out the Machiavellian side of some (golden moment: “I will not attack you in Europe”—and later, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t attack you in Asia”) and besides, it takes forever to finish a game.

· GIRLS. Is there any other team with two ladies on its roster that made it to the Final Four?

· SAWYER. Our killing machine. Awarded top player on 3rd board with 5.0 points out of 6.0 possible.

Without doubt, there are more factors and people involved in our success. One such person is our coach, Gilberto Hernandez, who has been the top Mexican player for many years. As our trainer, he is responsible for our improved chess. Also, Russell Harwood, director of the program, is responsible for its good management.

According to a recent article published by Chessbase Kasparov has yet again made his opinions on Anand known.

In that article Kasparov is quoted as saying:

“Vishy is a brilliant player. But it is very difficult to compete at 40. He is up against people half his age. I will be surprised if he can go on any longer. He can fight against anyone but time,”

“About 50 years ago, the average age of a chess player was about 35 years. Nowadays, 14-year-olds are becoming Grandmasters. This is due to ( the advent of) computers and sophisticated softwares,”

“Nowadays, a 13-year-old would probably know more than Bobby Fischer knew when he retired. They analyse all the moves and prepare themselves on their computers. But that doesn’t mean they are special.”


But by far the best quote from Garry Kasparov is this great one:

“We had a feel for the game. Whenever I saw a position, I relied on the power of evaluation and understanding as to what would be a good move. But the motto of today’s player is — show me the move. I can’t explain it to them but sometimes, it’s just your sense which says what is a good or a bad move.”

I'm adding this video to my youtube favorites.

Recently Chessbase published an interview of GM Alexander Moiseenko by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich. I wanted to share the two most important questions and answers with my readers and I hope you hear the words and learn the right lesson from them.

Q. How do you prepare for the tournaments?

A. Mostly I work with a computer. I also like to read chess books, and I’m sure that assessments like 0.45 or 0.34 will never replace live printed material. The books of Mark Dvoretsky had a big influence on me. I often work together with Pavel Eljanov, who is also my good friend. I also worked with Ruslan Ponomariev and Sergey Kariakin, who are colleagues on the team.

Q. What are your other interests in life besides chess?

A. I like sport very much, especially ping pong, tennis, swimming and skiing. I can also play billiards, but usually I am the one to be killed in this game. I like to sing and often sing to myself silently during the games. Once I forgot where I was and started to sing loudly the national hymn of the Soviet Union. I value good humour and like to laugh.

Gm Alexander Moiseenko with interviewer WGM Anastasiya Karlovich
I'm just amazed at how many strong chessplayers are incredibly active people away from the chessboard. Too often I think the perception is that chessplayers are couch potatoes and lazy. We're also pegged as being antisocial people but Alexander can't resist talking about Eljanov, Ponomariov, and Karjakin in very familiar terms suggesting a more meaningful relationship. Chessplayers break alot of traditional views ... that's why I'm in the race personally.