Thanks to Chessdom:

"The dates proposed in the Bulgaria bid are 5 - 24 April 2010, and the venue will be NDK in Sofia. It is the same building where the Topalov - Kamsky, but the playing room will be Hall 1, with capacity of 3800 people. "

I suppose it was thought that this venue would indeed be the winning bidder. Topalov and Anand both want the venue (or maybe it's better to say ... "are fine with the venue"). But now we see there are more bids that have come in.

"Mr. Ginchev revealed for Chessdom.com that Bulgaria is not the only candidate for hosting the event. 'Until this moment there are two more official bids in the FIDE central - one from Singapore and one from Turkey.'"

I could have predicted that Turkey would make a bid ... after the speech against the European Chess Union given by the Turkish federation president.

At any rate: "The bidding process is still open and applications can be submitted until September 30th. On October 1st FIDE will open all applicant letters and on October 9th the winning bid will be announced."

Don't forget to read the full Chessdom article.

Karpov vs. Kasparov was slated as a big draw for media attention. It did bring out a few unexpected media sources but overall I don't think people care anymore about cold war rivalries. It's a big part of the modern sickness that we have forgotten the mistakes of the past.

At any rate the match continues with Kasparov enjoying a comfortable lead. To be honest, though, I see only a shadow of each man. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy seeing them still playing and getting paid the big bucks. It's just that I think they're at the point in their careers where appearances and speechs go further than demonstrating decent play. They still have magic and far exceed the average Grandmaster ... I just can't resist comparing them to the '80s version of each man.


Good luck to both men in their future endeavors!

I read this article from Hardcore Pawnography and thought it might interest some of my readers, I feel very similar to this sentiment:

chigago open, philly open, vegas, reno, so many tournaments that are out there, so many tournaments that i wont be playing in this year.

no, i will not be going to any tournaments this year, partly because i’m not really focused on chess right now, and partly because its just so expensive right now. not counting the entrance fee, there is airfare, hotels, rental cars, with the economy the way it is, i have to be a bit more frugal with my savings.

and it struck me. i cannot be the only one who is thinking like this. what will the tanking economy’s impact be on chess tournaments, and by extension, the chess scene itself?

then i got to thinking, obama is doing a lot to change the country, and not for the better. all these government programs to “help” the people have to be funded by someone, the government doesn’t just give you shit for free out of its pocket. all these government programs, the bailout, free healthcare, all that, comes from TAX DOLLORS that everyone must pay. so our taxes are going up, giving us less money for chess tournaments and the cool new book on the latest in the catalan opening.

obama is also doing some hinky shit, like the blair holt gun control bill, making it a criminal act to not register as a gun owner. why does the government need to know i have a gun? it also makes it more difficult to buy guns and ammo. how does this affect the hunters and people who live off of hunting, feeding themselves and others off what the earth gives us, instead of processed crap food that makes us fat and unhealthy.

but i digress…

thing is…people are so worried about what is happening, the government running things into the ground, chess is a low priority, being put on the back burner. what will happen to chess?

so i think i figured it out. obama is working for the russians, it all makes sense. he is a socialist, bit of a communist, and he wants to get the government running everything, take the power away from the people. but why? why would he do that? because the russians were afraid we would start to dominate chess. so not only do they get the united states to turn communist so they can rub it in our face, but also, seeing as no one will be playing much chess because everyone is worried about jobs and eating and living in a house instead of their car, we will fall out of the whole chess scene, and the russians will again dominate the chess world.

fuckin obama. not only is he destroying my country bit by bit, but he’s also taking away chess. if it gets much worse, we need to have a revolution and take back our country and chess.

I've recently been exchanging e-mails with a fellow blogger who had come across an article by Susan Polgar.

Now, I know for a fact that Susan is very aware of this blog (no small thanks to my incessant self-promoting attitude, lol). So I can only conclude that it was Susan's intent to make some bloggers aware that they were not being listed by blogshares.

I did know about blogshares ... I'm not on the list of chess blogs and I did plan to apply to be included. In fact I plan on being in the top 5 on that list ... I don't consider that overambitious judging by my site's rankings among chess blogs elsewhere.

For crying out loud, the chess blogs for World Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and GM Natalia Pogonina aren't even listed there!