Chessvine.com - Player Bios

Quotes With Alekhine

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:39:38 -0400

"Alekhine is a poet who creates a work of art out of something that would hardly inspire another man to send home a picture post card." - Max Euwe

"Oh! this opponent, this collaborator against his will, whose notion of Beauty always differs from yours and whose means (strength, imagination, technique) are often too limited to help you effectively! What torment, to have your thinking and your phantasy tied down by another person!" - Alexander Alekhine

"The openings consist of Alekhine's games with a few variations." – Source Unknown

"Alekhine is a player I've never really understood; yet, strangely, if you've seen one Alekhine game you've seen them all. He always wanted a superior center; he maneuvered his pieces towards the King's-side, and around the twenty-fifth move began to mate his opponent." – Robert Fischer

"While he was hospitalized (during WW I) after being wounded (a contusion of the spine), he became the strongest blindfold chess player in the world. That's how great this guy was. I mean, when normal people go to the hospital, they are totally sad and in pain. Instead, he devoted himself to blindfold chess and became the best in the world in an extremely short period of time. You have to love this guy." – Terry Crandall (on Alekhine)

Source: Chessgames

In Memorium: Florencio Campomanes Dies At 83yo

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Mon, 03 May 2010 12:22:11 -0400

I say goodbye and I'll point my readers to the Chessbase Eulogy.

Pogonina on Wikipedia or Wikipedia on Pogonina ... Whatever ...

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:07:00 -0400

I loves me some wikipedia ... check out the well developed article on one of my fav peeps!

Pictorial Spotlight: David Janowsky

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 06:55:00 -0400

In Memorium: Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:55:22 -0400

Posted Saturday, March 27, 2010 on Alexandra's Blog

"Dear chess friends!

The chess legend, fantastic chess-player, searcher for chess harmony and a very talented champion, the 7th world chess champion Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (Russian: ??????? ?????????? ???????) passed away last night.

It's always sad when such a legend leaves our world but Vasily Vasilyevich will always be remembered in our hearts and through his magnificent chess masterpieces. The games of Smyslov are not filled with sacrifices but his pieces are always heading to the perfect squares."

Positively Sam Sloan

nospam@example.com (jlemoine) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:55:15 -0500

Is there a strategy for Sloan getting back to some status of respectability in the chess world? (I’m thinking of something like the post-Watergate Nixon did.)

First, let’s clear out some underbrush. About the election:

Sloan’s election chances are slim. The worst thing from his standpoint was that he’s in an effectively 2 man race. Had there been a third man for that last slot, then he might have had a shot at getting in by the majority of anti-Sloan voters splitting their vote. As it is, every one of them can concentrate their votes on Walters. The election is Walters’ to loose. He does not need to be qualified or even knowledgeable; he just needs to avoid anything stupid. Sloan’s only hope is to get people thinking the USCF is badly managed and then go negative on Walters. He’s not up to the job; he cannot fix things – that sort of spiel. This is a plausible strategy for him; he likes attacking people. Still, Sloan faces the problem that he has no base of support. Further, in his case, his experience on the Board actually works against him in this election.

I just do not see him winning this. Even if he does win, what does he get? - A seat at a Board where he will once again be isolated. Worse, Sloan being Sloan, he probably won’t be able to resist the opportunities to cause trouble. Having gone to the well once already, the USCF may do unto Sloan what it did to Polgar and Truong and expel him. Eviscerating the rules for removal from the Board will not be the novelty it was last year.

Sloan’s best bet would be to withdraw from the race so that he can get an early start on his rehabilitation but to analyze that move would be to withdraw from any plausible Sloan-like behavior into fantasy. So, I assume that he will run, adopt some strategy such as I imagine, and loose.

Then what? What is his best strategy from that point?

Newest Grandmaster: Richárd Rapport

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:27:00 -0500

Actually at thirteen years and eleven months, but still according to our calculations the fifth youngest player in history to gain the title. Richárd did it in spite of a last-round loss to chess legend Lajos Portisch, who is almost 60 years older than the lad. The tournament was held in Hungary and was won by Alexander Beliavsky. Congratulations to the new GM.

Source: Chessbase

Alexandra Intro By Oxana Kosteniuk

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 07:19:00 -0500

GM Kavalek Write Last Column For The Washington Post

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:29:44 -0500

See Here for the sad details.

Alexandra Kosteniuk At The Russian Music Awards

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:06:04 -0500

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a diehard fan of Alexandra Kosteniuk. For once I was going to try and avoid writing a story about her this week and what do you think I found plastered all over the internet?!? Alexandra is everywhere!

From Chessdom:
"The Women World Chess Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk started the year 2010 on Russian TV. She was invited by the yearly Russian Music Oscars "Zolotoi Grammofon", where she handed the award to the singer Stas Pekha. This is a consecutive social and media event for Kosteniuk, after her appearance in Vogue in the end of last year.

The event took place in the Moscow Kremlin Music Theater, with multiple VIP guests in the audience. On the video below, Kosteniuk appears between minutes 3 and 4. For the non-Russian speakers, Kosteniuk was introduced as the women's world chess champion, a combination of beauty and intelligence. The host asks what a man should do to attract a beautiful lady chess player, to which she replies "I know for sure what a man should not do, and that's not beat me at chess". Stas Pekha was fast to reply, "I will lose to you"."

Also, check out her blog.

Carlsen Is Number One!!

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:59:35 -0500

Magnus Carlsen gained nine rating points in his last sixteen games to come in at 2810 Elo points and to occupy the number one slot in the world rankings. Below is this prodigy's rating progress in the last nine years.

Magnus Makes It Into TIME Magazine!

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:20:17 -0500

Fischer's Estate Still Tied Up In Court Appeals

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:05:38 -0500

Source: Chessbase

According to MBL the District Court of Reykjavik has made a ruling in the legal case of Alexander and Nicholas Targ, Bobby’s nephews, vs Miyoko Watai, over his fortune, where their claim for official distribution of his estate was rejected. Still it is expected that the findings will be appealed to the Supreme Court of Iceland for final ruling. They were made to pay legal fees of €1200 to the defendant.

This lengthy lawsuit has twice earlier been remitted to the Supreme Court over formalities. The bottom line of the verdict which has now been published is that the claim of Mrs. Watai for private distribution of Bobby’s Estate is confirmed on the grounds that they were a married couple according to a confirmation issued by the Japanese Embassy in Reykjavík January 30 2008. It is further stated that their marriage certificate, issued on August 17 2004, was registered at the Ota Ward region town authorities in Tokyo on September 6 2004, after it had been certified by special means that the groom was the person he claimed to be, as his passport was not available, and nor was the necessary information from the US Embassy. Later, confirmation papers were forwarded to the Japanese Department of Justice. After thorough investigation by the authorities and a visit by their representatives to the Ushiku Detention Center on 5 November 2004, where Mr. Fischer was kept in custody, the registration of their marriage was finally certified on January 28 2005 by the Japanese Minister of Justice. It is further stated that Bobby and Miyoko had lived together “de facto” for several years.

Bobby Fischer’s artifacts presented to Laugardaelachurch
Shrines with some artifacts related to Bobby Fischer’s memory were recently delivered to Laugardaela Church, his resting place, for preservation. One of the shrines includes the In Memoriam book, which many people – chess players, the public and officials alike – signed after his death.

Report in MBL

CPAI on Humpy vs. Sundar

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:38:35 -0500

CHESS PLAYERS ASSOCIATION OF INDIA
(Reg. No.- S / IL / 26405)
FD-437, Sector-3, Salt Lake, Kolkata-700106, Ph: 92310 94201
Email : cpai64@gmail.com; website: www.cpai.in

Press Release
The Chess Players Association of India wishes to register its concern about the ongoing issue between Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, the 2nd highest rated woman player of the world, and one of the young and prominent Chess players of the country, and the All India Chess Federation.

By perception, the following appear to be the facts of the issue:

GM Humpy has proclaimed that she has decided to withdraw from participation in the Asian Indoor Chess Championship to be held at Vietnam in the first week of November `under stress due to …not (being) in a position to participate in a prestigious event for the country’.

Humpy’s father, Mr. Koneru Ashok, is her personal trainer and accompanies her to all the tournaments she plays, which has been their practice since her childhood. Humpy has also stated that when the All India Chess Federation refused to bear Ashok’s expenses when accompanying her on official trips, Ashok offered to bear the expenses himself. But Humpy has stated that the AICF laid a pre-condition that Mr. Ashok will be accommodated as part of the delegation only if Humpy would participate in all the official tournaments representing the country.

The All India Chess Federation has formed a rule that any player who wishes to play a Chess Tournament out of the country has to get the Federation’s approval for the same. In the past, this has been followed by most of the players who take part in all the tournaments abroad, and the AICF has given such permission routinely. However, Mr. D.V. Sundar, as the Secretary of the AICF, has refused Humpy permission to participate in the Gibraltar Chess Festival to be held in Jan – Feb 2010 because the AICF will be organising an International Open Chess Tournament, an unofficial event.

The CPAI feels that the developments between GM Humpy and the All India Chess Federation have been unfortunate, and that soon an amicable solution for all the issues be found. However, we wish to put forward our views on the same herein:

That when GM Humpy feels that her father accompanying her to all the tournaments helps her perform better as a player, such a practice should not be discouraged by the Federation, especially when the player is ready to bear the trainer’s expenses. After all, it is the freedom of any player to choose his/her trainer, and sporting / performance considerations should be the most important of all.

Looking at the career graph of GM Humpy, it is obvious that we have in her a player of international repute and great promise, and it is interest of the country and Federation that such top performers should be encouraged by giving them extra leeway and flexibility, thus ensuring that such potentials will be able to fulfil their promise.

Players should be allowed the freedom to choose the events that they wish to play, as long as they do not fail to fulfil any official commitments or representation of the country. And we strongly feel that Open Chess Tournaments – organised by whomsoever – inside the country cannot be the reason for a player to be refused for permission to play abroad. After all, a player selects participation in Chess tournaments based on many sporting criteria such as strength of the event, Playing Schedules, Time Control, playing conditions and a host of many such considerations.

In case the AICF feels that International Tournaments abroad attract Indian players more than events conducted inside the country, it is up to the organisers / Federation to find the reasons for the same, and thus get our Tournaments organised better, so as to attract better participation. After all, Indian players financially have to stretch themselves to play tournaments abroad on their own, and International Tournaments inside the country getting organised in a better way will be welcome development for our players, and consequently for the development of the game itself.

We urge Grandmaster Humpy and the All India Chess Federation to have a positive and open discussion on all the above issues, for the sake of her career development and the promise that she holds as a performer for the country, a settlement of all the issues be found at the earliest.

Atanu Lahiri
Secretary, Chess Players Association of India

See the Full Chessbase Article

Meglerhuset Arctic to sponsor Carlsen

nospam@example.com (ColonelCrockett) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:03:57 -0400

Chess addict and top broker Mads Syversen became chess genius Magnus Carlsen's main sponsor. "Magnus is special. He represents the pinnacle of the analysis and implementation, he is ambitious and hard-working," says Mads Syversen, whose company logo will accompany Magnus Carlsen's outfit in the next 24 months.

The new sponsor company says Magnus will be a good example for the employees with his accuracy and performance and believes that the sponsorship will be a success for both sides.

The deal is for a 2 years period, as Magnus will receive 1 million kroner (175 000 dollars). So far the main income for Carlsen has been from prize funds. The company Magnuschess AS has reported 1,8 million kroner income in 2008, which is a large increase to the 40 000 reported in 2007.

See the Chessdom Article