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| Posted by tag1153 www6conf.org 6/01/2008 01:23:21 Play online chess |  Subject: Controversy in U.S. Women's ChampionshipMessage:  main.uschess.org
Be sure to view the Armageddon game in question. Irina has a point (although I agree she should have said something right then and there....) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted by kansaspatzer www6conf.org 6/01/2008 04:01:08 Play online chess | Message: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted by heinzkat www6conf.org 6/01/2008 05:21:51 Play online chess | Happy times behind the chess board Message: www.youtube.com ——— Vasily Ivanchuk and Nigel Short produce memorable finish in Gibraltar — Gibraltar, backed by Tradewise Insurance, is the world's strongest open chess event next to Moscow Aeroflot. Its latest edition produced a memorable race as Vasily Ivanchuk and Nigel Short finished clear of the field with 9 and 8.5/10. The Ukrainian won their individual game, both had very high rating performances and Ivanchuk jumped to No5 in the world. Tradewise Gibraltar overlaps with the great Dutch chess event at Wijk and Zee and its dates are close to Aeroflot, yet it continues to gain in popularity due to the Rock's benign January climate, its high prizes and its efficient and friendly organisers. Its awards for women start with £10,000 for first, more than the winning man receives at ... Posted by ganstaman | www6conf.org 6/01/2008 09:55:05 Play online chess Message: The only part I don't like is when she 'explains' her own throwing of the chess piece at the end of the game. She basically says "It's not as bad as what Anna did, so you shouldn't care about it." Saying sorry with one sentence to explain that she was more fustrated than normal would have been ten times better. ——— King Tut in Chess Puzzles — King Tutankhamun, or simply King Tut, is the most famous Egyptian pharaoh. He was called the boy-king since he was only nine-years-old when his 10-year reign began in 1,333 B.C. He died at the age of 19 and his tomb, undisturbed for 3,245 years, was well-preserved when it was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter. King Tut's golden burial mask became the symbol of ancient Egypt. But how did he make it into chess? Protecting a king is vital in every chess game and pawns are best suited to do the job. When the pawns surround the king in chess problems and studies, we see some beautiful and astonishing creations. Entombing the king became a popular theme among chess composers ... Posted by heinzkat | www6conf.org 6/01/2008 10:49:51 Play online chess That was just an alternative wayMessage: ——— Iranian Claims Chess Record — To the intense rivalry between Israel and Iran add another facet: the game of chess. In a literal game of one-upmanship, an Iranian chess grandmaster played 614 people simultaneously on Tuesday and Wednesday at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran in an attempt to break a world record set by an Israeli chess grandmaster last October. According to a report in Agence France-Presse, the Iranian, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, 28, won 590 games, lost 8 and drew 16 in an exhibition that took 25 hours. The Israeli grandmaster, Alik Gershon, 30, played 523 games over 19 hours, beating 454, losing 11 and drawing 58. Mr. Gershon broke the previous record set by ... Posted by tim_b | www6conf.org 6/01/2008 11:00:55 Play online chess Message: ——— World’s Top Chess Players on Hand for Aeroflot Open — The Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, which ended last week, is a popular chess tournament, attracting many strong players. And the World Open, which is held every year in the Philadelphia area around Independence Day, usually has more than 1,000 chess players between all its sections. But for sheer quality of competition, the annual Aeroflot Open, which starts on Tuesday, trumps them all. Sponsored by the Russian airline, the chess tournament is divided in three sections. The A group usually features many of the world’s top chess players, and this year is no different. Twenty-six of the world’s top 100 players are competing, and 73 of the 87 players in the top section are ... Posted by chessnovice | www6conf.org 6/01/2008 12:11:49 Play online chess ...Message: ——— Chess: The calculations of Vishy Anand — The Indian grandmaster is back on top of the world – and matches such as this demonstrate why. Over the next few weeks we are going to be looking at games by the world chess champion Vishy Anand. He recently regained the no 1 spot on the rating list, so this seems a fitting moment to feature his play. His depth and speed of calculation marked him out as a special talent in his youth, and he has lost none of that sharpness in his maturity. RB: What is the white knight doing on g5? This was the first thing to strike me when Dan sent me this position. Has it just captured a piece? Has it been trapped? Has there been a whole series of ... Posted by scarper | www6conf.org 6/01/2008 14:03:59 Play online chess Message: Posted by ionadowman | www6conf.org 6/01/2008 16:16:34 Play online chess Fascinating...Message: Consider: you are sitting at the board, the enemy makes a move and forgets to punch his clock. Are you entiotled to make your move? Well, according to the USCF Official rules of 35 years ago, one would have to infer yes. The rules actually talk about whether the arbiter, noticing the omission ought to warn the player. The Rules come down against the arbiter doing any such thing. Which suggests to me that the opponent doesn't have to wait until the enemy punches the clock in order to make a move. The Rules do state that (14.4) "When determining whether the prescribed number of moves has been made in the given time, the last move is not considered as completed until after the player has stopped his clock." Given the time control in the "Armageddon Match" this doesn't apply. From that perspective, I incline to the view that Irina Krush doesn't really have a case. But I do sympathise. Look where the clocks are placed: as is standard, to the right of the Black pieces. Playing right-handed, Black's hand has less distance to travel to the clock; White has to reach right across her body to reach the clock. Simply: the physical placing of the clocks confers an advantage to a right-handed player of Black, or a left-handed player of White. We might decide this is unfair, but look at the time control: 6 minutes for White; 4 and a half for Black, who gets the margin of draw. I think the extra 90 seconds ought to subsume any slight disadvantage to White owing to the physical placing of the clocks. The problem I have with this whole affair is the problem I have with a good many sports events: this stupid insistence that there has to be a sole winner. I quite fail to understand what is so bad about joint winners of a sporting event; why a draw/tie/dead heat is to be avoided at all cost. This insane stampede for determining the winner of a competition leads to some peculiar results: The UEFA Champions' League being determined by a penalty shootout; the "Golden Point" in Rugby League; even the toss of a coin on one or two occasions I've seen. The "Golden Point", or sudden death in some sporting events makes a certain degree of sense, but even then it might be a matter of luck who begins the period of sudden death with possession of the initiative (i.e. the ball, in ball games, say). But others strike me as entirely arbitrary, including the method used in US Chess Championship. The two protagonists ought to have shared the title. If there had to be a winner, the process by which it is determined has to be entirely symmetrical: keep playing pairs of games under whatever time control you choose until one side is a clear point ahead after an even number of games. That final game was asymmetrical, and therefore biased. I'm not saying it's biased against White, be it noted: for all I know it may be biased against Black (however, it became pretty clear that the advantage of one minute was't enough to offset Black's margin of draw!).The fact that the bias exists is in my view sufficient to disqualify it as a fair means of determining a winner. It would have been fairer to have played a second game under the same time control having swapped colours. But doesn't this game strike you as arbitrary anyway? Where is the quality of chess? The whole concept of blitz emphasises one skill over others - the ability to play fairly well quickly over accuracy of analysis, endgame skill, strategic planning, tactical vision... Well, when all's said and done, I can't see the USCF overturning the decision, and, on balance, it probably ought not. But, if there absolutely must be a single Champion or the world will explode, then do it by fair and symmetrical means. Cheers, Ion Posted by cascadejames | www6conf.org 6/01/2008 18:17:25 Play online chess Avoiding blitzMessage: own. Posted by ionadowman | www6conf.org 6/02/2008 04:24:30 Play online chess Before anyone comments on it...Message: Don't make the process a fair one, though... Cheers, Ion Posted by pgroenborg | www6conf.org 6/02/2008 06:53:25 Play online chess holding down the clockMessage: Do you see the same thing? I love blitz and am perhaps too familiar with the thing. I'm with Irena. Posted by bucklehead | www6conf.org 6/02/2008 11:23:38 Play online chess It's a tough call. Message: Posted by tag1153 | www6conf.org 6/02/2008 14:23:28 Play online chess response to I.K.'s letterMessage: main.uschess.org Posted by ionadowman | www6conf.org 6/02/2008 15:18:00 Play online chess response to I.K.'s letter... Message: It does indicate that not a lot has changed since the publication of my own copy of the USCF/FIDE Official Rule Book of 1974. Neither player played strictly illegally in the time scramble (give or take I.K.'s failure to restore the rook she knocked over - had she done so she would have lost the sooner). It is sad, I think, to see an important event like this settled in such a fashion, not only by a means that can be described justly as arbitrary; but also end in such ... well, not acrimony exactly, but not a particularly savoury taste in one's mouth. I go back to my earlier idea. If you can't settle the contest in satisfactory manner, then accept the notion of a joint winner. Cheers, Ion |