Training Enhancement from ChessBase

The people who brought you Fritz and ChessBase have been busy. See what special training enhancements are now available at the ChessBase site.

Roller Coaster Chess

That's right - why not enjoy your favorite game while on your favorite ride? Enjoy these photos from here.

Gross Chest Tournament

Something got lost in the translation in this headline that GM Susan Polgar posted at her blog. Also notice the picture - the black king and queen are positioned properly, but the white king and queen are reversed.

And here is the rest of the report:

2737.3 is the average ELO coefficient of the 6 participants of the 4th chest tournament ‘Mtel Masters', which starts in Sofia.

The Bulgarian capital gathers the chest elite as 4 of the competitors are among the TOP 11 of FIDE ranglist - Levon Aronian (Armenia), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) and Vasiliy Ivanchuk (Ukraine), who just an year ago was 2nd in the world.

Two Bulgarians will also take part in the tournament, the world famous Veselin Topalov and his secondary Ivan Cheparinov.

The Chinese Bu Siyandji also will take part in the competition.

‘Mtel Masters' is part of the chain ‘Grand Slam'. For the first time the chest parties will be played in a 10 tones ‘aquarium', intended to isolate the noise in the hall.

Source: international.ibox.bg

"Danailov – Topalov Busted: Sign System Cracked!"

A Chessville article by Robert T. Tuohey finally reveals the truth about the reputed signals that Veselin Topalov's manager provided him. Now we know.

USCF Dues $588 Per Year?

I was enjoying flipping through my copy of the June 2007 Chess Life magazine, with its nice articles, interviews and photos.

Then I came to page 13, which contains an ad which begins, "Get Chess Life for $49 a month." At this point, I was especially thankful that I've been a USCF Life Member for quite some time.

Let's see... $49 per month works out to $588 per year. I do enjoy having membership benefits, including an annual subscription to Chess Life, but $588 ...

On the other hand, this might help improve the USCF's financial condition. Say the USCF has 30,000 full dues-paying members. Now we've got $17,640,000 coming in each year. Hello, fully endowed U.S. Championship! Maybe we could create the new CNN - Chess News Network.

I'm all for it. Especially as a Life Member.

How Many Polgar Sisters Are There, Again?

In a story dated Sunday, 4-1-07, a surprising report at Chessville raises the question of how many Polgar sisters there really are. If it's written on the internet, it must be true, right?

Chess: The Quiet, Gentlemanly Game; NOT!

GM Susan Polgar posted this very amusing video at her blog, courtesy of her sister Sofia. Each player tries to outwit his opponent, everywhere but the chess board.

Turn Your Volume On, But Not Too Loud!

The 64 Square Jungle has a very entertaining post you should read. ChessDad64 begins:

"Although Chessdude64’s younger sibling, who we affectionately refer to as Boomer, has hung around the chessboard and eagerly observed many of Chessdude’s lessons over the years, he really hasn’t taken to the game. Rather, my youngest one’s strengths and abilities lean towards watching television."

See the video below, taken by ChessDude, which better explains the issue.

Chess eCard Source # 3

This card featuring a chess-playing cat (and presumably the dog plays as well) can be found at CatchAll Enterprises.

Another Chess eCard

Here's another chess e-card you can send. This one is from egreetings.com.

Free Chess eCards

123Greetings.com has three chess e-cards you can send by e-mail to whomever you'd like. The service appears to be free and the cards can be personalized with as long a message as you want.

I encourage readers who are aware of other free chess e-cards to pass along this information!

Edible Chess

This British website shows the tastiest-looking chess set you're likely to come across!

As the site explains, "Each piece can be made into biscuits. Not only do you have the satisfaction of taking a piece, but you can eat it as well!"

How Not to Repair Your Chess Clock

A Twist on the Simultaneous Exhibition

I found this interesting video at ChessBase. I'll guess you probably haven't been to a simul quite like this.

Carpool Chess

There's a very cute essay written by Tracy Curtis in the Charlotte Observer. It's about a chess mom who doesn't know much about the game but observes the maneuvering, both on and off the board, between kids not far removed from diapers. Here's a brief snippet:

"We resume today's game when I pick up my 4-year-old, Colton, and his opponent from school. She has the advantage. She is smart, and she is 5, and she never lets Colton forget it. Colton jumps right in and moves a pawn forward with his announcement that at lunch he threw a grape in the air and caught it in his mouth.

"I'm telling your teacher on you," she says. "You told on me when I was fighting with my sister and now I'm telling your teacher on you." And with that, her queen takes his knight.

Mmmm -- that was fast. He's in for it today -- and he knows it. He opts for the simple solution -- sacrifice a bishop and apologize for getting her in trouble. Then get on with it."

Super Bowl Commercials 2007

I didn't find many of this year's Super Bowl commercials to be very entertaining, but here are a few that I liked:

Coca Cola Happiness Factory:



Great Apes:



New Steak Grilled Taquitos:



Reception:



Men of the Year:



Autograph:



Snapple's Green Tea:

Creative Manhattan Parking

The next time you're rushing to find a good parking spot for that weeklong tournament, remember this fun post from GM Susan Polgar!

Chess at Trivia Night

Saturday evening, I attended a Trivia Night fundraiser for my wife's school. Each table of eight people competed as a team, against all of the other table-teams.

I wasn't really able to contribute too much to the team until the one chess-related question came up. The question was: "What game utilizes the Sicilian Defense and Evans Gambit?" The rest of the table was stumped until I filled them in.

I did notice, though, that about 30 of the 41 teams did get the question right. I think the "Gambit" term may have given it away. Now if they asked what game involves zugzwang and x-ray attacks, the results might have been different ...

Unconventional Chess Mom

In this 7-minute Dexter Lab cartoon, Dexter's mother is just a bit too enthusiastic. Surely no real chess parents act this way.

More Animal Chess!

Chess proves to be absolutely irresistible to this little kitten!