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Australia announces Dresden 2008 Chess Olympiad teams
GM Zong-Yuan Zhao and IM Irina Berezina lead the teams
Report by http://www.chessdom.com/

Official Olympiad website: http://www.dresden2008.org/

This week the Australian chess federation has announced the Dresden 2008 Chess Olympiad team. After the multiple financial difficulties the players list is known

Dresden Chess Olympiad, men

GM Zong-Yuan Zhao
IM David Smerdon
IM Stephen Solomon
GM Darryl Johansen
IM George Xie

Dresden Chess Olympiad, women

IM Irina Berezina
WIM Arianne Caoili
Giang Nguyen
WIM Laura Moylan
WIM Biljana Dekic

Other teams that have announced their lineup are Norway, Russia, Armenia, Serbia, Sweden, Georgia, Philippines, Germany, and Cuba.

For more information about the Australian team visit The Closet Grandmaster

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

SPICE and the SPF are doing a chess training course for teachers in Region 17 in Texas today. Region 17 is big! It serves 59 school districts in the West Texas area with a wide variety of educational support services.

Lubbock is one of the school disctricts and it has around 55 schools. More teachers immediately signed up than we have space for. Therefore, we have to add additional classes in the near future to accomodate everyone. Our goal is to introduce chess to every school in the area.

The curriculum which we use to train teachers to teach chess in the schools is the same as what has been distributed. Nearly 60,000 FREE SPF / SPICE Curriculum / Training Guide were sent out to teachers, parents, chess organizations and clubs in over 95 countries in the past 2 years. It is completely FREE.

The curriculumn / training guide is divided into 30 chapters, one per week, to fit the school year. It can serve as the main base and small modifications can be made to fit your school guidelines.

My dream is to be able to introduce chess to as many children as possible. If you have not gotten your copy yet, please click here to register for your FREE account on www.ChessDiscussion.com then click here to download your FREE copy. This is the same guide which I personally used to teach many students including my own children.

You can also download a copy by going to the SPICE website at www.SPICE.ttu.edu.

If you have any suggestion, please feel free to email me.

Big thanks to Region 17 and Lubbock ISD for supporting chess and education and chess in the schools.

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

White to move. What is the best move for White?

5R2/3r2kp/3Pq1p1/p1p1r3/2p1P3/P1P2Q2/7P/5R1K w - - 0 1

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

White to move. What is the best move for White?

r3r1k1/1p2qppp/1B4n1/3R2n1/p7/P1P5/1PQ4P/2KR1B2 w - - 0 1

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

White to move. What is the best move for White?

r2q2k1/1p3rpp/2nbp3/p1p5/4BP2/P3B1P1/5R1P/R2Q3K w - - 0 1

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Archaeologists find 600-year-old chess piece in northwest Russia
14:51
18/ 07/ 2008

VELIKY NOVGOROD, July 18 (RIA Novosti) - Archaeologists in northwest Russia have discovered a chess piece dating back to the late 14th century, a spokesman for local archaeologists said on Friday.

“The king, around several centimeters tall, is made of solid wood, possibly of juniper,” the spokesman said.

The excavations are being carried out at the site of the Palace of Facets, in the Novgorod Kremlin in Veliky Novgorod. The palace is believed to be the oldest in Russia.

According to the city chronicles, chess as a competitive game emerged in Veliky Novgorod, the foremost historic city in northwest Russia, in the 13th century, but was banned in 1286 by the church.

However, besides the king, archeologists in the region have found a total of 82 chess pieces dating back to at least the 14th century, showing that the game remained popular among the local population despite the church ban.

In late May, archaeologists in the ancient city uncovered a number of medieval baby bottles. Medieval Slavs made feeding bottles by attaching leather bags to the wider part of a cow’s horn. The babies drank milk from holes made in the tip of the horns.

The first historical mention of Veliky Novgorod was in 859 AD. City chronicles say that by 862 AD it was already a stop on the trading route between the Baltics and Byzantium.

The city will celebrate its 1150th anniversary in 2009.

Source: http://en.rian.ru

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Bill Wall’s Wonderful World of Chess
by Bill Wall
Chess Around the World - and Beyond
www.chessville.com

Afghanistan - Chess was forbidden in Afghanistan for 15 years during the reign of the Taliban. Afghanistan joined FIDE in 1984, but was later temporarily excluded from FIDE for non-payment. It issued a chess stamp in 1989. The country has one master and 6 other players as members of FIDE.

Ahmerst, Massachusetts - Home of the college chess team that was the winner of the first intercollegiate chess match, in 1859. The event was actually an intercollegiate baseball and chess match simultaneously as part of a single event. Amherst College played Williams College as the “trial of the mind as well as the muscle.” Amherst won both events and was heralded as “Athletic and Academic Champions.” We now have chess boxing.

Antarctica - In the 1950s, a scientist at a Soviet research station (Vostok) lost a chess game with a fellow scientist, then got so mad he killed his opponent with an axe. After the incident, the Soviets banned chess at their Antarctic stations.

Atlantic Ocean - In 1902, the first chess match between players on different ships at see occurred in the Atlantic Ocean. Passengers on the American liner Philadelphia played passengers from the Cunard liner Campania, 70 miles away. The moves were broadcast by wireless operators aboard the ships. The match was not concluded since the radio was required for navigational uses.

Baden-Baden, Germany - In 1870, Germany held its first international tournament in Baden-Baden. The event was also the first tournament interrupted by war (Franco-Prussian war). First place was 3,000 francs. The tournament was the first to introduce chess clocks (20 moves an hour), but the players had the option of using hour glasses. Adolf Anderssen won the event with 11 points. In 1925, Baden-Baden was the site of the first international tournament in Germany after World War II. Alexander Alekhine won that event with 16 points.

Berlin, Germany - Site of the 2008 world chess boxing championship, won by mathematics student Nikolai Sazhin over 37-year-old German policeman, Frank Stoldt. Berlin is home to the world’s biggest chess boxing club, with over 40 members.

Bonn, Germany - Site of the Chess World Championship 2008 between Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. The match will begin on October 14, 2008

Here is the full article.

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Rybka 3.0 – Not just the strongest chess program in the world18.07.2008 – Developed by IM Vasik Rajlich, Rybka is the shooting star amongst chess programs. It won the 2007 world championship and leads easily in all computer rating lists. Now it is available in the drastically improved version 3.0 and under the ChessBase-Fritz interface. It includes exciting new analysis functions you will not find in other programs.

www.chessbase.com

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Friday July 18, 2008
Chess fests
CHESS
By QUAH SENG SUN

There are tournaments galore for every skill level.

WHOA, not so fast, I cautioned my friend, who’s so enthusiastic about chess that he would jump off the deep end at any time just for a game. He had decided that he wanted to play in the IGB Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship.

“The trouble with you”, I said to him, “is you are too impulsive. It’s like the way you play chess: move first and, maybe, regret later.

“Do you know how much the entry fee is? Unless you already have a reasonable Fide rating, it doesn’t make much sense if you want to play in the tournament.

“Unrated players like you and I will have to pay a whopping US0 (RM650) to enter the event,” I told my friend. Even players who have a Fide rating of between 1,600 and 1,999 must fork out US0 (RM485) as the entry fee. The fee gets progressively cheaper for players with higher Fide ratings. Players who are rated 2,500 and above, and titled players like grandmasters, international masters, woman grandmasters and woman international masters, enter for free.

“But I want to participate in the Malaysian Chess Festival. I don’t have to play against all those masters,” he said. “I only want to enjoy chess in a real-life tournament setting.”

“Try something else,” I advised him. The Malaysian Chess Festival is not all about the IGB Arthur Tan Malaysia Open alone. There are other tournaments during this period. In fact, starting Aug 15 and until the end of the month, there’ll be four big tournaments.

The Festival kicks off on Aug 15 with the Merdeka rapid open tournament, a two-day team event that normally attracts hundreds of players. It’s an event where you’ll find players from all over the country taking part.

Here is the full article.

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

`Topalov, Mamedyarov, Shirov, and Ponomariov top seeds at the Villarrobledo chess festival
30 players 2500+ to take part at the chess competition

GM Veselin Topalov, GM Shakhryiar Mamedyarov, GM Alexei Shirov, and GM Ruslan Ponomariov (winner of 2007) will be the top seeded players at the XXIII edition of the Villarrobledo chess festival. Besides them a total of 45+ titled players will participate among which GM Vadim Milov, GM Vladimir Malakhov, GM Predrag Nikolic, GM Ivan Sokolov, GM Loek Van Wely, GM Ilia Smirin, GM Arizmendi, GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic, GM Agrest, IM Elizabeth Paehtz, etc.

The tornament will take place 2-3 August, 2008, in the Spanish city of Villarrobledo. It is a traditional event famous for giving interesting prizes. In the past, the top players were awarded their wieght in wine or cheese. The organizers have not revealed what will be the surprising prize this year, but have confirmed that the money part of the prize is 3000 eur for 1st place.

The tournament will be a Swiss event with rate of play 20 minutes + 3 sec.

The festival will start with several simuls on July 31 and will continue with a rapid team chess event and conferences. Expect detailed daily reports on Chessdom.com

Source: Susan Polgar Blog