2024 Happy Mother's Day!

 Hola!  I'm still alive and kicking.  But these days I'm spending most of my time gardening, cutting the grass and trimming it, (a never-ending chore between March and November) and in this very important election year, paying close attention to politics.

Today, is Mothers' Day 2024, and other than Christmas, to me it's one of the most important "holidays" of the year.  To all of you moms out there, I send my love, hope and power (whatever I have left) to all of you, because it sure does seem to me you all need it.  I've never been a mom, but I know how it goes for my three younger sisters with their children and grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, and the wives of my two younger brothers, and my married friends with their adult children and their offspring. All those kiddos, wowsers.  We've got a BIG family, I didn't need to add any to the Newton/Jablonski family tree :)   

Mom and Me 1951

Today is a perfect beautiful day in home town Milwaukee.  I'm out on the patio sitting in the shade with my feet up.  It's a windy 80 degrees with the sun shining, the grass looks perfect (I cut it yesterday) and with a glass of wine I'm good!  I should be out cutting the front yard lawn because rain is predicted for later today and tomorrow.  To heck with that!  I'm too busy sipping my wine, munching on treats, arguing politics online and enjoying this day.  

That photo is of my Mom and me, date unknown.  I was born on August 19, 1951, so Mom was around 23 years old when she had me.  I sure don't look very happy in that photo, poor Mom!  I was one of those "colic" babies, and I grew up with that same attitude - cranky and ready to fight anyone at any time.  Hey, what can I say, it's in the genes, LOL!   I salute all moms in the USA and around the world.  Without there would BE NO WORLD.  Think about that.  This is why, in my opinion, Eve was much more important than Adam ever was. Mom deserves a Gold Medal for having raised six (I was the first) of us Newton kids, wowsers.  I miss you Mom.

 

2023 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Information from U.S. Chess Champs:

Pairings round 1 ()

Table	White	Score	Rating	Black	Score	Rating	Result
1	IM Paikidze, Nazi	0.0	2316	FM Eswaran, Ashritha	0.0	2273	1-0
2	IM Zatonskih, Anna	0.0	2363	WGM Pourkashiyan, Atousa	0.0	2288	½-½
3	FM Yan, Ruiyang	0.0	2206	FM Cervantes Landeiro, Thalia	0.0	2303	½-½
4	GM Krush, Irina	0.0	2437	IM Yip, Carissa	0.0	2372	½-½
5	FM Yu, Jennifer	0.0	2294	WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev	0.0	2262	½-½
6	FM Lee, Alice	0.0	2388	WGM Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim	0.0	2350	½-½

Generated by Swiss Master for Windows 5.7 build 8 on 05-10-2023 at 19:08

Ranking after round 1

Rank	Name	Score	M/F	Rating	TPR	W-We	1
1	IM Paikidze, Nazi	1.0	F	2316	3073	+0.44	1
2	GM Krush, Irina	0.5	F	2437	2372	-0.09	½
3	FM Lee, Alice	0.5	F	2388	2350	-0.05	½
4	IM Yip, Carissa	0.5	F	2372	2437	+0.09	½
5	IM Zatonskih, Anna	0.5	F	2363	2288	-0.10	½
6	WGM Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim	0.5	F	2350	2388	+0.05	½
7	FM Cervantes Landeiro, Thalia	0.5	F	2303	2206	-0.13	½
8	FM Yu, Jennifer	0.5	F	2294	2262	-0.04	½
9	WGM Pourkashiyan, Atousa	0.5	F	2288	2363	+0.10	½
10	WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev	0.5	F	2262	2294	+0.04	½
11	FM Yan, Ruiyang	0.5	F	2206	2303	+0.13	½
12	FM Eswaran, Ashritha	0.0	F	2273	1516	-0.44	0

Generated by Swiss Master for Windows 5.7 build 8 on 05-10-2023 at 19:08

2023 U.S. Chess Championship and 2023 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

 Hola!

Not interested in the 2023 U.S. Chess Championship as there are no female players.

The 2023 U.S. Women's Chess Championship is in focus once again.  Round 1 of the event starts on October 5, 2023.  You can watch the event live at the U.S. Chess Champs website.  Eleven rounds ending October 17, 2023.

The players:

GM Irina Krush (2488) - 8 time U.S. Women's Chess Champion
IM Carissa Yip (2421) - Age 19
FIDE Master Alice Lee (2419) - Age 13 (recently earned her final IM norm)
IM Anna Zatonskih (2402) - 4 time U.S. Women's Chess Champion
WGM Gulrukhbegim ("Begim") Tokhirjonova (2388)
IM Nazi Paikidze (2366) - 2 time U.S. Women's Chess Champion
WGM Jennifer Yu (2365) - CURRENT U.S. WOMEN'S CHESS CHAMPION
WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan (2347)
FIDE Master Ashritha Eswaran (2342)
WGM Tatev Abrahamyan (2341)
WGM Thalia Cervantes (2333)
FIDE Master Ruiyang Yan (2292) - Age 16

It should be a good contest.  There are three players under the age of 20, great to see.  Total prize money the women will be competing for is $152,000; the men will be competing for $250,000. Yeah.

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XXXIII

Hola!  The 33rd Hales Corners Chess Challenge, sponsored by the Southwest Chess Club, took place on September 30, 2023.  There were 103 entries of which 18 women/girls participated (4 in the Open and 14 in the Reserve).  You can view the full results/ranking for all players at the U.S. Chess Federation website.  I don't know why I can't find some of the female players listed below in the USCF results.  I rely on the information I received directly from the Club.

Here are the results of how the chess femmes did and Goddesschess prize money (if any) they won.  Goddesschess prizes are awarded in addition to any prize a player may receive.

Reserve Section:

Nicole Davanti, won $40
Mary Davanti, won $40
Rachel Davanti, won $40
Eowyn Bontz, won $20
Charlotte Lang, did not win any Gchess prize
Jaylee Szpak, did not win any Gchess prize
Sareli Szpak, $20
Elizabeth March, $120
Ellen Wanek, $60
Mythreyi Govindarajan, $20
Elena Ammerman, $40
Emily Hogg, $40
Elena Johansen, $60
Disha Harsha, $20
 
Open Section:

Sandra Hoffman, did not win any Gchess prize
Radhika Gupta, $125
Elizabeth Xia, $100
Suhana Sharad, $75

More Info on the Hales Corners Chess Challenge XXXIII

Hola!  Just after I'd posted the previous info on the upcoming Hales Corners Chess Challenge XXXIII, an email arrived with concise information so I copied it and here it is, clean and concise:

Hales Corners Challenge XXXIII, September 30, 2023

 

 Hales Corners Challenge XXXIII
Sponsored by The Southwest Chess Club
         http://www.southwestchessclub.com  

 

A Wisconsin Tour Event
 
Saturday, September 30, 2023
Two Sections – Open & Reserve (Under 1601)

 
FORMAT:  Four Round Swiss System - Four Games in One Day - USCF Rated
ROUNDS:  10 am -- 1 pm -- 3:30 pm -- 6 pm
 
 TIME CONTROL:  Game in 60 Minutes; 5 second delay
 
 ENTRY FEE:  $50 – Open;  $40 – Reserve
 (both sections $10 more after September 28, 2023)  
Total entries capped at 100, so register early!
 
Comp Entry for USCF 2200+: Entry fee subtracted from any prizes won
 
SITE REGISTRATION: 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
ONLINE REGISTRATION at: https://www.kingregistration.com/event/HCC33

Printable FLYER

MAILED ENTRIES TO:   Robin Grochowski  – 3835 E Morris Avenue—Cudahy, WI  53110 ---
rgrochowski@wi.rr.com (mailed entries must be sent by September 23, 2023) 

 
 Pairings by WinTD---No Computer Entries---No Smoking
 

 PRIZES  
     OPEN              RESERVE
    1st—$325         1st—$100
2nd—$175            2nd—$75
  A—$100           D—$60
             B & Below—$75   E & Below—$50

 
Goddesschess Prizes (for females) in Addition to Above Prizes
Open: $50 per win/$25 per draw; Reserve: $20 per win/$10 per draw; Perfect Score Prizes for Females: $80 in Open/$40 in Reserve
 
Tournament Director:  Chris Wainscott     
Assistant Tournament Director:  Robin J. Grochowski
 
  SITE:  Country Inn & Suites, 1250 S. Moorland Rd, Brookfield, WI 53005       262-782-1400
 
QUESTIONS TO:   TD: Chris Wainscott –chris.wainscott13@outlook.com - 414-839-5232 (after 5:30 pm)
 

USCF I.D. Required -- Bring your own clocks – Sets and Boards Provided 

Hales Corners Challenge XXXIII!

Hola darlings!

Happy Autumnal Equinox - or whatever it's called. Sorry I haven't been around lately, but I've been busy with the garden beds, lawn upkeep, and since we hit a record temperature a few weeks back of 129 degrees F on the "heat index" (you know, what the heat actually feels like when you think you're on fire but you're not because you don't see any flames on your body), I haven't been up to doing much of anything other than watching videos of - can you believe this, probably not, I can't either:  lawn mowers online doing good deeds for bad yards.  

NOW, let's get to the fun stuff.  It's hard to believe, but Goddesschess has been sponsoring special money prizes for chess femmes since Hales Corners Chess Challenge VIII - that's Challenge 8 for you non-Roman numeral folks out there.  And here we are at Challenge XXXIII - that's Challenge 33 for you non-Roman numeral folks.  A long stretch of Goddesschess sponsorship, I can't believe it myself, Geez Louise!  All Goddesschess money prizes are in addition to whatever the players may qualify for.

Link to all the info about Hales Corners XXXIII.  Basic info:

September 30, 2023

A Wisconsin Tour event. Two Sections: Open & Reserve (Under 1601). ROUNDS: 10 am -- 1 pm -- 3:30 pm -- 6 pm. TIME CONTROL: G/60; d5 (Game in 60 Minutes; 5 second delay) ENTRY FEE: $50 – Open; $40 – Reserve (both sections $10 more after September 28, 2023). SITE REGISTRATION: 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. ONLINE REGISTRATION at: https://www.kingregistration.com/event/HCC33 . Country Inn & Suites, 1250 S. Moorland Rd, Brookfield, WI 53005. Email: chris.wainscott13@outlook.com Phone: 414-839-5232

And here's a link to the Club's blog where you can find information on Hales Corners Challenge XXXIII.

And I'm Still Here After All These Years - Darlings! WTF is FIDE Doing?

Hola from Milwaukee.  The rumors of my premature departure from blogging - well, not so wrong. But...

I am turning 72 year old on August 19th darlings.  Give me a break!  I don't have the energy I used to although the drive and the mind are still there.  Don't you know what the New Testament scripture by a certain so and so Apostle said about "the soul is willing but the body is weak?" Yeah - think about it.  

Enough of that hoo haa.  Let's get to woo woo!  I got my girlish figure back.  I'm not going into all of the oh - well, never mind boring details.  it took awhile (five years) of getting more physically active and cutting down on all the fatty crap - YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!  

It's summer in Milwaukee and I am busy whenever the dew point permits working out in the backyard and the front yard and puttering around endlessly in my flower gardens.  Yeah yeah, so it's boring to you young folks.  For me, I'm thrilled to be able to do that hard work.  How many of you can spend an hour cutting a backyard lawn PERFECTLY when it's 85 degrees F and the dew point is 62, heh?  And the front yard is nearly twice as large.  Go for it - bet you'd pass out.  I don't - but then, I know my limitations and take plenty of time to rest in the air conditioning inside my house and rehydrating between bouts of mowing and dumping the grass clippings and spread them around in my various garden beds.  You wanna work hard, you wanna get a real work-out and sweat half your butt off - come see me. I'll put you to work!

Okay, got that off my not so perky chest these days but bras do wonders for making you look perky ladies, even at 72.  Yeah yeah yeah, the calendar tells me I'm not a young hot chick any more.  I'm an old hot chick.

Now - for the latest:  Surely you've all seen the reporting on FIDE's most recent spewing out yet another pile of absolutely fear-filled pile of nothing about banning "trans-gender females" from competing in FIDE chess events.  

Darlings, don't even get me started on the blatant sexism and misogyny that "temporary" (or whatever they're trying to pass it off as) "ruling" issued by FIDE that today was reported by multiple news outlets - talk about ginning up the haters, wowsers.  If you haven't already read some of the reporting, below are links to three trust-worth sources:

From BBC News online:  "Transgender women banned from women's chess events." 
No author or date listed, but I copied the url today (August 17, 2023). 

From CNN online:  "FIDE bans transgender women from competing in women’s chess events pending ‘further analysis’"
By Ben Church, CNN Update 11:46 AM EDT, Thu August 17, 2023

And from The Guardian online:  "Trans women banned from world chess events while review takes place."
From Associated Press, Thu 17 Aug 2023 09.16 EDT

Said "review" may take up to two years.  Yeah.  So what female chess players complained?  Or was it the male chess players who complained?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Personally, the whole issue is ridiculous as far as I'm concerned.  chess is a MIND game.  If you can't hack it, why are you playing chess on a professional level trying for the big bucks and big titles?

I'm Still Standing After All These Years! Brief Update

Hola!  I just had to drop by to let you know what I saw today in the news.  The Moscow Times has published an article about the Russian government building an American Ex-Pat village outside of Moscow for future immigrants.  Here is a link to the article published on May 11, 2023 titled "Russia to Build 'Migrant Village' for Conservative American Expats," no reporter/author attribution listed.

Please note that the Russian government has not officially announced such a project, and it should further be noted that ex-pat Canadians are also welcome.

Interesting, n'est-ce pas? I have plenty to say on the subject but if I wrote what I wanted to the post might be censored or something - something about "Community Standards"?  I haven't been here for quite awhile.  You know, life gets in the way and then there was the COVID-19 pandemic that put just about everybody on the planet out of whack when it came to what we had previously considered "the new normal."  

It appears that if I get a little too rowdy about my stand on certain political matters or even make some comments about misogny or something regarding chess my post may be blocked or come with a "warning."  I find that rather interesting, since everybody on the face of the planet must by now understand that I am a Wisconsin Progressive from a family of Wisconsin Progressives that pre-date Wisconsin becoming a state in 1848. You know - I'm of French (on the paternal side) and Polish (on the maternal side) descent and if you look at the history of those countries, you see where the liberal fighting spirit and the desire for equality for all comes from.   I also don't pull punches, and I guess that's considered not polite or something.  Maybe because I'm a woman and I'm not supposed to actually throw punches?  Oh, whatever.

I have other things to post, including the results of the two most recent chess tournaments to which I provided funding for special women's prizes:  The Hales Corners Chess Challenge XXXII held April 29, 2023 (Wisconsin) and the 16th Annual Grand Pacific Open Chess Tournament held April 7-10, 2023 in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada).  

But for now, I'm getting back to checking out today's news, and then I'm going to watch my favorite gardening videos because darlings, you know, this is the time of year when I'm super-busy continuing to clean out the gardens from last year's debris and getting the lawn up to par. Yes - I've turned into ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE, gasp!  

I've said it before and I'll say it again, NOW I understand why the retirees in the neighborhood where I used to live had the most beautiful yards and garden beds, while I worked away over 46 years for five, sometimes six and even seven days a week in one downtown office or another and had only the weekends (or days after 6:30 p.m. when I wasn't working on some last minute rush something or other) to get out and do yardwork, never-ending yard work!

So, who do you know spends three hours trimming the edges along their lawn (sidewalk areas only).  ME.  I still have all the trimming to do along the driveway(I've actually no idea how long it is) and the curbside on my 75 foot wide lot.  It is absolutely true darlings:  A woman's work is never done - unless she doesn't want to have a nice looking front yard, back yard, and garden beds.  Competitive - who, me?  Nah!

 

St. Louis Chess Club Hosting The 2022 American Cup

 Hola darlings!  It's snowing/raining here today.  It's ONLY April 18, 2022 and Spring evidently doesn't intend to appear in Milwaukee this year since it decided to make an appearance during the last part of November and the first part of December 2021.  She can be rather temperamental, Ms. Spring.  

Soon to start, the 2022 American Cup hosted by the St. Louis Chess Club, and lots of players and lots of prize money to entertain you.

Here's a link providing you all the information on the grand event.  April 18 - 29, 2022 (play begins April 20).

My interest is the female players.  Here's the line-up of "Group B," which is the women. They only receive half the prize money that the male players will receive, even though of course their ELOs are not HALF of what the male players' ELOs are.  But - whatever darlings.

GM Irina Krush (USA 2421)
IM Anna Zatonskih (US 2393)
IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (GRE 2359) (currently at student in St. Louis)
WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova (US 2335)
WGM Katerina Nemcova (US 2335)
WIM Alice Lee (US 2334) (youngest player in the group)
WGM Tatev Abrahamyan (US 2311)
FM Ruiyang Yan (US 2283)