Fingers Crossed!!! Goddesschess Website May Soon Be Back Online

Updated January 12, 2013:

Well, I still am not quite sure how I did it - flying totally by the seat of my pants, but I did manage to get the April, 2011 version of Goddesschess BACK WHERE IT BELONGS ONLINE -- using my ancient Front Page program, that is, at www.goddesschess.com.  Hooray!!!!!  Unfortunately, the "Way Back Machine" tag seems to be on every single website page I looked at later on this laptop.  There must be a way to delete it wholesale from all of the myriad pages at Goddesschess, but I have no idea how.  I thought by deleting it on the "home" page that it would be wiped out on all pages.  Nope!  Damn!  But the main thing is that a version of the website IS BACK ONLINE where it belongs!

Thanks to an email received earlier today that suggested I visit the Way Back Machine again, I did, and lo and behold, there is now an even later version of Goddesschess, from May, 2012, available that sure wasn't there last Saturday when I was able to successfully fire up the old laptop and get her on my wireless network here at home.  So, I am trying to download that version right now into my Front Page program.  If successful, I will update the Goddesschess website with that "latest version" some time later today.  Fingers crossed, people!  I really have no fricking idea what the heck I'm doing!

Wouldn't you know it (perhaps Caissa is smiling upon me), yesterday morning I received an email from our former host -- you know, the one I did not pay to renew where I thought Mr. Don's most recent Goddesschess files might have been parked since they were not at the current host (damn!), and they were offering me a chance to renew for one year for 50% off and preserve whatever was there of the Goddesschess website.  So, I took them up on their offer.  Wel, I tried to.

Of course, nothing was easy!  I had to get a new password to pay the bill since my old one did not work; I emailed them early yesterday morning at the crack of dawn and a new password was sent to me; then last night, after I got home from work, I managed to log in after some hoo-haa, and pay the bill.

This morning, when I tried to find the control panel and log into it to see what is there -- nothing worked at all!  Could NOT access it.  After hours of pulling my hair (literally!) -- from 8 a.m. until about an hour ago -- I finally figured a few things out and was able to locate and access the Control Panel.  I was able to confirm that the files ARE there -- well, at least I think so.  There is lots of stuff there under File Manager, and I sure didn't put it there, so it must be the files that Mr. Don uploaded there.  I just have no idea how to get THOSE files published online as www.goddesschess.com. 

Those pages go to about mid-June, 2012.  Mr. Don ran into problems that he was not able to resolve a day or two before he put up a notice on June 20, 2012 that we were taking Goddesschess offline for awhile to do a revamp.  Well, he did do revamps but everything is locked up in his Mac, which is either in storage or his sister has with her.  Will those revamped pages that Mr. Don worked on so hard after his release from hospital ever be published?  I don't know, but I will try my best to get them where they belong -- online.

Guess you could say I'm obsessed, heh?  Well, as I see it, this is a memorial to Don McLean and all that he did for Goddesschess.  I - and Goddesschess - will never be the same without him. 

Later:  Unsuccessful at downloading the May 27, 2012 version of Goddesschess, and I cannot figure out why.  I gave up after tinkering around and trying several different things.  I will try again tomorrow.  In the meantime, I updated (I hope it works) the link to the Way Back Machine which features that version of Goddesschess.com -- it's in the left-hand navigation bar near the top labeled "Way Back Machine."

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Updated January 7, 2013:

Hi everyone.  I looked up the Way Back Machine again today and was able to come up with an April, 2011 version of Goddesschess.  So, that is now linked under the "Way Back Machine" near the top of the left hand navigation bar of this blog -- I hope!  It seems to be mostly all there (at least, as it existed in April, 2011), but many of the original images did not survive - there are lots of those little red boxes with "x"s in them throughout the pages.  I may never be able to reconstruct them because there are four years at least, of Random Round-ups there that Mr. Don did and saved those images to his computer.  And trying to remember what images he may have used and trying to find them and insert them all over again -- ha ha ha!  Are you kidding me?  I can't remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday...

Meanwhile, I downloaded all of THOSE old files to my old Front Page program -- it's amazing to me this old desk top has enough space to hold all of those files.  What I tried to do was "import" the entire website as it was saved in that last version at the Way Back Machine.  Now, the question becomes, will I be able to figure out how to organize the files into a navigable website and get it published using my ancient 2001 Front Page program?  I will try.  April, 2011 is much better than the 2007 version of Goddesschess I had.

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Updated January 6, 2013:

Nope, it didn't work.  Oh, when I typed in the name of goddesschess.com tonight in my browser an old website that I published at this particular webhost came up -- I had eliminated most of it years ago but this little bit of remnant was still there.  It was an article I did for our old International Chessoid back in 2000 or maybe 2001.  It's actually pretty damn funny.  But --

So, the files that Mr. Don said he parked at the website, maybe they're not there or -- simply pointing the domain name to them doesn't mean they will suddenly be published.  But that means I'm up shit creek without a paddle, because Mr. Don used Dream Weaver, I've no idea what version, and for sure I have no knowledge of it at all.  Perhaps those files parked there (if they are parked there) can never be published since the command isn't coming from Mr. Don's computer.  I just don't know.  I don't understand how all of this works.

I have a VERY old version of Goddesschess saved on my antique desk top (which I successfully fired-up yesterday after it being off the internet for about two years...) -- maybe that is the only version I'll be able to restore?  Well, at least I figure I can, since it was saved with my old Front Page program, and I KNOW (sort of) how to use front page and get that published to a webhost/website.  We'll see.  That would mean, though, that all of Mr. Don's work since spring/summer of 2007, when we first started Random Round-up, is gone, along with all of the articles he added to Goddesschess from that time forward until he got sick.

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Hola Darlings!

I STILL AM NOT ABLE TO DOWNLOAD A PHOTO OR IMAGE FROM MY COMPUTER HARD DRIVE.  GOOGLE, WHAT THE FLYING F IS GOING ON HERE?????

I have worked and worked and worked to try and get our Goddesschess website back online ever since Mr. Don took it offline in June, 2012 due to ongoing technical issues with our then webhost.

And then he got sick, and I got sick.  And everything went to Hell.

After Mr. Don had his heart procedures in July and left hospital at the end of that month, seemingly cured of his heart ailment, he had also been working to get Goddesschess back online.  But his recovery was long in coming; he was weak and easily tired, and it is entirely frustrating trying to deal with webhosts and domain registrars and how to get things pointed to the right website or vice versa! He was not rallying like we'd hoped he would, and he just did not seem to be getting his strength or energy back, and he continued to lose weight.

While he wasn't getting any better despite his hospital stays, and I was going through my own heart health issues and facing potential surgery and an incurable pulmonary condition that would probably kill me in three years, we had decided just to keep Goddesschess offline for awhile longer, until he or we, or me, were recovered sufficiently to try and figure things out.  I speak from experience of those dreadful months, one's brain just does not work right when one is seriously ill. Then, Mr. Don died unexpectedly on October 12, 2012.

He had handled all of the webmaster duties for YEARS.  I know little to nothing about how all of that works!  I was still operating using the 2001 version of Front Page, LOL, to put together Chess Femme News!  But once he took over with his Dream Weaver and html stuff well - it was all Greek to me.

I have tried numerous times trying to figure out what Mr. Don did and how he did it, and what files were at what webhosts, all for nought.  And so I researched and read and tried to get a handle on what I needed to do and how to do it.  And finally, tonight, I THINK I managed to get the Goddesschess domain pointed to the new webhost.  But I won't know for 24 to 48 hours if it worked. 

Even if it does work, though, although Mr. Don emailed me once (which I can't find, damn it) that he had downloaded all of the Goddesschess files to the new webhost and was trying to figure out how to get the domain pointed to the new host -- I do not have any idea if those files, actually, are at the webhost.  So maybe all of this struggling with the technical aspects to try and get Goddesschess back online could be for nought!  He emailed me that he left those files at our "old" webhost, the one he had so many problems with in the spring/early summer of 2012, pending successful transfer to the new webhost.  The old webhost would be our fallback position if all else failed. 

But I didn't pay renewal for that webhost that was due in early December, and they have been threatening to delete the account and all the files that are there.  So, if the Goddesschess files are NOT at the new webhost, things may be disappeared forever except as what we may be able to figure out how to recover from Mr. Don's Mac when his sister comes back to Montreal in the summer.

Well, all the way around, it's been a big, sad, mess. 

I suppose you're all wondering now why I don't just pay for another year's service with the old webhost, just to preserve the Goddesschess files -- assuming they ARE, in fact, still there, like Mr. Don emailed me that they were -- just in case they AREN'T at the new webhost.  The thing is, I don't know what I'm looking at when I log in at the old webhost, so I can't tell if the files are there or not.  I told you, I'm no techy, and all of this has turned my hair even more grey than what it used to be.  It's a matter of principle, and irrational as it is, I put at least part of the blame for Mr. Don's hard time recovering (well, he didn't, did he) on that damned webhost and it's intractable technical issues that were driving Mr. Don crazy.  He tried to reach technical support numerous times through telephone and email -- and never received a response.  And he asked me questions that I had no idea how to answer.  Like I said, when one is sick, one's brain does not seem to work in its normal way.  I know neither of us were able to handle what seemed to be insurmountable and inpenetrable mysteries!

But that fricking old webhost sure has been emailing me for renewal money!

So, keep your fingers crossed that what I worked on for hours this afternoon and early evening has worked, and the last version of Goddesschess that Mr. Don had uploaded to the new webhost will appear online at www.goddesschess.com.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

Hola, darlings!

The title of this post is thanks to David Bowie.  No truer words were ever spoken than what he wrote in that song. 

Well, there is no easy way to say this, so I'll just come right out with it.  The Goddesschess website that has been online since 1999 is now retired.

Time and unforeseen circumstance has, alas, forced us into this sad and painful decision. We have given so much of ourselves and our lives the past 13 plus years to building the Goddesschess website -- it is very difficult to bid all of those efforts adieu.

That is not to say the Goddesschess website we all knew and love is entirely gone -- the Wayback Machine has a version of Goddesschess from April, 2011.  I have not tested it thoroughly but I assume that internal links will still work and active links to outside sources will continue to work as long as those sources are on the internet.  I can but say to you - try it out and see. 

Many of the things that Goddesschess did and made available to readers when we first debuted online on May 6, 1999 are now readily available elsewhere on the internet.  Back in the day, they were not!  So, the internet has finally caught up with what made Goddesschess so wonderful and unique.  The fact that we were pioneers and did it first (and, I think, best!) will not change.

This blog will continue as long as health and time permit.  I hope Don McLean will join me here -- it is, after all, a blog that was created back in 2007 as an adjunct to Goddesschess and it was a team idea, meant to be a team project. Or, perhaps he will create his very own blog, in which case I will make sure to harrass the hell out of him as much as possible.  I've been encouraging him to explore that option. LOL!  If he does, I'll let you know -- or he will, as he is a joint admin here and can post at will.  And I'll be a nice woman (for a change) and not delete anything he chooses to post here.  Delete Wars?  Oh my!

This blog has now assumed the name of GODDESSCHESS and will hence be known!

Goddesschess will continue to promote the exploration of the origins of chess and other ancient board games, and all subjects that may (even remotely) be connected thereto.  We will continue in whatever ways we can the promotion of female chessplayers and chess femme chess events, because females bring a particularly unique perspective to chess (and other board games), even when they do not think they do.  We will continue our promotional funding of events that bring to the fore female chessplayers and award female chess players for their hard work and endeavors.  If we can think up new ways to do this, we will. 

Goddesschess in Echec Magazine

The saga of Goddesschess continues in the Ma-June, 2012 (No. 203) print edition of Echec magazine, published by the Quebec Chess Federation.

Hmmmm, not very legible.  It's in French, too.  I don't know about you, but my French skills aren't too keen these days.  Here it is in English:

Goddesschess and Those Fabulous Las Vegas Show Girls!

by Janet Newton

At the time, there was no way to know that the articles written by Those Fabulous Las Vegas Show Girls would prove to be enduringly popular and among the best-visited pages at the Goddesschess website.(1) From the first article written in 2000 to the most recent article (with a cliff-hanger ending) written in 2008 during the World Chess Championship between GM Viswanathan Anand and GM Vladimir Kramnik, the Show Girls' articles have consistently received a high number of page views every month.

Perhaps it was our individual flights to freedom and our spirit of following our dreams on not much more than a wing and a prayer that led to the Show Girls finding us. I had earned a degree in law and practiced for some years before giving it up for a much more mundane 9 to 5 existence, at much lower pay but a great deal more free time to do the things I wanted to do. Partner Don McLean acts as our webmaster, creates all of the graphics for Goddesschess and its sponsorships, and is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to doing an interview, getting photographs and video action of the City of Montreal Open Chess Championships, of which we have been a sponsor since 2009. In his earlier life he started out in retail business after earning his degree and worked up the ranks, only to leave to pursue a career in counselling troubled youths. He later retired from counselling and went into the freelance world of what was then the Wild Wild West of the Emerging Internet in 1999. Partner Georgia Albert, a true Renaissance woman, made a living playing pool, owned an antiques business for awhile, and spent twenty-five years in the casino industry in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In July 2000 the Las Vegas Show Girls duo of Bambi Darlin and Candi Kane sent their very first article to The International Chessoid. That article was passed along to Goddesschess partner Georgia Albert as not being "original" enough to be suitable "Chessoid" material. Georgia, in turn, passed the article along to me. I thought it was very clever and funny and so we published it at Goddesschess.(2) Unfortunately, I do not remember what tournament the Show Girls were writing about -- as they neglected to mention the name of the tournament in their article! All I know is that the Show Girls thought that GM Alexander Khalifman and GM Michael Adams were very "hot." And because Candi Kane was wearing stilleto heels, she couldn't walk very fast and the Girls were very late, missing the beginning (and perhaps most) of the action in the "final round."

Perhaps one of you can help identify the tournament that the Show Girls visited? At the time the article was written, GM Alexander Khalifman was the reigning FIDE World Chess Champion (he won that title in September, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada), and GM Michael Adams' hair had not yet turned grey. This was during the time after Kasparov split with FIDE and there were two "World Chess Champions" for many years afterward.

From the beginning, the Girls had minds of their own, and very definite opinions about the world of professional chess. The Girls traveled the world, and sometimes they agreed to cover chess events for us. However, reporting on chess events was not what the Girls wanted to do for Goddesschess. No. They wanted to become researchers into the deepest mysteries of chess and its most ancient origins! In other words, they wanted to be - us!

Because we at Goddesschess believe in exploring new possibilities into the origins of ancient games, the Show Girls found a home with us. We were not going to say that they did not have something valuable to add to the conversation, just because they did not have "degrees" in archaeology, anthropology, or ancient history.

At irregular intervals, indicative of the lives of the busy women that they are, the Show Girls would email articles to me (I'm the de facto "editor" of Goddesschess) and after correcting for punctuation and some spelling errors, the articles were published at Goddesschess. If you would like to take some interesting journeys along the road to discovering the deeper mysteries arising out of the origins of chess, I definitely recommend that you read the Show Girls' articles.(3) To say they are "mind-bending" is an understatement.

The Show Girls are not just Show Girls, of course! They are, first and foremost, businesswomen. The life of a Las Vegas show girl can be very short-lived, although there have been many successful show girls who have had careers of 20 years and longer. But eventually, time catches up with all of us. Today, Bambi and Candi are retired from their g-strings onstage, but are active in producing some of the most popular shows in casinos around the world. The Girls continue to make their home in the mountains surrounding the valley that is Las Vegas and have no desire to leave the valley. Over the years, the Girls tried their hand at designing their own clothing lines and achieved some minor success under fictitious names, but ultimately wisely invested in the early careers of several now very successful designers, wisely realizing that despite men's fascination with tassles and g-strings, it is women who ultimately spends thousands of dollars a year buying their own clothes.

You may be surprised to learn that it was those Las Vegas Show Girls, Bambi and Candi, that led Goddesschess into its very first sponsorship in a chess tournament -- in the 2007 U.S. Women's Chess Championship. However, the Girls have always passionately supported promoting more females to play in chess tournaments of all kinds and at all levels. One of the Girls' favorite sayings is "From a small acorn the mighty oak grows..."

Over the years, many people have inquired as to whether Bambi Darlin and Candi Kane are REAL people. All I am authorized to tell you is that - what happens in 'Vegas stays in 'Vegas...

Goddesschess is very happy to be a sponsor of the 2012 Canadian Women's Closed Chess Championship. In our next article, you will learn just how it was that those Las Vegas Show Girls led us to our first sponsorship in a tournament, and how things blossomed forth from that "First Time."

Notes:

(1) www.goddesschess.com

(2) This is the url to the Show Girls' very first Goddesschess article: http://goddesschess.com/lasvegasshowgirls/vegaschicks.html

(3) This is the url to the Show Girls' entire index of Goddesschess articles: http://goddesschess.com/lasvegasshowgirls/vegaschickstoc.html

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! This image was put together by Don as a celebration of Goddesschess' 10th anniversary and our trip to New York to celebrate it.

Check It Out

Every week dondelion does a yeoman's job of putting together the latest edition of Axis Mundae at Goddesschess. I think you may particularly like this week's edition - I sure did! And - I've been working on updating Chess Femme News. Yes, I know - the never-ending story! LOL! There are some things there that you won't find here, but when I finish updating, everything you found here about women in chess will be found there. Gee, I wish there were about 10 of me! We've got a few things brewing - we'll let you know when we know. How does that song go - "If I had a million dollars, oh if I had a million dollars..."

Goddesschess Has a Makeover - Redux!

dondelion is continuing his fevered work on updating the look, feel and organization at Goddesschess.com. He has improved site navigation and updated many features (seen and unseen) in our quest to maintain now 10-years old (but who's counting) Goddesschess as a go-to website. Public Square (newly added, featuring announcements of interest and our ongoing sponsorships), Access Mundae (a summary of recently added articles and features with direct links), and Showcase (special focus) have found a new home in the right-hand column. Our popular Goddesschess search feature is now easier to find, located at the top of the right-hand column. Random Round-up, featuring weekly news about Chess, the Goddess, and Everything (and sometimes laying clues as to our ongoing research), is now featured in the center column, just beneath easy-to-use-navigation buttons to the Goddesschess blog, Chess Femme News, and a not-yet functioning Site Map (memo to self: email Mr. Don about that...) We hope you'll find this new and improved version of Goddesschess to your liking. Ten years online with plans for the next fifty...

Goddesschess Has a Makeover!

Hola darlings! Like any ageless Goddess, from time to time Goddesschess has a "make-over" of her home page to update Her look. In celebration of our 10th year online, dondelion has been working on a new look in top secret and now it has been - revealed! Access Mundae features recent additions to Goddesschess' selection of essays and articles on chess history, ancient board games, poetry, chess art, and chess sundry. Public Square features special announcements, Goddesschess sponsorships and - we'll see... Random Roundup features a wealth of archaeological and other information every week. Sometimes there's a theme, sometimes there are clues to follow a path. All materials are presented to provoke thought and encourage dialog. Now RR features its very own drop down menu so you can more easily access its archives! The Showcase and Classic Quotes features have been relocated to the center column. Showcase highlights matters and items of special interest to Goddesschess folks. Classic Quotes are - just that, all related to chess, of course :) They are changed out periodically (there's no set schedule) - so if you see one that you like, save it, because they aren't archived! As always, our left-hand navigation menu remains so you can zero-in on where you want to go and what you want to view. We encourage you to explore. Goddesschess is a treasure trove meant to be savored and enjoyed.

Goddesschess Gets Favorable Mention!

The following information obtained from Susan Polgar's chess blog (always the latest information there). There's a new chess e-zine in town: Official website http://www.chesscheckezine.com/ It's excellent and it's free! You can subscribe by visiting the website above. Here is one article in this month's issue: BILL WALL’S CHESS WEBSITE’S REVIEW Visit Bill’s own great site -- http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/chess.htm There are thousands of chess websites. Some are very good and others not so good or not updated very much. Here is a review of some of my favorite web sites.For chess news, I always go the ChessBase at http://www.chessbase.com/ . From the U.S. Championship coverage to super grandmaster tournaments, ChessBase covers it all and includes lots of pictures. Games are usually included in the tournament reports in pgn format. ChessBase lite is available for free to play over the games. For other chess news, I like The Week in Chess (TWIC) at http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html . This site sums up the major events of the week and makes available hundreds of chess games weekly from the major events around the world. There are lots of crosstables in the latest news section and a list up major upcoming events. Another site with the latest in chess is Chessdom at http://www.chessdom.com/ . It carries the latest news in chess with pictures and there are links to interviews of top chess players around the world. For chess history or trivia, I like Chess Notes by Edward Winter at http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/ . Winter has written several chess books based on his chess notes as he tries to uncover historical chess facts or points out errors and mistakes in chess writings. His articles are usually accompanied by historical chess photos. Winter is probably the best chess historian of our time. Another chess historical site is Goddess Chess at http://www.goddesschess.com/ . There is a lot of information on the history of chess, chess art and artifacts. For general information, some chess articles, or a place to purchase chess books and equipment, I like Chess Café at http://www.chesscafe.com/ . There are plenty of book reviews and chess columns. In December, Chess Café holds its annual chess quiz. You really have to be a chess buff to do well in this contest. Another good site is Chessville at http://www.chessville.com/ . It is full of chess articles, reviews, news, and chess problems. It also has a good chess store. For online chess database of master chess games, chessgames.com at http://www.chessgames.com/ is very good. It has almost all the games of top players, with discussion groups, an Opening Explorer database with millions of games, a player’s dictionary, and game of the day. For me, the best place to play chess online is chess.com at http://www.chess.com/ . You can play online chess or live chess with thousands of players, including dozens of grandmasters and international masters. The site has a players’ forum to discuss topics, a chess blog site, a chess wikipedia, hundreds of chess articles, lots of history and trivia, and a lot more. It is also home to Chess Mentor and Tactics Trainer. For chess humor and some good chess articles, I like Chandler Cornered or Chess Edinburgh at http://chessedinburgh.co.uk/chandler.php . The website is by Geoff Chandler of Scotland and he writes in a humorous style and includes chess pictures and illustrations. He includes lots of local games and annotates them well, with lots of diagrams. Tim Krabbe’s Chess Curiosities at http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess/chess.html keeps a list of records in chess (longest, shortest, latest, mostest, etc) along with his chess diary. He includes lots of chess problems and chess stories. My favorite chess blog is Susan Polgar’s chess blog at http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/ . She usually keeps up to date on the latest chess events and includes lots of pictures. She also has a section called the current state of the USCF, which is usually not good. Another good blog site is by Jim West at http://jimwestonchess.blogspot.com/ . This New York master has written dozens of articles and annotated many of his games to fill up his blog site. Another good one is Mig Greengard’s Chessninja Daily Dirt chess blog at http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt/ . His coverage of the U.S. championship and other events is great. The Closet Grandmaster at http://closetgrandmaster.blogspot.com/ is another good blog site from an Australian chess blogger. If you are interested in chess problems, one of the best sites is http://www.chessproblems.com/ . Chess problems can be selected from easy to hard, with about 4,000 games in its database. One of my favorite chess home pages is A.J. Chess Home Page at http://www.geocities.com/lifemasteraj/ . It is full of annotated chess games, reviews, chess news, and chess trivia of all interests. He has put a lot of work in his annotated games. If you play correspondence chess, a good site is http://www.correspondencechess.com/ . There are a lot links to other correspondence chess sites, including the Campbell Report at http://www.correspondencechess.com/campbell/ . Campbell keeps up to date on correspondence chess around the world. More from Bill next month! Thanks to Bill Wall, Chess-Check, and Susan Polgar's blog!

Disagreement Behind the Scenes

The people of Goddesschess are generally a pretty unified group because of our shared vision, but with strong personalities disagreements occasionally do happen and when they do well, watch out. dondelion and I are in the middle of one right now, stemming from this week's Random Round-up that he put up at Goddesschess on Sunday night. He thought it might be - well, I don't know what - to publish our email exchanges on the subject. To show that we're human and we disagree? Oh, I've got it - to show that he's a numbnut and I'm a bitch, and that the road to putting together a website (for 10 years in May, 2009) isn't always a piece of cake... So, here are our email exchanges - he's an hour eastward of my location, so keep that in mind with the time stamps: 10/5/08 11:52 p.m. HOLA! RR is up a bit late - and so was I. Getting this week's edition done was a marathon 12 hour event. My head hurts!!! Maybe my hat is on too tight? must hit the sack!Cheers to all and congratulations on the new homestead Georgia! a bientot Don I didn't see this email until I got home from work last night. 10/6/08 6:01 p.m. Hi Don, I'm sorry you put so much effort into this week's RR. I have many complaints about it. The horns depicted in the photo from the Persian dig, those ARE horns, NOT a goddess. That's the reason I did not publish the photograph at the Goddesschess blog when the story first showed up, because it's perfectly clear they are antelope or deer horns, NOT a carved goddess. I looked for the other references including any published photographs from the other dig mentioned and could not find a photograph of any goddess recovered at either Persian dig. This makes me extremely suspicious. Next, the link to "Ishtar" is to a general message board and it's impossible to determine under which subject "Ishtar" may have posted - what about a link directly to her post? But why go that way at all? Using an unknown poster as authority for anything??? None of those photographs are provenanced! They could be total fakes or totally misrepresent what she says they are representing. Frankly, that one goddess does not looked "horned" to me at all - the ancients certainly knew how to depict horns, Don. If those "globs" on either side of her head are anything, it's coiled up hair, rather like Princess Leia's style. I do NOT believe the "Sorcerer" painting is an authentic representation. Why the big difference in clarity between the image you published at Goddesschess RR and the image published at the link you gave, which is fuzzy and faded? Did you check to see if there are any other photographs of this image on the internet from better sources? Also, I think there are decent authorities out there to cite with respect to the well-known belief of shamans being able to "transform" into animals, why cite to a blog? Thank you Ishtar? Who IS this person? For all you know, you could be thanking someone we would NOT want to give any credibility to whatsoever. Please Don! And then you jumped to Anahita? Sorry to be so picky and critical. I don't think it's a good job, not up to the caliber of other RRs you've done. It looks and feels strained and uncertain and does not hang together for me. I'd much prefer you just stick to reporting archaeological news then trying to do "themed" presentations that take a hell of a lot more explanation and material to hang together than what's available for you at RR. (rest of email on another subject) Jan 6:01 p.m. P.S. "Ishtar" is wrong about the date of the Venus of Willendorf - she is at least 25,000 years old, not 13,000 years old. Don's reply: 10/6/08 7:54 p.m. Hi Jan Well - I knew what I was doing had some risk involved. I took it on faith that the published article (as per your C/P of the description - which i verified by checking the actual press release) was indeed a "goddess" - and it could well be, given the prevalence of horned goddesses in general and the pics Ishtar included in her post at Archaeologica drew a number of solid comparisons that Noury's PHd research confirmed. For some reason I couldn't pick up the page url from the actual section she posted on and just gave the generic url. There would have been problems with the exact page anyway, since a reader at g-chess would have had to scroll down the Archaeolgica site to find the exact reference to her post on their message board. If anything, I should return there, log in and let her know that her info impressed me enough to rearrange it on our R&R page with few edits. I did find one canard - but the rest was solid enough. BTW, there is no mention of the Wallendorf [sic] Venus made in any section of of Ishtar's entry. She is referring to a similar Indian icon which I recognized is dffferent from the much older one you are referring to. Combined, they propose a 19,000 year carry over of one singularly important tradition. Pretty amazing - but no less so than the use of antelope horns as a pan-global signature for shamans in general. I closed in on some Siberian and Tlingit info, found several shaman's antlers and thought it would be redundant to include more of the same at R&R. The date, provenance and so forth of the Indian goddess icon I could not verify independently. I merely took it on faith that she was being truthful since the rest of her synopsis was - to the best of my knowledge - accurate and displayed understanding of iconic sharing and evolution among primordial Egyptian, Persian and Indian cultures. I was skeptical about the "horns" of this Indian gal as well. Nonetheless, this is a good example of how iconic form can morph into approximation. Details of the self same "cleft" are almost of secondary importance since I could have explained that two headed or forked icons represent the two genders responsible for all creation - the demiurgic yin-yang/ linga-yoni aspect of the whole chain of earthly procreation and that the image therefore implied hermaphroditic characteristics as well - a common theme in ancient ritual art. It is also of specific interest to goddeschess because the entwining serpent aspect contracts around Ganesha (al pil) and is part of his personal myth. How he acquires this ancient property is explained in Indian religious lore - and it is actually a humorous tale. Now we have specific evidence that Genesha recalls pre-neolithic iconography and so, this indian icon is therefore very important to the background of chess and chaturanja. Will other readers "get" this? Maybe yes maybe no. Also the "mala" beads representing the entwining snakes fall into the same category of iconic license. Aside from the Indian "devi" we already know Hathor's menat necklace, menat offerings and the expository ritual framework of senet are conjoined in a way that suggest "chess". How many people know this? Probably very few. It was frustrating trying to find any further info on the Kermanshah "horns". I dug deep and just got clones of the same article. Ishtar's commentary was the only one to venture anything pertinent or interesting. Better than nothing - and a fair appraisal of how the iconic Mary is sanitized and shorn of earlier shamanic traits via latter day athropomorphism. Some people will get this and some wont. At least we have not offended anyone with that inclusion. Besides, it states a fact. I chose the artistic re-rendering of the Trois Freres pic for clarity - but could have selected the original I suppose. I was handling lots of data and his page provided a shortcut with good visual content. Click the thumbnail pic on the source page and it opens up into a much larger one. I took the large one and scaled it down. It might not be the original, but the info about it was accurate. Anahita was not a blind leap onto nowhere. Noury's article clearly states that her icon is found at Kermanshah where these ancient "horns" appear. Is it coincidence that Anihita's earliest representations appear in the same location? In any case, this reference draws the entire gist of this week's RR full circle and makes a statement about Avestan incorporation of Anahita's myth as being, like Ganesha, a syncretic compoound of earlier orientations - which is of course, very apropos to the idea of a Persian origin of chess. Is she, like other goddess, a possible representation of the actual chess board itself? Her titulary aspects do not conflict with that assumption and I was deeply gratified to find a PhD who could include significant details Wikipedia missed. Now I think we should post this e-mail up at the blog and include a reciprocal url at g-chess. At least that give g-chess readers a means of grappling with the same problems you faced.... I think it's cool that we have internal controversy and show how we can deal with it in a constructive way. I suggest you post something to the effect that "Jan Xena Calls Wallace to the Carpet and Wallace Respectfully Replies". It's OK to do that you know. You ARE entitled to shout "Off with his head!!!" - (lol!) and it might actually be a good thing to show that we actually do question one another from time to time... genuine human behavior at the very least... What say you? a bientot Don Are you getting bored yet? No? Here's my reply: 10/6/08 8:11 p.m. Yes, I will publish my email and your response at the blog. Here is a direct QUOTE from Goddesschess that specifically refers to the VENUS OF WILLENDORF with a date of 13000 BC. You cannot trust a person who cannot get his or her dates correct about such an iconic and well known goddess symbol, Don. It's 25000 BCE, NOT 13000 BCE. So don't tell me that I'm imagining things that aren't there. Learn to read your own work, mister. But it doesn't make sense that we have preserved images of goddesses going back to the 13000 BC (Venus of Willendorf) but none for the most famous of all until more than three centuries after the Christian era began. 8:18 p.m. P.S. Precisely because you could NOT find any confirmation that the deer horns were, in fact, a goddess, SHOULD mean that you do not assume they were! We could get away with that bullshit in the early days when we didn't know any better, but we do know better now, don't we, after 9 years on the internet, and it's a cop out to use that photo and call it a goddess just because you wanted to - without stating up front that this is your opinion that these horns ARE the goddess carving referred to in the article. Bad form, Don. Don's reply, 10/6/08 8:35 p.m. Right - c.23,000 BCE. ?i just spotted it - and made a correction. It could have been a typo -? To verify the other figure - I dialed "Mehrgarh horned goddess" into a search and?found this... which is not a decisive match for Ishtar's Indus pic - - but - important nonetheless - the boobies my dear - they are consistent with the bishop and the canopic Egyptian piece and the Minoan art I have in tow... ? http://www.razarumi.com/documents-archive/mother-goddess-indus-valley/ THe Indian figure ?found - ?Archeological evidence from related cultures suggests that Indus Valley mythology was centered in the idea of female power and Goddess cults. There is direct evidence of Goddess dominance on Indus seals, which, like the seals of ancient Sumer, bring together goddesses, sacred snakes, and such symbols of male power and virility as horned bulls and rams and mythical animals such as unicorns. There is also ample indication on the seals of rituals involving sacrifice to what appears to be a horned goddess. At the ruins at the ancient settlement of Mehrgarh, dating back to as early as 6000 BCE, goddess figurines have been discovered that would seem to confirm the importance of the female power during the 600–2500 BCE period.? (source) [remainder of email on another topic] My reply: 10/6/08 8:53 p.m. That goddess figurine has more in common with the "bird" goddesses I've posted images at This and That that you continue to ignore. 23000 BCE is not the date of the "Venus" of Willendorf. How soon you forget - in July you published at Random Round-up a link to the - I believe - 100th anniversary of her discovery. Don't try to excuse shoddy posting with a typo. 13,000 BCE is wrong, and you know it. If that is wrong, what else did that person post that is also wrong. Our job these days is to not only tweak interest - it is also to verify. We aren't virgins in the woods anymore, and can't get away with bullshit - and shouldn't try and foist that off on our readers. [remainder of email on another topic] Jan Don's reply: 10/6/08 8:38 p.m. Jan - the article explicity stated the horns were a 'goddess". If I had included nothing else but the info from the article you provided that assumption would have been published at g-chess nonetheless... and Ishtar is also wondering about how antlers could be a goddess... My reply: 10/6/08 8:56 p.m. No, Don, it did not. Read it again. Don's reply: 10/6/08 8:53 p.m. More context of the "two headed - two horned" goddess here...http://www.crystalinks.com/induscivilization.html Crystallinks - but generally OK for general info... Harappa - in teracotta - srcoll [remainder of email on unrelated topics] Me: 10/6/08 9:00 p.m. Here is the text of the article: The first phase of archeological excavations at Sheikhi Abad mound in Iran's Kermanshah Province has yielded the statue of a goddess.The statute, which resembles a figurine previously found in Kermanshah's Sarab-Mort, is believed by experts to be a valuable source of information. Iranian and British archeologists, who studied the site for the first time in the past fifty years, also discovered nearly 50 botanical samples that can shed light on some of the mysteries of the Neolithic Age. Skeletal remains of red deer, goat, ram and fish were also found at the site, which archeologists hope will elucidate how animals were domesticated in those days. Previous studies had dated Sheikhi Abad mound to nine to ten thousand years ago. Archeologists believe the site was home to the earliest human settlers. Show me, exactly, where it says the goddess statue, was in the form of deer horns? IT DOES NOT. It DOES say that "skeletal remains of red deer...were also found at the site". Nothing to link the goddess statue to the remains of red deer. Jan Don: 10/6/08 9:47 p.m. "Show me, exactly, where it says the goddess statue, was in the form of deer horns? IT DOES NOT. It DOES say that "skeletal remains of red deer...were also found at the site". Nothing to link the goddess statue to the remains of red deer." I'm not sure what you mean by this. First off, I began with the press release. I didn't make that "horned" assumption, but the article leads directly towards it by publishing the pic in concert with the claim - however disputable. As I mentioned, and as is clear from the iconography of surrounding cultures - albeit much later - there is ample credence to that "horned" assumption as well - and granted, it could be many things but there is plenty of leeway and really lots of ways to interpret the symbolic aspect of a "Y" figure - like the Dogon "ladder" or the indigenous Egyptian "Y" which was her national symbol. It has obvious celestial connotations vis a vis "the descent of matter" from cosmic sources and it could even be related to the Ka upraised arms or the Minoan snake goddess... [portions of email deleted that were not on topic] I'm snarly - yeah - but I have a budding cold and reserve the right to be a stubborn old prick sometimes... If we want to rejoin the issue at RR there is always next week and endless opportunity to question the things the press feeds us... Me - things are getting quite testy now - can you tell: 10/6/08 9:01 p.m. Why not stop trying to justify copying and pasting shoddy work and fix the damn column. Write an article about your findings regarding horns and the goddess and publish it at Goddesschess, and put the energy you've spent trying to prove me wrong (which you did not) to good use. Jan And for good measure: 10/6/08 10:09 p.m. Jan - the article explicity stated the horns were a 'goddess". Those are your words, not mine. As far as the photograph goes, it does not show a goddess figurine - it shows a set of horns and a lot of dirt. Read the article again. Don't tell me that I don't know how to read, Don. The evidence tonight indicates that I read quite accurately, and you can't read your way out of paper sack. Jan The final word on the matter, from Don: 10/6/08 10:15 p.m. end ai kent spelz two gud neder... LOL! I haven't replied. This will be one of those disagreements that is never resolved.

The Goddesschess Muses

Who are those gorgeous women? Mix beauty with brains and you get us - three of the women behind Goddesschess! That's me on the left (no longer sporting my auburn locks), Isis and Michelle (who is sporting auburn locks this summer). Photo taken by dondelion on 7/25/08.

Goddesschess Update

Random Round-up has been updated. Since the core group of Goddesschess is going to be on vacation starting July 18th for 2 weeks, there will be no RR updates. I'll blog as I can. In addition to the usual RR miscellany of interesting items, we've added two articles of note to our Chessquest section: The Sacred Bone by Brian Stross pdf file 3.1 M instant download While Goddesschess is on vacation during the next two weeks, this article oughta hold ya! Formally titled "The Mesoamerican Sacrum Bone; Doorway to the Other World", here you will find 54 pages of excellent research on the subject of dice and related traditions. Thanks Brian! See also: html link - a good portal but lacking important graphic content. (July 13, 2008) The Sacred Game by J.C. Hallman Goddesschess "enthusiastically" presents this informed thoughtspiece from the pen of J.C. Hallman. (July 6. 2008)

Goddesschess

Mr. Don has put together this week's edition of "Random Round-up" at Goddesschess (it's on the main page, on the right hand side, underneath Access Mundae). Mr. Don has outdone himself this week, LOL! Please visit and check out the poster he put together for "Arkansas Smith and the Temple of Chess," featuring stars of Goddesschess from left to right: Isis, Mr. Don, yours truly as the Woman in Dark Glasses and our resident beautiful young person, Michelle. Rock Crystal is his theme this week, and he takes us on an adventure in chessly directions...

Amsterdam, 2001

We'd planned the trip for months. Having received invitations via our connection with Ricardo Calvo (may Goddess rest his soul), Isis, Michelle, dondelion and yours truly were going to travel from Montreal to Amsterdam with a layover at London's Heathrow from November 29 through December 5? (I forget the exact dates) to attend a symposium at the Max Euwe Centrum sponsored by the Initiativ Gruppe Koenigstein. (Photos: views of my Hotel Schmitt room).

All our travel plans were in order - airfares paid for, hotel accomodations secured.

And then, 9/11 happened.

Ricardo and I got into a nasty email fight about 9/11 and I was going to cancel my reservations - who needs the European a-holes was my feeling at the time. Hey, my nickname isn't Patton for nothing!

But under this crusty exterior I'm a softy, and I was eventually prevailed upon from several different directions to attend the gathering; and, being "fiscally prudent", I didn't want to have to pay $100 to cancel the airlines reservations for use at a future date. At the time, I couldn't imagine travelling anywhere overseas ever again and I didn't want to waste good money.

In due course, Isis, Michelle and I rendevouzed with Don in Montreal; we had a one night/day layover there before departing on an overnight flight to London. We travelled on to Amsterdam where we stayed for, I believe, 6 magical days. dondelion gave a presentation on his never-finished always being edited "Fool's Guide to Pawn Promotion." Isis and I also put together written presentations and, together with dondelion's "Fool's Guide," they were spiral bound and we (stupid!) hauled several copies overseas in our luggage! (Photo: view toward the Reicksmuseum from my Hotel Schmitt room).

When we got to the symposium we realized we didn't have near enough copies of our "presentations." dondelion and I had a real adventure running out during the 1.5 hour lunch break, tracking down an "insta-print" place and having to pay for the job in cash (that meant running out and locating a cash machine) - as they refused to take my "foreign" credit card - the jerks! Ever get lost in a semi-circular city? We did - but somehow managed to find out way back to the hotel (no thanks to my never-failing go the wrong way sense of direction) and from there, the few blocks further to the Max Euwe Centrum.

Every single copy of our spiral bound presentations were snapped up - we even gave up our ceremonial keepsake copies (but I stole one back later on when someone's back was turned for an instant and he'd left his copy sitting on a table...)

I'm sure I've written about all of this before - but I'm too lazy to try and track down the back-link - I really must put in some kind of internal search... Here is my absolutely informative, fantastic and innovative paper on Goddess Iconography in Ancient Board Games - should have gotten the Nobel Prize for it, I think.

This was all brought back to mind when I was earlier perusing some photographs from the trip I've got stored on my hard drive. We had a wonderful time in Amsterdam, although I didn't eat a bite at the Saturday night celebratory dinner gathering at an Asian restaurant. Everyone else seemed to be having a rip-roaring time, but for me it was a total bust. When I ordered "peanut chicken" I didn't expect to receive something that looked like slime-coated mush served on long toothpicks. We also received bowls of hard, glued-together, cold, white rice. No butter or margarine available to flavor it. Not a salt or pepper shaker in sight. Strange-colored globs of stuff were presented as "salad." I'm still not sure what those globs were, exactly - probably best not to know.

The Germans seated on my left side steadfastly ignored all my polite attempts to engage them in conversation, the Russians across the table who did speak German but no English were attentive but communication was, by necessity, somewhat stilted since I speak neither Russian nor German. We did a lot of "sign" language.

I gave all my food away to a couple of very hungry graduate students who shared the end of the table with us to my right. They were extremely cute and quite entertaining, so I didn't mind. I left early after paying my bill, using all my available cash and borrowing some from dondelion (this restaurant did not accept credit cards - what?) and with a few more borrowed gilders from dondelion, I stopped at a McDonald's on the way back to the Hotel Schmitt and took a Big Mac and fries back to my room. Heaven!

In due course, I had my 15 micro-seconds of fame when I was mentioned in the Russian chess magazine "64" in an article written by one of the charming Russians who'd sat across the table to my left (Issac Linder, Jr.):

And the group of the American enthusiasts already entirely exceeded in its excursus into the antiquity all fantastic visions:she proposed conference the collection of statements, in which on complete ser'eze is asserted the godly origin of chess. Jain Newton from the state of Wisconsin even did organize during December 1998 discussion on internetu of?Is of chyuess tyue din of to tyue Of goddess?? and it found numerous adherents of view, as if all ancient games were vnusheny to people more than.

Leave it to a man to spell my name wrong! It's Jan - not Jain - even though I suppose I'm somewhat religiously sympathetic to the Jains...

The Babelfish translation is, of course, totally horrific. The original question that got Goddesschess going was "Is Chess The Game Of The Goddess?" - and it was posed by Isis, not by me, at the old Art Bell message boards. But in typical Patton fashion I more or less hijacked, cajolled and cohersed everyone posting there at the time to follow my lead, and about six months after that initial discussion thread started, the very first Goddesschess website appeared. The rest, as they say, is herstory.

Elderly Scam Artists

This is an "Everything" post. I've been coming across lots of articles recently that discuss fraud in the antiquities market - New York, for instance, is a big market for both illegally excavated (or otherwise illegally acquired) antiquities and outright fraudulent "antiquities." We've been posting links to recent articles and even a website devoted to the subject at Goddesschess' Random Roundup. This one, though, takes the cake! Elderly pair face art scam charges Martin Wainwright Friday April 27, 2007 The Guardian A couple in their 80s and their sons were charged yesterday with conning a council into buying a fake ancient Egyptian statue that was supposed to put the Louvre's similiar piece of art in the shade. Embarrassed town hall staff in Bolton were allegedly hoodwinked by George Greenhalgh, 83, and his wife Olive, 82, into paying nearly £440,000 for the 50cm (20in) image of the Amarna princess, said to represent Tutankhamun's sister. The statue was later found by experts to be many centuries short of its supposed age of 3,367 years. The couple appeared before Greater Manchester magistrates yesterday with their sons, George Junior, 52, and Shaun, 46, who are jointly accused of using their home in Bolton as a base for selling bogus antiques. The parents and Shaun are accused of conspiring to defraud the arts and antique world by selling fake and forged work as genuine between 1989 and 2006. They are also charged with knowingly handling fake art and antiques and the money made from selling such items. Mr Greenhalgh and his sons are charged with involvement in handling the cash transfer from Bolton council for the statue, whose purchase the council said at the time was a "bargain". It was really worth £1m, the council said in 2003. The statue represented a daughter of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti. The council paid for it by securing a grant of £360,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, as well as £75,000 from the National Art Collections Fund, and £2,500 from the Friends of Bolton Museum and Art Gallery. The allegedly bargain price had been attributed to the wish of the Bolton seller that the Amarna statue should stay in his native town. The relic occupied pride of place at Bolton Museum until a Metropolitan police inquiry in March last year. The inquiry followed suspicions raised by the appearance of a supposedly ancient Syrian sculpture sent to the British Museum some months earlier. No pleas were entered. A further hearing will take place at the end of July. The four defendants were given unconditional bail.

Here We Go!

The concept for Goddesschess first arose in 1999 but, as with all things, there was a beginning. A group of people had gathered at the old Art Bell website (when he was still going full-tilt as the host of "Coast to Coast" on late-night radio, featuring folks like Major Ed Dames - "remote viewing" anyone?) to post on the message boards hosted there. We met under the topic "Is Chess The Game Of The Goddess?" started by Isis in December, 1998. We were a free-wheeling group and because most of us knew hardly a thing about chess or about "board games studies" (or about the "proper" way to go about such research), we wrote about anything and everything that we thought might contain a clue to the object of our quest - the origins of chess. We therefore discussed religions (0ld and new), archaeology, anthropology, geography, etymology, linguistics, migrational patterns, the evolution and history of the horse and dog, ancient trade, and more esoteric subjects such as goddess symbolism, mythology, what Isis calls "the old switcheroo" (that is, where males are substituted for females in subsequent iterations of history), magic, child sacrifice (gulp), and lots of other stuff. Looking back now, yeah, some of what we wrote could, I suppose, be viewed as controversial but we were so wrapped up in what we were doing we didn't notice the clouds gathering around us, and we never did child pornography (that's a joke)... After three or four months of happily posting to each other - and having attracted a group of "regulars," it slowly became apparent that, because of some host problems that began cropping up with increasing regularity (such as disappearing posts and, later, outright censorship of some posts and then the banning of certain people from the forum for violating arbitrarily imposed "rules"), we should move our discussion to a friendlier environment and also - if we could - save what we had already posted. To make a long story short, after much behind-the-scenes emailing and planning, Goddesschess went online at the old "Xoom" hosting site on May 6, 1999, thanks to our original webmistress, Vickie "Terpsy" Ramirez. It initially contained only the successfully-rescued posts that had been made at the old message board. For several months thereafter, we all continued to post (except those of us who were banned) at the Art Bell message board. Terpsy would gather up the posts and publish them at our "back-up" Goddesschess site on a regular basis. We called those posts "The Weave" because of how the discussion and themes seamlessly wove themselves into a beautiful whole. It wasn't long after Goddesschess first went online that it expanded to include articles about women in chess, articles discussing whether and why men were "better" chessplayers than women, chess poems and Chess Patronesses, which pays homage to some of the female chessplayers from the early 20th century. In August, 1999 I traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to see some of the FIDE World Chess Championship knock-out matches at Caesar's Palace. That opened up a whole new world for Goddesschess. Working into the wee hours of the morning in my hotel room on a laptop computer I borrowed from Isis, I wrote and wrote and wrote. Those posts are preserved at Goddesschess; they capture my first exposure to "big league chess." That event was won by GM Alexander Khalifman, and I think he was a wonderful world chess championship for the year he reigned under the former FIDE system. We added articles from around the internet that at the time captured the flavor of that first FIDE knock-out championship event. (Click here and scroll down to the heading "Tournament Chess" and underneath to "Vegas Views", and the articles that follow). Eventually the Art Bell message boards shut down, and so several of the posters migrated to a new forum at Delphi, where we set up home under the name of "Chess, Goddess and Everything." In time, due to some philosophical differences, the group split and a new discussion group formed at Delphi called "On Chess," which is now the "Goddesschess Discussion Group" because these days the posts there have very little to do about chess, per se, but are all about archaeology, anthropology, migration patterns, climatic changes that impacted ancient societies, and things like that. But - we're circling in closer and closer to our target - the origins of chess. We just utilize a universal approach to the subject matter - I believe in academic circles it's called a cross-disciplinary approach - and we do not restrict ourselves only to studying ancient board games. We study just about everything, because we believe clues to the origins of board games (and chess) are everywhere. Soon, we'll be celebrating our 8th anniversary online. There aren't many websites older than Goddesschess but those that are, are venerable: The Week in Chess; Chess Cafe, to name a few. But those are chess-centric sites. Goddesschess is chess-centric, with a twist. Today, we are bringing Goddesschess into the 21st century by starting this blog. Where it will go (or if it will go) is anyone's guess. People are too busy to post at message boards, it seems; blogs are the thing right now. Tomorrow - who knows? What you can be sure of is that, at least for the next 30 years or so, Goddesschess will be online - somewhere!