Chess Miscellany

Wow - I just saw one of those "TODAY IN HISTORY" things that today, November 5:  In 1992, U.S. chess legend Bobby Fischer clinched a $5 million chess match against Russian Boris Spassky, marking a triumphant return after 20 years in self-imposed obscurity.

Was it this match that led to the sad end of Robert James Fischer? He died a permanent exile who did not even attend the funeral of his only sibling, his older sister, Joan Targ.  Perhaps they had been estranged for many years at the time.  With Fischer, one never knew.  When Fischer died in 2008 without a Will, a big fight ensued over what was left of his "fortune" - I suspect a very large junk of it was eaten up in legal fees!  The Filippino lady who claimed that her daughter was Fischer's lost her claim when DNA testing excluded Fischer as the child's father.  A Japanese woman, Miyoko Watai, a pharmacist and the president of the Japan Chess Association, produced documentary evidence of a 2004 marriage to Fischer to the satisfaction of the Court in Iceland that was probating the Estate, was determined her to be Fischer's legal heir.   I suppose I'm a sap, but I do hope that in his final years Robert James Fischer found some happiness with a female companion. 

Visiting some of the chess femme blogs:

At GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's blog, she posted an obituary/article for former chessplayer Andrija Fuderer (of the former Yugoslavia, later moved to Spain).  One can only wonder - what might have been if he had continued to play chess as a full-time career...

GM Kosteniuk is playing on the Russian Women's Team (Board 4, alternating with WGM Natalia Pogonina) in the European Team Chess Championships currently taking place in Greece.  So far, she is 2 for 2!  You Go Girl!

At GM Susan Polgar's blog, I am thinking about putting her in my Will after she published this photograph of an absolutely smoking hot Vassily Ivanchuk from 1991.  OHMYGODDESS!  Be still, oh my heart.  The game wasn't bad either...  Come to think of it, I was probably pretty hot back in 1991 too.  Oh time, time, time, what you have done to us?  Thicker around the middle and, at least in Ivanchuk's case, much greyer hair too.  Hmmm, actually I've probably aged fairly well.  Okay, enough ego talk.  I owe it all to my sister Yvonne's L'Bri products.  Miracles in little jars and bottles...

A great way to help kids and chess - contribute a chess set and board!  This article Mr. Solomon's Chess Gifts posted at SP's blog - what can I say?  Inspirational, wonderful, awesome!

Visting favorite person Elizabeth Vicary's chess blog, she has posted several "snapshots" of board positions of her chess kids from a recent match and I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND ANY OF THEM.  Oh my, my new chess coach is certainly going to face a daunting uphill battle - I'm hopeless!  And he thought I was joking when I warned him about battle pay in an email.  Hmmm...  The photographs of the kids - how can anyone not fall in love with these kids?  Oh, those faces!  They make me want to cry - tears of happiness, tears of empathy.  Gee, I really am getting sentimental in my later years.  I've never been particularly fond of children, but they do seem to be particularly fond of me.  Perverse. 

This photo brought a smile to my face:  It's Elizabeth Vicary analyzing with Michael Yu.  I gave my very own second chess lesson to a co-worker yesterday, and I swear I had that exact intense look on my face, and that exact same body position - uncanny!  Will the right answer out of him, Lizzy!  Maybe it's a sort of universal position for coaches - except for the dorky yet fashionable hat, I aint gonna wear one of those, at my age I'd look like a bag lady.

Anyway, she - I mean my pupil - did very well.  She remembered the names of most of the pieces and their respective moves even though we weren't able to have a lesson last week Friday.  She confused the Rook and the Bishop but that's probably my fault, I should not have gone into that little bit of chess herstory about how the Rooks and the Bishops switched places back in ancient times, or how the game is said to have been invented in India, but everyone really knows it was the Persians who did it... I shouldn't ramble on so, but she seems fascinated by the ancientness of it all, and you should hear her say "Ja'doube"!  She loves the word!  She loves the concept!  Oh my, I've got a captive audience and I'm playing the Ham to the Hilt.  Sigh.  Yesterday I explained to her how the Persian "ruhkh" became the "rook."  What possible relevance this has to moving the pieces around on the board - NONE. 

After our review, we went through some simple moves and I also attempted to explain "castling" and how to do it Queenside and Kingside.  Her head didn't explode so I think she's okay.  Next lesson we're actually going to start playing and move by move we will question each and every move.  I may actually learn something myself.

Oh, the exquisite irony.  Here I am, acting as a chess coach ("acting" is the key word in this sentence), and I don't know a damn thing about how to actually to play the game, but I do know a lot about it's ancient beginnings; and there I will be on the 14th of the month, sitting across from my own chess coach for the very first time, gulping and wishing with all my might that I won't make an absolute fool of myself.  But, I probably will.  Such is life, darlings! 

But back to Elizabeth Vicary and the school where she teaches, IS 318 in Brooklyn, New York USA.  A film crew who has filmed massive amounts of chess stuff with the IS 318 kids and is hoping to prune it all down to an award-winning documentary (like producer Lynn Hamrick's "Chess Kids") are looking to raise some money so they can refine a final product and tout it around all the various places that such films have to be touted in order to get enough recognition to be put on the list of nominees for film awards, etc. etc.  Sounds absolutely exhausting!  Why would anyone undertake such a project, Ms. Not-So-Innocent (me, darlings) asks?  I saw the information/request for contributions at both Alexandra's blog and Susan's blog, so here's some more information.  I think it's a great cause because it involves (1) chess and (2) kids and (3) IS 318 (but IS 318 could be any school in the country that has a great chess program). 

You know what - since I lost my three faithful canine companions, Tasha being the last to die, she went to The Happy Hunting Grounds in 2004, I've become absolutely fanatical about chess.  Am I substituting chess for not having had children, replacing children with dogs, and now that I no longer wish to have official pets (my assorted backyard wildlife faithfully fed for the past 21 years do not count as pets) replacing dogs with chess?  What would Freud say?  Okay, I can't say what I really want to say about Freud without a lot of profanity and vulgarity, so nix that thought...

WGM Alina L'Ami's blog always has such fascinating articles at her blog.  If you come back to Montreal in 2012, Alina, to defend your title as Female Champion of the City of Montreal Open, I hope to meet you.  I'm planning on being there.  Just how I'm going to manage that, I don't know; if I make an appearance at every event we're sponsoring in 2012 I'll be on the road A LOT.  Oh my poor pocketbook!  In hindsight, I really should have married that millionaire back in 1974.  Oh well.  My life may not have taken a chessly turn if I had...

Alina has words of wisdom about losing in chess and Lady Luck, and her words could not be more timely as I am going from bad to worse in my online games with Shira Evans Sanford.  Shira, I HATE YOU.  I love you, but I HATE YOU.  Hmmm, maybe I need some new medication.  I'm definitely sounding more and more schizoid these days.

Alina also wrote about Chess Design.  I absolutely adore this Chess Theme Bedroom - like WOW!  I have yet to finish my black/cream/red country French-themed bedroom -- too busy writing here, darlings.  It's been lingering and dying a slow death ever since Kevin painted out the room in 2009 from the dreadful pink I'd had since 1990 when I moved in - well, I did like it once.  To be truthful, these days the house looks like crap.  The only time I clean now is when I'm expecting company, but I sort of miss the days when I used to have House Beautiful.  And it was a Beautiful House.  No dust, no odd smells emanating out of the odd corner or from behind (or underneath) furniture, cleaned carpets, sparkling windows.  Now it looks like the Castle of Sleeping Beauty, that hasn't been touched in (fill in your own number here) years.  Cobwebs and spiders in the corners - I'm not kidding. WHERE THE HELL DO THEY COME FROM? 

Oy, I see the shade has already overtaken the front lawn and I've got to move my large pot of three white geraniums back into a sheltered spot.  We've been getting hard freezes here at night, but so far, thanks to draping them nightly in a big black towel and uncovering them when I hit the road at 7:15 a.m., those geraniums are not only blooming, they are setting more blooms!  I may have another miracle set of geraniums like the ones I had some years back that lasted well into December. Time to move on to other projects - like laundry and baking that apple pie I picked up the ingredients for earlier today during the weekly Saturday trek to the Pick and Save supermarket.  Cortland apples were on sale at only 0.98 USD a pound!  I couldn't resist. They are such beautiful apples, and perfect for baking.  I have a complaint though.  Pick and Save did not have the ready-made roll-out pie crusts prominently displayed.  I went through that damn gigantic store's dairy/cold and frozen aisles three times before I finally found them!  Geez Louise!  And how dare they try to foist off on me two ready-to-bake pie shells in cheap tin-foil pie plates for $4.99?  I mean, PLEASE!  I may have to finally resort to making my own.  EEK.  Double EEK.  Oh well, how hard can it be?  Certainly easier than learning how to play a sound chess game!

Speaking of which - one last word about me as chess coach:  Yes, darlings, I did actually talk about controlling the center of the board, why that is beneficial, how it's supposed to be done (hello, Ruy Lopez - never thought I'd ever say that and that sure isn't the way I play), and never ever making an intentional move, unless you wish to sacrifice a piece, without making sure the piece is both simultaneously attacking and protected from attack from the enemy forces.  Gee, I hate the way that sounds.  Maybe that's why I'm not so good at playing.  I don't like the premise.

Famed Chessplayer Fischer's Body Exhumed for DNA Sample and Reburied

I wasn't going to report this but Sis was right, this is important news regarding a world-renowned chessplayer - the first modern-day World Chess Champion who was an American, excluding Paul Morph.  Morphy, a young troubled American (sound familiar?) was considered World Chess Champion by some before the title became 'officially' established and before there was anything called FIDE which is something like d' Federicion Internationale d'Echecs.  It should be called the World Chess Federation. English IS still the language of international trade and exchange, is it not?  So why is the name of the international chess federation in French instead of English?  Who knows?  I sure don't.

People will be interested in this news. Here's the report that she sent me a few days ago, from CNN - I have since seen that it was one of the briefest and most factual available, with a minimum of sensationalism:

Chess icon's body exhumed in paternity case
By the CNN Wire Staff

July 6, 2010 11:42 a.m. EDT
The body of chess legend Bobby Fischer was exhumed Monday (July 5, 2010) in Iceland, law enforcement officials have told CNN. His body was reburied shortly after DNA samples were taken, the officials said.

Iceland's supreme court ruled last month in favor of a request by Jinky Young, Fischer's alleged daughter, to exhume his remains in order to settle a paternity question.

A doctor, a priest and other officials were present during the procedure, according to the police department in Selfoss, Iceland.

Fischer was 64 when he died in January 2008.

Fischer was a child prodigy and chess master by the time he was 15. He achieved international fame in 1972 when he defeated chess grandmaster Boris Spassky of Russia during the height of the Cold War, to become world champion.

The tournament was considered a symbolic battle between the two greatest powers in the world. It was held in Iceland, midway between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Soviet chess masters had held the title since World War II -- until Fischer won. The victory, unequaled by an American since, was followed by tens of millions of chess fans around the world.

But Fischer's genius proved eccentric. Years after his historic win, Fischer gave up the title in 1975 and refused to defend it. He vanished and lived in a self-imposed exile for decades. He resurfaced in Yugoslavia in 1992 for a rematch against Spassky. It was another victory for Fischer, one that earned him $3.5 million.

But the U.S. government claimed Fischer's participation had violated UN sanctions against Yugoslavia, imposed to punish Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic, and revoked his U.S. passport.

Fischer again disappeared.

He was not heard from again until 2004, when he was arrested in Japan for traveling on an expired passport. When Iceland granted Fischer citizenship in 2005, he moved to that country and lived there until his death in a hospital.

Latest Robert J. Fischer (a/k/a Bobby Fischer) News

I remember a few months back when 'Sis first mentioned to me the possibility that Fischer's body might be exhumed I told her it was an April Fool's joke perpetrated by chess gadfly Sam Sloan and dismissed it.

Just goes to show - 'Sis knows all. 

For those who do not follow the game of chess, Robert James Fischer is American's greatest chess hero.  He became the only American in the modern era of chess to become the World Chess Championship, by defeating Russian opponent Boris Spassky (or is that Spaasky?) in 1972 in a World Chess Championship match held over the course of weeks in Raikjevik, Iceland.  I'm tired and I'm not checking my spelling, hope you can figure out the correct versions of the names.  Fischer was probably already half insane back then, but by 1975 he was totally over the bend and for various reasons decided not to defend his title. The Russians promptly reclaimed the title by default when Fischer did not appear for the scheduled match, and it went to GM Anatoly Karpov, who held it until he was, in turn, defeated in a match by GM Garry Kasparov, a Russian by citizenship but a renegade at heart. 

Anyway, to make a long story short, Fischer died in 2008 while living in Iceland.  His heirs were (1) a Japanese woman who says she is Fischer's wife (2) a young girl purported to be Fischer's daughter of a woman of Philippine descent and (3) the two sons from the legitimate marriage of Fischer's older sister, who predeceased him.  Oh, and I believe the U.S. Government is claiming probably all of the money in whatever Fischer's actual estate is value wise, for back taxes, plus penalties, plus interest  -- long story.  For those of you interested in more back-story, just google Bobby Fischer and the 1992 Yugoslavia 're-match' against Boris Spassky (or Spaasky). 

Hocus pocus beanie focus, etc. etc. The Icelandic version of the U.S. Supreme Court has come down with a ruling that says the parties may have Fischer's body exhumed to extract DNA for testing to determine paternity of the alleged Filippina daughter. 

I don't understand why they couldn't have just tested DNA in items that survived Fischer's death.  Surely Fischer left some personal articles after he died that had sufficient DNA of his for testing.  I mean, come on - a comb, a hairbrush, or a toothbrush?  For that matter, what about scraping for skin flakes from his bed sheets?  What about his used underwear?  He died wearing something, after all.  Come on, folks.  We have the tchnology to "grab" that DNA today.

So what is with this exhumation baloney?  Is this just a grab for publicity by a bankrupt country?  It sounds pretty stinky-cheesy to me.

Best headline about the whole brou-ha ha:  Body of chess champion Bobby Fischer to be exhumed to check if he mated.  From Daily Grail, Daily News Scan, posted by Turner Young, June 18, 2010.

Fischer's Daughter to Get Part of Estate

Fischer heiress to get share of P140-M estate soon Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 02:52:00 06/05/2008 MANILA, Philippines—Jinky Young, the late Bobby Fischer’s Filipino child, will soon receive her share of the estate left by the chess icon estimated at P140 million, excluding gold deposits and royalty from the movie, “Bobby Fischer Goes to War.” This was disclosed by lawyers Sammy Estimo and Rudy Tacorda after getting word from Reykjavik, Iceland that the Probate Court had already received the claim folder of Jinky Young. The deadline for receiving claims to the estate of the deceased chess legend was May 17, or three months after Fischer died on January 17, 2008 of renal failure. Estimo said that Fischer had contacted him and Grandmaster Eugene Torre in 1984 while he was in an airport prison cell in Japan and had wanted to become a Filipino citizen to be with his child and common-law wife, Marilyn. But Estimo advised him not to push through with his plan because it was in the Philippines that Fischer’s passport was cancelled. With the help of some Icelandic chess friends, Fischer was able to obtain an Icelandic passport and was flown out of Japan in March 2005. Jinky Young and her mother linked up with Bobby in Iceland in September 2005 but that was the last time the three of them lived together as one small family. But Fischer kept in touch with them through daily calls via mobile phones. The late chess legend also sent them monthly euro remittances. Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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If I did the currency conversion correctly, P140M equals $3,186,890 USD. The article did not state what percentage the daughter's share would be. Assuming the movie actually gets made and released, royalties could potentially be quite lucrative. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

If you didn't know it before, you do now -

This information has been out for some time, the consensus being that the book purportedly written by Bobby Fischer in December, 2007 "My 61 Memorable Games" was a fraud. Here is the article by GM Larry Evans from the SunSentinel.com: Bobby Fischer book appears to be fake May 4, 2008 "No other chess figure has had, has or will have more autograph imitations than Bobby Fischer GUARANTEED!" — Fisching for Forgeries, by Lawrence Totaro Last December, a month before Bobby Fischer died in Iceland, an auction on eBay Canada announced a new revised edition of his classic My 60 Memorable Games called My 61 Memorable Games purportedly written by him. Bidding reached $3,050 for the first 50 copies when eBay pulled the plug: "We recently suspended this seller's trading privileges. Due to privacy concerns we cannot share further details." Fischer angrily denied writing it. Yet the seller denied any hoax and insisted the auction was withdrawn solely because of death threats received online from someone called "Jews Against Fischer." "So what should I do with all these books then?" said the seller. "Why not send them — if they exist — to Fischer in Iceland?" I replied. In extensive e-mails over the next three months the seller repeatedly promised to send me a copy of the new book but never did. I think it may exist on someone's computer but it has not yet appeared in print. Obviously a strong player using a computer did a lot of work updating the manuscript. But Fischer had nothing to do with it and the seller's story appears to be a fairy tale. The Canadian came up with excuse after excuse for not sending me a copy of the book. I played along to gather more information, then encountered one falsehood after another — too numerous to mention. In order to convince me the book exists, the scammer sent me a photo of the cover and page 79, naively asking who this Weinstein was that Bobby kept attacking (knowing full well that Weinstein was Kasparov before he changed his name). This sample page pointed out a flaw in analysis by Kasparov in his series My Great Predecessors (Volume 4). To mimic Bobby's sarcasm, the author was called "Weinstein" and then boasted: "I'll say this only once — Fischer beats Kasparov!" If the book does surface one of these days, we can rest assured it was NOT written or authorized by Fischer. For the full story, see Chess Life Online (http://tinyurl.com/2noyxp). Larry Evans is a five-time U.S. chess champion and nationally syndicated chess writer. Write to him at P.O. Box 1182, Reno, NV 89504.

Fitting Euology for Fischer

I haven't publicized most of the Fischer articles that have appeared since his death, but this one - I thought it was fitting, it struck me as true. From the Phillipines sunstar.com Friday, February 29, 2008 Pestaño: Bobby Fischer: a new perspective By Frank 'Boy' Pestaño Chessmoso SINCE the death of Bobby Fischer last month, more than 100 eulogies have been written including three by Chessmoso. The one that elicited a lot of feedbacks, however, was the New York Times blog post by Dick Cavett, the host of the Dick Cavett Show, which aired on national television in the USA for more than 50 years. The newspaper got a lot of feedbacks, which was so moving to Cavett that he penned another piece, thanking the readers. One of these read, “brilliant, insightful, and very touching–by far the best eulogy of Bobby I’ve read, and, amazingly, from someone not in the chess community. Bravo, Mr. Cavett.” Chessbase.com featured the article (if you want to read it) and also received a lot of feedbacks. But the one that impressed me the most was the article by Bryan Green, which I liked so much that I e-mailed him to ask his permission to reprint a part of it in this column so I can share it with you. A full reprint is not possible due to space limitations. However, if you want to read, check out his blog at optimaltraining.typepad.com. (Italicized parts are mine) “Bobby Fischer was what we call a child prodigy. He was the Mozart of chess. He won the US Chess Championships when he was 13 years old! The real question is how did he do it? He obviously had talent. But what was that talent? Was it the ability to memorize outrageously complex positions? Was it the ability to think 9, 10, 11 moves ahead? Was it the ability to devise devious traps for his opponents? No. It wasn’t. He may have eventually been able to do those things, but those were not the talents that made him the greatest chess player ever. His talent was his obsession. He developed the ability to do all of the above things, but they didn’t come naturally. They were painstakingly develop through intense and focused effort. The type of effort that most people simply can‘t generate. Border-line superhuman. Cavett says it better than I do: “We assume that geniuses are blessed creatures, who don’t have to work hard to achieve their goals. Hard for us, easy for them. But Bobby, as a kid -- IQ pushing 200 -- put in 10 to 15 hours a day of brain power and heavy concentration that would kill an ordinary person. (Or at least me.)” Does this mean that prodigies are made, not born? Yes and no. Because the simple fact is you can’t force a person to put in the quality of effort that Fischer put into his chess. That type of effort has to come from somewhere inside. It doesn’t come from fear of punishment or hope of reward. It comes from love. Love in the form of need and at the mercy of obsession. One thing he does articulate well is that greatness isn’t all talent. He says you need talent to be truly great (which we can take to mean his level), but he follows that by saying many of the top players aren’t that talented; they’ve “just worked like dogs” and “they keep at it...they’ve got the character, they don’t get distracted by other things in life until they’ve gotten what they wanted out of it.” I don’t know what caused Bobby Fischer to slowly come unhinged. I don’t know what caused him to isolate himself from the world and I don’t know what drove him to despise Jews and America. But I do think I know what made him into a child prodigy and a World Chess Champion. He believed his effort would improve his ability. And then he worked longer, harder, and with a higher level of quality than any of his competitors. (Harder than anyone, at anything, ever?) You can call it talent or effort, motivation or love or obsession. Whatever you call it, it’s what makes you a champion.” The greatest ever. (frankpestano@yahoo.com)

Miscellaneous Chess News

From McClain's "Gambit" chess blog, February 9, 2007, at The New York Times:

Last week, the World Chess Federation (also known by the acronym FIDE, which stands for Fédération Internationale des Echecs) began collecting fees for its newest titles: FIDE trainers. What are FIDE trainers? They are essentially people certified by the federation to teach and train chess players.

There are three different levels of trainers: Instructors, trainers and senior trainers. The requirements for each title mostly seem to boil down to what each prospective trainer’s rating is (a rating is a measure of playing ability) and how much experience he or she has as a coach or teacher.

The cost of the titles, which are listed on the Web site, are on a sliding scale from 100 to 300 euros. Trainers who wish to maintain their titles will have to pay additional “licensing” fees every two years that are also on a sliding scale of 60 to 180 euros. Other titles, such as grandmaster, do have registration fees, but once they are awarded, there are no continuing costs. Rest of article.

An obvious "gambit" (pun!) to force money out of chess teachers, trainers, etc. Tell me, FIDE, will Ms. Jones, a volunteer who teaches chess to kindergarteners at the Greenfield Public Library on Saturday mornings have to pay almost $600 USD to obtain FIDE certification in order to be considered "qualified" to teach chess to beginners? How will you PUNISH people who teach chess without obtaining certification? Will I - horrors - be sanctioned somehow for giving chess pointers to my young grand-newphews (they range in age from 7 to 10)? Will you garnish my bank accounts? Blacklist this blog? Attack Goddesschess?

What a bunch of schmucks!


Fischer's death and it's aftermath continue to be news - there's nearly a new (or rehashed) story every day. Dick Cavett has a sentimental look back at Fischer's appearances on his television show. Fischer's putative daughter, who is 7 years old, has or will file a claim against the Fischer Estate as the sole "legitimate" heir (says Jan, tongue firmly planted in cheek). There is also a putative wife who may believe she is entitled to the entire Estate, and there are Fischer's nephews, the sons of his deceased sister, Joan, who have also filed or will file a claim or interest for a share of the Estate. Not mentioned is IRS, which will or perhaps already has filed a claim for what it is owed. No one in the general public really knows except, perhaps, the lawyers for the Fischer Estate (who always get paid first, trust me, I know) just what is left.


From The SecaucusReporter.com, February 8, 2008
A Chess Teacher in Secaucus, New Jersey
I think the greatest lesson I can give anyone, especially anyone that is new to the game, is patience," Moss said. "More games are lost by moving too fast than almost anything else."

"One of the first things I try to teach is, if you touch a piece you should move it," he continued. "It's like in life, when you make a decision, whether it's good or bad, you have to suffer the consequences."


Study after study has confirmed the benefits that learning how to play chess confers upon students - life lessons that continue with them as they mature into adults, even if they no longer play chess. So it's good to see an African bank making a substantial contribution to purchase 1,000 chess sets in Namibia.

Friday Night Miscellany

Right now I'm watching BBC news on public television and they are doing a retrospect on Robert J. Fischer, the greatest American chess player who ever lived (to date). This is one of my favorite photos of Fischer, returning triumphant to NYC after winning the World Chess Championship in Iceland. I haven't read the latest news reports - what I read this morning indicated that Fischer died Thursday. I read that it was kidney failure, but someone at the office said she read it was liver failure. I read that he died at home, having removed himself from hospital perhaps in November because he did not trust western medicine/doctors; I also read that he died in hospital. So - I expect the facts will be sorted out in time.

I'm very sad that he died without ever having received treatment for his mental illness. He never gave himself a chance for a more normal life. I know attorneys who would have been glad to help him with his legal battles, if only he had been willing to return to the USA. But mental illness prevented Fischer from acting rationally.

Will his illness overshadow his great achievements in the world of chess? I'm no judge. I admired what he accomplished as an individual going up against what was the Russian chess monolith; I admire him even more for turning himself into a chess genius through sheer dint of will and hard work. I abhored, like many no doubt, his personally espoused views on my country, the USA, and his views on Jews and women.

Now I'm wondering if there will be a legal battle over Fischer's estate. Of course, I'm assuming that there IS an estate, but who knows for sure? Only Fischer's bankers. I understand that Fischer's deceased sister had two children, who would stand to inherit Fischer's estate (at least, under USA law) if he has not otherwise bequeathed it via Trust or Will (or married and his wife survived him). The USA is owed money for income taxes on Fischer's $3,000,000 prize won in the 1992 rematch against Boris Spassky. Will the IRS file a claim in whatever country Fischer's estate is probated? Will we ever know? Is it any of our business? Will friends now rush to print what they withheld for years on pain of banishment from Fischer's figurative side? Will others rush to attempt to cash in on Fischer's death? So many questions - no answers at the moment.

The Lehrer News Hour is on PBS now - it mentioned Fischer's death in a short story.

To a happier topic; today in many places of employment and schools throughout the state of Wisconsin, people wore their green and gold in support of our beloved Packers. The big game, the NFC Championship Game, is on Sunday, kick-off is at 5:40 p.m. I will be snuggled in my pajamas under an afghan, ensconced on the sofa in front of the fireplace to watch the game. The temperature turned sharply colder last night, and will drop even lower over the weekend. By Sunday evening it might be zero in Green Bay at game time, with windchills of - who knows? The winds are supposed to be strong here in Milwaukee County. We are under a winter weather advisory for dangerous windchill due to strong winds; but up in Green Bay I haven't heard that there will be much wind.

The supermarket was absolutely NUTS tonight, geez! The line for the liquor checkout was half a mile long, I swear, and the "regular" checkout lines were nearly as long. Everyone is stocking up on goodies for the Big Game, as well as extra so they won't have to venture out tomorrow or Sunday to pick up milk, eggs, bread or toilet paper (essentials to surviving life as we know it). Myself, I quit the office half an hour early because the forecast was for the winds to start whipping up around the time I'd normally leave. As it was, the 3/4th mile walk home from the supermarket loaded down with groceries was no picnic. The wind was out of the south/southwest and very cold - and the ambient air temperature was about 12 degrees F. I don't want to be out there when the highest temperature during the day is zero! Now I'm snug in front of my computer. I have my pizza, my mac and cheese, ground beef, assorted soups and casserole fixings, and lots of wine and liquored-up Christian Bros. eggnog (leftover from Christmas); also lots of peanuts for the squirrels and bird seed for the birds. I'm not stirring farther than the end of the driveway to get my mail and the newspaper until Monday morning, when I HAVE to go back to the office :)

I understand the Packers are 7 point favorites in the Big Game. Honestly, I have no idea what will happen in this game; but then, I expected that the Pack would have to play Dallas in Dallas, surprise surprise! I have nothing against the Giants - that is, I don't hate them like I hate the Vikings, da Bears, and Dallas. I've read that the Giants are dirty players - well, dirtier than average because I'm sure most players will take free shots in a pile-up if they think they can get away with it. Particularly dirty play, as opposed to just playing like nasty little boys with bad manners, does not set well with me. So I will be keeping a keen eye on the t.v. screen and if I see something I think is below the belt (so to speak), I won't hesitate to put a JanXena hex on the offending player. JanXena hexes ALWAYS work.

I've written a short piece about the TRUE history of football for Goddesschess - I expect it will be published shortly, so check there the next day or two to see if it's up and running. It will be published under my nom de plume of Alpheta Patton, former Ace Girl Reporter for the gone but not forgotten International Chessoid.

About that story that Dylan McClain published a few days ago in The New York Times (which, evidently, hardly anyone read, poor Dylan, just not very popular are you, gee, I wonder why?) about the USCF requesting the resignation of Executive Board member Paul Truong, who was elected to the EB in June, 2007. I do wish McClain would check his facts and solicit comments from more than a USCF press release before publishing his stories. Doesn't the man have an editor? That quote he published from Sloan - something like "now I'll always be known as a sex offender." Oh poor Mr. Sloan, playing the victim. What a hoot! If McClain had checked out Sloan's website, he would be in for a NASTY shock and see the reason why such charges have been leveled at Sloan from many different directions - they didn't come out of thin air. As I understand it, Sloan has not removed any of the truly offensive material he's posted over the years. I haven't visited there since 1999 (a one-time event, when I was innocent in the ways of the internet and didn't realize that people could and did publish such things, eek!) for fear of contracting some kind of loathsome disease, not to mention getting the heebie-jeebies at the mere thought.

Of course, a miracle could occur and Sloan could receive GODDESS and become born again. He could repent his formerly errant ways and seek forgiveness, and spend the rest of his life in penitence, giving free chess lessons New York prisons. Well - like I said, it would be a miracle.

I love this over at Dailygrail.com: Anthony North asks the simple question of "Why Are We Here?" at Beyond the Blog. I mean, geez, get over it already. We're HERE. Deal with it! Do the best you can and duh! - die and then see what's beyond, if anything. That's what everybody else here has to deal with too. So boo hoo, eat some chocolate, drink some wine and get a good night's sleep. You'll feel better in the morning.