I Hate Chess, I Love Chess, I Hate Chess...

Hola darlings! At last, the weekend is here. Ahhhhh, I live for my weekends. So what if it's hot as hell outside and I'm running up a monstrous electric bill because the central air has been on non-stop since I got home from the office last night? It was hot enough in the house to fry an egg on the kitchen counter, yech! I hate chess! Actually, I love chess, when I don't hate it, that is. Right now I'm in my third game with Crusader Scott and it's at the point where I can see things turning - I'm losing the game with the white pieces, sure as shootin', and I can't figure out what to do to try to turn things around or even if I can turn things around. Arrrrgggghhhh! I stare at the board - and come up blank. Every move that I think I might make now doesn't seem good enough; moves I thought were good about 5 moves ago turned out to be yechy stupid moves. So much for trying to "visualize" what my opponent might do 3-4-5 moves out. Ha ha ha! Now it's my turn to move, and I believe I've developed a mental block - rather like one trying to pull one's own tooth, I just can't do the final yank on the pliers, so to speak. Ouch! I'm paralyzed. Here are the moves in our game thus far - mind you, I'm not looking for help - I could do that much easier by getting a chess program and cheating in private, lol! I used to have a bootlegged copy of Chessmaster 4000, and I loved playing the "Bobby Fischer" persona; I could actually get up to around 19 moves before losing to "him" - once I even got up to 25 moves. But when I got this new computer a few years ago the program wouldn't work on it anymore, or I couldn't figure out how to get it to work. Anyway, I recently purchased Chessmaster 10 for my three grand-nephews (yes, darlings, I am that old to have grand-nephews, eek) and I'm thinking of buying it for myself, because I miss playing against Fischer. Oh yeah - those moves, arrrgggghhhh: (1) e4 c5; (2) Nb1c3 e5; (3) Qd1e2 Ng8f6; (4) Ng1f3 Nb8c6; (5) h4 d5; (6) d3 Bc8g4; (7) Nc3xd5 Nf6xd5; (8) exd5 Qd8xd5; (9) Qe2e4 Qd5xe4; (10) Qe2e4 Qd5xe4; (11) dx34 O-O-O; (12) Bc1e3 Bf8e7; (13) Bf1c4 Bg4h5; (14) O-O Bh5g6; (15) Bc4d3 f6; (16) c3 Rd8xd3 (17) Ra1d1 c4; (18) Nf3d2 Rh8d8; (19) Rd1a1 b6; (20) a4 Be7c5; (21) Nd2xc4 Bc5xe3; (22) Nc4xe3 Bg6xe4; (23) a5 Nc6xa5; (24) Ra1a4 f5; (25) c4 Rd3d4; (26) Rf1c1 Kc8b7. Don't laugh (well, at least, don't let me hear you)! I'm not going to proofread them - I had to write them all down by hand and then type them in, I could not copy and paste from the redhotpawn site where we play - I already see a few real bonehead moves - what was I thinking?! I'm working on the follow-up about why UTD dropped sponsorship for the Denker Tournament - not sure how to approach it yet; I figure the best way is to just let people speak for themselves rather than trying to summarize everything, but that will make for one big long blog post. I don't know if it will be finished today though; I'm going shopping with one of my friends later this afternoon and then we're going out for dinner and drinks and some partying, oh yeah!

2007 Denker Tournament of High school Champions

I don't generally follow scholastic events but recently became interested in the Denker Tournment of High School Champions after reading about the withdrawal of support for the 2007 Denker by the University of Texas at Dallas after several years of awarding 4-year scholarships to the Denker winners. To make sure I had my facts straight, I did a little googling and, while information was scarce particularly as I went back in time, I was able to find the following information about prior years' prizes for winners of the Denker: (1) At the University of Texas at Dallas website, I found a list of 4-year full tuition and fees scholarships awarded to Denker Tournament winners from 1999 through 2005: 1999: -- Andrei Zaremba - Denker Tournament of State High School Champions -- Karen Birkedahl - Denker Tournament of State High School Champions 2000: --Nat Koons - Denker Tournament of State High School Champions --John Cole - Denker Tournament of State High School Champions --Yelena Gorlin - Denker Tournament of State High School Champions 2001 – none listed for Denker Tournament 2002: --Joshua Friedel - Denker Tournament of State High School Champions 2003: --William Aramil - Denker Tournament of State High School Champions 2004: --Pieta Garrett - Denker Tournament of State High School Champions 2005: --Trevor H. Jackson - Denker Tournament of State High School Champions (2) I was able to confirm the following information at websites other than UTD: 2003 Denker Two 4-year scholarships from UTD, one to the top male finisher and one to the top female finisher (must be a minimum of 2 females playing in the event), plus $1,000 a year housing allowance for each scholarship. 2004 Denker 4 year scholarship from UTD; also, scholarships totaling $1,200 to the top four finishers from other sources 2005 Denker 4-year scholarship from UTD 2006 Denker 4-year college scholarship from UTD, valued at $40,000; also $1,000 Ursula Foster Memorial Chess Gift - $500 to each of the Top 13 and under winner from the Denker High School Tournament of Champions and the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls; also, through the generosity of GM Denker’s son, Mitchell and the U.S. Chess Trust, scholarships totaling $2,200 will be awarded between the top ten finishers.

That’s a minimum of ten (1999 through 2006) scholarships that I could find information on, about $400,000 worth of sponsorship. (UTD may have awarded more scholarships during the 1990's, but my internet searches didn’t turn up any concrete information). This is in addition to the money that Mr. Denker and, after his death in 2005, his family contributed to help Denker players offset some of the costs of attending the event, in addition to funding several scholarship prizes.

And then we come to 2007. Here is an announcement about the 2007 Denker from the USCF website:

The U.S. Chess Trust will award $2200 in Scholarships ($500-300-250-200-200-150-150-150-150-150) (a total of 20). Scholarships are designated for college expenses and will be sent to winners only upon proof of college enrollment (copies of paid bills, or official letters, etc.) There will also be a $500 Ursula Foster scholarship awarded to the highest finisher who is under the age of 14 on the first day of the tournament. If no participant is under 14 then the scholarship will go the under 15, etc.

That’s it. No mention of a UTD scholarship. UTD had funded Denker scholarships for years, adding a great deal of luster and financial reward to the title "winner of the Denker," and then poof – no more sponsorship.

Now, one may reasonably ask "what happened – why did UTD pull its funding from the Denker?" Why, indeed? I’ll get to that – but there’s more to this story – a happy ending! I’m so American – I just love happy endings where the guys in the white hats triumph!

On June 14, 2007 it was announced at Susan Polgar’s blog that Texas Tech would award a 4-year full tuition scholarship to the winner of the 2007 Denker! Hooray!

I checked the Texas Tech website to see that their full-time tuition for resident students will be about $7,100 a year for the 2007-2008 school year The press release did not mention non-resident tuition; the 2006-2007 non-resident tuition was $14,709 (30 credits, 15 a semester). So, conservatively, the Texas Tech scholarship for the 2007 Denker could be worth anywhere from $28,400 to $58,800.

I'll be posting more about this story later.

Chess Hustlers - New Orleans (Pre-Katrina)

Hola, darlings. A hot, muggy night here at home. New Orleans is far away down the mighty Mississippi from where I live but (except for the bugs and floods), our weather tonight is probably similar. I wrote the following back in 2004, intending it to be part of an article I eventually did for Goddesschess, but this didn't make it into the final version. Since that time, Katrina happened... The following was written by an unnamed Cannuck who was visiting Sin City during a convention in 1995. (Things have not improved since then...) Learning of INFORMS the Hard Way! In anticipation of the marketing track of the Fall INFORMS Conference in Atlanta, some odd people, who are also tall, reminisce about last Fallin New Orleans [Asst. Ed.] Returning from New Orleans' French Quarter the night before the Fall '95 INFORMS conference, I stopped to watch a grizzled chess hustler collect winnings from his last chump, when a thirty-something challenger stepped up. Clocks were set at 5 minutes. With bewildering speed, the game evolved, each move punctuated with the bang of a chess-clock (switching one player's clock off and the other player's, on). Suddenly, the hustler paused. He picked up a piece, tried out a spot for size, thought better, and moved elsewhere. The hustler's subsequent tempo became erratic: lightning quick, one move, precious seconds expiring the next. Meanwhile, the challenger's prompt rhythm only varied when he called out, "Time." Dazed, the hustler picked up the clock and eyed it an inch or so from his face in an expression that seemed to say, "I'll be damned." For the next game, the right-handed hustler now sat with the clock to his right. Unlike the first game, the hustler endeavored to keep an even pace. But a massive exchange unexpectedly gave the challenger a pawn ready to become queen for his second victory. The hustler paid $10, shook hands, and suggested a rematch the next evening. "In a longer game, I'll have a better chance," he said. I approached the challenger and asked his Chess Federation Rating. "2300." A world master--only 1% of all competitive players are rated above 2200. I then watched the challenger make his way, with a similarly conservatively-dressed comrade, to the conference hotel. INFORMS had arrived in New Orleans, and a local chess-hustler had learned this fact the hard way.

The Chess Show

I think I first discovered "The Chess Show" website sometime in 2001, when I was putting The International Chessoid together. I thought the website was the most wacky, wonderful and original approach to chess I’d ever seen. It made chess FUN. The show, an original production, ran on public television (local cable access) once a month between 1990 and 1998 in Portland, Oregon. I still visit "The Chess Show" website on occasion, but over the years a lot of the links that used to work are no longer current and/or relevant. There was also this song that used to play over and over again - it was sort of a catchy tune but after awhile it started to grate on one's nerves...in my current browser it doesn't play anymore, or perhaps it just got old and died, or perhaps someone killed it! Through the wonders of modern technology, some video clips of the show are available for viewing at u-tube. I got tickled more than a pink pawn last night while watching some vintage footage from "The Chess Show" - check it out (heh heh). "The Chess Show" also offers DVDs for sale. The production values weren’t the greatest, the level of chess "teaching" was basic, the musicians were deliberately hokey (part of the bigger joke of the show in general) and the really cheesy "special effects" – ohmygoddess! But the show was so zany, so antic, and so full of energy and good-hearted humor – I fully understand why the show developed a loyal fan base and continues to attract fans to this day, even after being off the air so many years. The people behind the shows weren’t chess masters, but they were incredibly creative and funny. I also discovered last night that I could actually answer their quiz questions! Whooowee, baby! My favorite character is the resident chess femme, Cybele. I love her skintight dresses and other over-the-top costumes, her different "characters," and her larger than life Marilyn Monroe wannabe persona (wink, wink). I wonder if anyone else out there has ever tried doing a chess show on public access tv? I wonder if a show like "The Chess Show" could succeed today?

Burials with “Substitute” Heads Discovered Half a World Apart

In 2004 Christina Conlee, an archaeologist at Texas State University, found a rare headless skeleton in a tomb sitting cross-legged with a ceramic "head jar" placed to the left of the body

The decapitated body was found in the Nasca region, named for the ancient civilization that thrived in southern Peru from A.D. 1 to 750.

The age and condition of both the body and the jar, which is painted with two inverted human faces, suggests that the victim was killed in a rite of ancestral worship, Conlee said.

The burial site, called La Tiza, contains only the third known Nasca head jar found with a decapitated body.

Head jars have been found at other Nasca sites and are often associated with high-status burials, though scientists know little about their function.

The archaeologist also noted that the head jar is painted with the reversible image of a human face that can be seen right-side up or upside down, suggesting that the jar might have been meant as a substitute for the victim's missing head. Full story here.

Half a world away, in China, in May, 1987 at the archaeological site at Jiahu (discovered in 1962), archaeologists opened Grave M344, and saw an adult male whose head was missing. Where his head would have been were eight sets of tortoise shells and one fork-shaped bone artifact. Full story here.

Unfortunately, I could find no further development of the Jiahu "substitute head" burial online; the 2003 article in devoted mainly to a discussion of the possibility that the Jiahu "signs" are a precursor to or possibly even proto-writing, some 5000 years before it is generally accepted that Chinese writing first appeared during the Shang period.

Tortoise shells and animal scapula have been used by diviners in China since before the Shang period, so my guess is that the "substitute head" burial using eight pairs of tortoise shells (which may have contained pebbles of various colors and shapes) was of a very important diviner whose head was retained as an oracle, much like the Druids did thousands of years later. The number eight, of course, has long been significant in Chinese divination (i.e., the I Ching).

More information was provided in the article about the 2004 Nasca "substitute head" burial, but much of it was speculation. Just not enough is known yet about the whys and wherefores of these rare burials in South America. My suggestion is that this burial, too, is of an important personage (not a sacrificed prisoner of war) whose head was kept as an oracle.

Yes, I know – these burials are half a world and thousands of years apart. But human nature has remained stubbornly static since the dawn of time despite our spreading out across the globe in the intervening millennia. Rite and ritual are as old as we are, and probably older. There is evidence, for instance, that the "not human" Neanderthals buried their dead and, in one grave of a child, someone left a small bouquet of flowers on top of the body before it was buried. Despite cultural differences that it suits some folks to play up these days, we all come into the world the same way, we all die and, in between, we are primarily concerned with pursuing our survival and satisfaction, to the best of our ability.

Oftentimes, the simplest explanation is the correct one. It makes more sense to me that these burials, strikingly alike in the use of a "substitute head," were done for the same reason – the head was taken and used as an oracle.

Chess Tales

I often don't know from day to day what I'm going to write here. Today I was all set to post some interesting information about possible buried treasure and a "mysterious" Dead Sea Scroll (cue spooky music, wooohooowoooh....) but then it occurred to me - duh - that I should write instead about the two interesting conversations I had today about chess! The first one was over lunch with a friend, Karryn. As often happens in a conversation, I don't recall how exactly how the topic of chess came up. I found myself talking to Karryn, who is nearly 20 years younger than I, about Alina Markowski, who began playing tournament chess back in the 1950's, and the incident at the unnamed chess tournament that took place in Milwaukee (our home town) in 1973, where a male player objected to playing against a woman. When told he would be disqualified from the event if he did not play Ms. Markowski, he showed up for the game, played one move, and then left, ceding the point to Ms. Markowski. Karryn was shocked by the blatantly sexist behavior that Ms. Markowski experienced, and wanted to know more about women chessplayers. I gave her some background on the history of the dominance of the Soviet chessplayers, and that led to the history about the Cold War confrotation between Fischer and Spassky, and that led into the Polgar sisters and their eventual "connection" with Fischer after Fischer became a "persona non grata" in his own country. She hadn't heard about any of this and, amazingly enough, I could tell she was fascinated and very interested in what I was telling her (guess I'm a good storyteller). She was particularly interested in the Polgar sisters. At the time the Polgars were making headlines in New York in the 1980's, Karryn (who is the same age as Susan Polgar) was in high school and caught up in all the social life and activities of the typical teenager of that era with the advantages of an upper middle-class upbringing. New York and its news coverage of chess events, and even the Polgar sisters on the covers of nationally distributed news magazines may as well have been on the other side of the moon as far as Milwaukee was concerned! I gave Karryn a little background on the sisters and the problems and issues that Susan Polgar faced as she grew up and wanted to play in "men's" tournaments under the closed Communist system that ruled in Hungary that wanted her to be the next great women's champion, and about Judit Polgar; I told her about Gata Kamsky and about watching Judit's last Candidates' Match game on the computer a week ago Saturday morning, the one she lost, the one that sent her back home to Hungary $40,000 richer (we had a laugh about that). Karryn was surprised to learn that Judit Polgar is the only woman player among the top players in the world - why aren't there more, she wanted to know. She was also surprised to learn that the Polgar sisters are all mothers of young children! As we rode up in the elevator and walked to our respective offices, she mentioned that her oldest daughter, who is 11 and a soccer nut (and very good player), learned how to play chess recently when she accompanied a friend to the local YMCA where a chess club meets, and was taught the game. She liked it, but as her daughter's friend has moved away and Karryn's family does not have a membership at the Y, her daughter probably won't play chess again. As I ducked into my office, I said that many schools now offer after-school scholastic programs. I could tell by the look on Karryn's face that she was thinking "oh yeah, great, just what I need, one MORE activity to shuttle the kids around to..." Later in the afternoon, Judith dropped by to rummage in the dish of snack-size chocolate bars and "Nips" I keep available for anyone in need of a chocolate and/or sugar fix, and we chatted. Judith is an elegant woman about 11 years older than I. She dresses "just so," is perfectly coiffed and speaks with a precise mid-eastern seaboard accent that has not quite disappeared even after all these years. When we aren't discussing the bain of conservative politics, or laughing over the latest silliness of The Wall Street Journal editorial board, we talk about museums, art, opera, and the latest best-sellers on The New York Times list. My goddess, I sound like a horrid snob, don't I. Again, I don't recall precisely how the subject came up, but seemingly all of a sudden I was talking about the Goddesschess website, and Chess Femme News, and this blog, the research we do, the online chess I play, the chess that Don and I have played and how I've been teaching my grand-nephews to play chess, - I half-jokingly called it "My Secret Life." For just for a nano-second, Judith looked taken aback. And then her eyes lit up and she said "oh my" and waved her hand "just so" and laughed. She asked me if I had ever seen the movie "Searching for - oh, what's his name" and I said "Bobby Fischer," and she said "yes!," and that unleashed a torrent of discussion about the charming movie, about the back-drop of the entire Cold War "confrontation" in the Fischer-Spassky match (something with which Judith was perfectly familiar, having been an adult at the time); then I mentioned the book, and that led to another 10 minutes of discussion, and then to a whole set of remembrances on her part - things we'd never discussed before in our five years of working together. Judith's father taught her (and all her siblings) to play chess when she was 4 or 5 so, as she put it, "he would have someone to play with." He used the same method to teach them that I'm using to teach my grand-nephews how to play (probably the wrong way to teach chess) - teaching how the pieces move and then allowing generous "take back" of moves until they reach a certain level of what passes for "chess competency" in patzers like us. She knew exactly what I meant when I explained that I am not a good player because, in order to become good at chess, one must devote time to studying, unrelenting study... Judith attended college at the University of Minnesota, majoring in musical studies. As part of this major, she spent two months every summer at New York's Julliard School of Music. One semester, as part of an "inter-cultural" exchange with the Russians in 1958, while I remember standing in the yard with my daddy, who was pointing up into the night sky trying to show me what "Sputnik" was, Judith and a small group of her fellow students were freezing their butts off at a "dormatory" at the University of Moscow. In the evenings, she and her fellow exchange students would play chess with the locals at a small chess club close by. We had a good laugh about that because of course the Russians were so much better players than the bourgeoise capitalist Americans (Pigs). Judith said she played and played in that unrelenting cold, and didn't win a single game. Until one night. She didn't remember his name, and she barely remembers what he looked like, and she thinks he was about 20. She pulled a checkmate out of "nowhere" and in her last move triumphantly called out at the club "MATE!" The player gave her such a look. A split-second later, she realized she had made a terrible mistake in calling out her triumph so. Judith said that afterward, she was so unnerved by the experience that she didn't win another game and shortly thereafter, she didn't play another chess game. Shocked, I said "Judith, you've never played another game of chess since Moscow?" She said "oh, I got over it eventually," and she waved her hand "just so." Judith took another piece of chocolate out of the candy dish and headed down the hall and I turned back to my computer screen. It was time to get back to work. I have to laugh now, recalling the expression on Karryn's face when I was recounting the Markowski story, and my own internal reaction to hers - the truth is I was shocked by her shock! Has she experienced so much less sexism and discrimination than her contemporary, Susan Polgar? I graduated from high school the year SP and Karryn were born (1969). Could the 17 year gap in our ages account for such a difference in Karryn's and my perceptions - in our experiences? We didn't get into that (we'd already talked an hour and 15 minutes and had to get back to the office), but after thinking about it on the ride home tonight, I believe I found at least a partial answer to what seems to be such a gap between Karryn's and my generations, and why I knew that Judith understood exactly what I was talking about, almost without the words coming out of my mouth, and why I understand exactly what it was Judith was conveying, without she ever saying it.

Kamsky Disappoints

Kamsky was sent home today from Elista after having lost Game 5. The USA's best hope for a shot at the world championship this time around seemed like a different player in the second half of the Candidates' Matches. For whatever reason, he couldn't get a decent position out of any of his openings and his play just wasn't up to snuff. To be honest, though, he showed some signs of trouble in the first half. Will Kamsky retire from chess now and join a law firm somewhere? Will he decide to go for broke and get a second to help him with his opening prep and make a big push for the World Cup next year? I think he needs to compete against more top level Grandmasters and he's not going to get that kind of test playing the World Open!

He Wants to Buy a Chess Board

I love stories like this. I sure hope this gentleman is able to hold onto his money and won't end up like so many other big lottery winners - suckered, broke and bitter. From cnews June 11, 2007 $37M lotto winner wants a chess set By LISA ABEL TORONTO (CP) - He's 55 years old, single, with no children, lives in a rooming house, and has been on disability since October. Oh, and Graham Gelineau is also $37 million richer after winning Saturday's whopping Lotto 6-49 jackpot - the largest single-ticket prize to be claimed in Ontario. The Toronto man doesn't drive, so he took the subway to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.'s downtown office Monday afternoon to pick up his winnings. "Apart from the money, my life's going to stay pretty much the same," Gelineau said. "That's what I think, but who knows what the future holds. ... I want to reflect on it and take my time. It's a big responsibility." Gelineau said he would share the money with family and friends, and donate some to charities. He also said he no longer plans to work and will move out of the rooming house into an apartment. But aside from that, he mostly refused to offer details on how he plans to spend his winnings. I'll buy a new chess set," he said - but made of wood, not anything elaborate. Gelineau found out he was a winner when he checked his ticket early Sunday morning. "When I woke up, the first thing I thought, bizarrely, was to check my numbers," he said. When he phoned the lottery corporation's automated service to hear the winning numbers, he couldn't believe it. So he hung up and called again just to make sure. "I checked the numbers again, that's what I did - several times, to be frank." Gelineau has been buying tickets at the same west-end convenience store for a couple of months since he moved into the area, although he has been playing lotteries off and on for the past 30 years. When he had his ticket validated at the store where he purchased it, Gelineau said there was a moment of panic when the terminal shut down and special music played to indicate a win exceeding $10,000. "The owners thought somehow the ticket had destroyed the machine," Gelineau said. "Then they got a call from the lottery office and they explained the situation. "Never in a million years did I think I'd win this much money. Never. I had a good feeling, but then I do every draw." Gelineau said he didn't have a system or a set of lucky numbers. "Just random good guessing, that's all," he said. "No science, no inside knowledge, just random luck. "You think about it, you envision, you have all kinds of daydreams that you entertain, but to actually win this kind of money and then ... it's a whole different ball game, believe me. A whole different reality."

Dogs Are Smarter Than We Think

I'm a dog lover, raised from a long line of dog lovers. I already had two canine companions when we moved into this place, and I adopted a third in 1991. The four of us happily rattled around the house and garden, until one by one, they succumbed to old age and went off to the Happy Hunting Ground. It broke my heart each time I lost one of my doggies, so these days I'm dogless. As any dog owner knows, some dogs are very smart. Spencer, who died in May, 1999, was a small peekapoo with a temperamental disposition who let me know he suffered my role as master of the house only to keep a roof over his head and food in his dish. He was smart as a whip and he loved sitting on my lap while I played OTB chess. He would sit very still, his head just peeking up above the edge of the table, and stare intently at the board. He never went so far as to shove a piece forward with his paw or pick one up in his mouth, but I swear he knew the game better than I! It seems scientists are finally learning just how smart dogs are. This news story hit the wires earlier in the week - I saw it today in my local newspaper: What Were They Thinking? More Than We Knew. By Rob SteinWashington Post Staff WriterMonday, June 4, 2007; Page A05 Dog owners have long maintained that their pooches have a lot more going on between their furry ears than scientists acknowledge. Now, new research is adding to the growing evidence that man's best friend thinks a lot more than many humans have believed. The provocative new experiment indicated that dogs can do something that previously only humans, including infants, have been shown capable of doing: decide how to imitate a behavior based on the specific circumstances in which the action takes place. "The fact that the dogs imitate selectively, depending on the situation -- that has not been shown before," said Friederike Range of the University of Vienna, who led the study. "That's something completely new." The findings come amid a flurry of research that is revealing surprisingly complex abilities among dogs, chimps, birds and many other animals long dismissed as having little intellectual or emotional life. "Every day, we're discovering surprises about animals and finding out animals are far more intelligent and far more emotional than we previously thought," said Marc Bekoff, an animal behaviorist who recently retired from the University of Colorado. "We're really breaking down the lines between the species." The study was inspired by research with human infants. Fourteen-month-olds will imitate an adult turning on a light with her forehead only if they see her doing it with her hands free. If the adult is clutching a blanket, infants will use their hands, presumably because they can reason that the adult resorted to using her forehead because she had no choice. To determine whether an animal could respond similarly, Range and her colleagues trained Guinness, a female border collie, to push a wooden rod with her paw to get a treat. A dog generally does not use its paws to do tasks, preferring to use its mouth whenever possible. So the key question was whether dogs that watched Guinness would decide how to get the treat depending on the circumstances. After making sure the owners could not influence their pets' behavior, researchers tested three groups of dogs. The first 14, representing a variety of breeds, did not watch Guinness. When taught how to use the rod, about 85 percent pushed it with their mouth, confirming that is how dogs naturally like to do things. The second group of 21 dogs watched Guinness repeatedly push the rod with her paw while holding a ball in her mouth. In that group, most of the dogs -- about 80 percent -- used their mouth, imitating the action but not the exact method Guinness had used. That suggested the dogs -- like the children -- decided Guinness was only using her paw because she had no choice. The third group of 19 dogs watched Guinness repeatedly use a paw on the rod with her mouth free. Most of those dogs -- 83 percent -- imitated her behavior exactly, using their paws and not their mouth. That suggested they concluded there must be some good reason to act against their instincts and do it like Guinness. "The behavior was very similar to the children who were tested in the original experiment," said Zsofia Viranyi of Eotvos University in Budapest, who helped conduct the experiment, published in the May 15 issue of the journal Current Biology. "Whether they imitate or not depends on the context. It's not automatic, insightless copying. It's more sophisticated. There's a kind of inferential process going on. " Viranyi and her colleagues said more research is needed to confirm the results and to explore what the findings say about the canine brain."Do they use the same cognitive process as the infant? Or is it something different?" Range said. "We have no way of knowing that right now." The findings stunned many researchers. "What's surprising and shocking about this is that we thought this sort of imitation was very sophisticated, something seen only in humans," said Brian Hare, who studies dogs at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. "Once again, it ends up dogs are smarter than scientists thought." The experiment suggests that dogs can put themselves inside the head of another dog -- and perhaps people -- to make relatively complex decisions. "This suggests they can actually think about your intention -- they can look for explanations of your behavior and make inferences about what you are thinking," Hare said. Others go even further, suggesting the findings indicate that dogs have a sense of awareness. "It really shows a higher level of consciousness," said Stanley Coren at the University of British Columbia, who studies how dogs think. "This takes a real degree of consciousness." Others were more skeptical, saying it's too far a leap to conclude from the study that dogs possess conscious awareness. "It's so easy for the human mind to look at a dog doing something like this and force our human way of thinking about it on the dog," said Daniel J. Povinelli, a cognitive scientist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. "This ability might happen automatically without any conscious reflection on the dog's part." The findings could simply be yet another example of the well-documented ability of dogs to interpret subtle physical cues that stem from their long, close relationship with humans, several researchers said. "Dogs are really keen observers of the world around them," said Bruce Blumberg, who teaches classes on dog behavior at Harvard University. "They use simple but reliable rules that capture just enough of a problem to be able to just do better than guessing. This may just be another example of that." Regardless of the interpretation, the research reflects a renewed interest in dogs. "There's been an extraordinary explosion in research on dogs," said Stephen Zawistowski, an animal behaviorist at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "What we're seeing really for the first time is incredibly serious and important work on dog behavior and dog genetics. The really important work will be when the canine cognitive work meets the canine genome work. It's going to give us information about where these capabilities come from."

Blast from the Past - Krush, Shahade, Tsai, J. Polgar

From: The Salt Lake Tribune Sept. 13, 1998 When Miguel Nadjorf gave his legendary blindfold exhibition of 45 games in Sao Paolo in 1947, he lost twice, drew four games and won the remaining 39. Three of the four draws were granted to women. The courtesy draws were conceded according to the canons of gallantry prevailing at the time. Today, Nadjorf's gesture would be embarrassingly sexist. It would also be unrealistic in light of the increasing prowess of women players. A few recent events illustrate the point. The first was a match between 14-year-old Irina Krush and 68 year old Arthur Bisguier who wondered beforehand whether "experience, trickery, and guile would prevail over youth and talent.'' The contest between teen-age girl and veteran grandmaster ended in a 2-2 standoff. The second was a first-place finish in the 1998 U.S Junior Championship by 18-year-old Jennifer Shahade in a field that was largely male. And most recently, 22-year-old Judit Polgar of Hungary tied for first in the U.S. Open Championship with American grandmaster Boris Gulko. Only a decade ago, the achievement of the American teen-agers Krush and Shahade was inconceivable. But a groundswell of scholastic chess programs for both boys and girls, the emigration of talented Soviet women players and the appearance of outstanding role models like Polgar have created a new era in women's chess. Below is a win by the under-14 girl's champion -- Cindy Tsai of the United States -- from the 1998 Pan-American Youth Championships. Nadia Escheveste Tsai 1. e4 c52. Nf3 d63. d4 cxd44. Nxd4 Nf65. Nc3 a66. Be3 e57. Nb3 Be68. f3 Be79. Qd2 N (b)d710. g4 O-O11. O-O-O b512. h4 Nb613. g5 Nh514. Qg2 Qc715. Rg1 R (f)c816. Qd2 b417. Nd5 Nxd518. exd5 Bxd5!19. Be2 (a) Be620. Bd3 d521. Kb1 a522. R(d)f1 a423. Nc1 d424. Bf2 b325. cxb3 axb3 26. Bg3 bxa2ch27. Ka1 Nxg328. Rxg3 e4!White resigns(a) Not 19. Qxd5 allowing . . . Qxc2 mate.Solution to Beginner's Corner: 1. g4 Rf6 2, pinning and winning the bishop. © Copyright, 1998, The Salt Lake Tribune

Brilliancy Prize for 2007 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Goddesschess is pleased to announce that it is sponsoring a $300 brilliancy prize for the 2007 U.S. Women's Chess Championship to be held in July, 2007. The prize will be awarded at the conclusion of the competition to the game judged the best. We are big fans of women's chess and this year we decided to - as the saying goes - "put our money where our mouth is." We hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Chess Scholarships Announced

Hola everyone! It's a gorgeous day here today - about time! I need to get outside and start the clean-up after the latest storm that blasted through here Thursday night - I think the branches from my mini-forest are finally done raining down! Then it's cut the grass time and after that, I'll put my feet up on the deck and drink a large glass of wine and read some more of David Shenk's book about this history of chess. Susan Polgar announced some scholarships at her chess blog and I think it's great news, so I'm publishing it here too, just in case someone out there doesn't read her blog but does read here (lol! - as if)

• Full scholarship to the winner of the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls (2007)
• Full scholarship to the winner of the Denker Tournament of HS Champions (2007)
• Scholarship (not designated as a "full" scholarship) to the winner of the 2nd annual Susan Polgar World Open Championship for Girls (2007)
• Scholarship (not designated as a "full" scholarship) to the winner of the 1st annual Susan Polgar World Chess Challenge for Boys in Las Vegas (2007)

In addition, SP announced that starting in 2008: "The University has also agreed to host the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls. Besides having a permanent home for the prestigious Polgar event at a magnificent university setting, players and their parents will have a chance to save up to $50,000 or more each year in lodging and meal expenses!"

I take this to mean that Texas Tech will make dorm space available to the participants of this event and their parents, etc. and provide meal service.

What's the Oldest Evidence of Chess? - Part 2

The archaeologists' conclusion that the Butrint artifact was a chess piece drew gasps of horror from most traditionalist chess historians. The Butrint artifact cannot be chess, they say, because chess may not have even been invented at the time; furthermore, they say, since there is only one such piece, it could be anything - it is probably a "finial."

It's doubtful that anyone will ever be able to pinpoint an exact date when chess was invented. However, that hasn't stopped people from trying! In the late 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, it was practically stated as fact that chess was invented in what is now part of Pakistan (pre-partition historians refer to this area as "northern India"), sometime during the 6th century CE. This date is used in H.J.R. Murray's work "A History of Chess," which is basically a chess historian's bible, and has been repeated ad nauseum on the internet. Since Murray's time, though, the possible date of the invention of chess has been pushed back a bit and most chess historians now accept a date somewhere in the middle to late 5th century CE. Well, guess where that puts the invention of chess - between 450 to 500 CE. According to news reports at the time of the discovery, the Butrint king is securely dated to 465 CE because of a distinctive type of Roman pottery found in the same level of ruins and some recovered coins.

What does current published archaeological and literary evidence reveal as to how old chess is?

The earliest "unambiguous" written reference to chess is, according to the traditionalists, in the Pahlavi (middle Persian) work Wizârišn î chatrang ud nihišm î nêw-ardaxšîr (The explanation of Chess and the invention of Nard), also called "Mâdayân î chatrang" or simply named "Chatrang nâmag" (The Book of Chess, per Murray), dating to about 600-620 CE.

Other than the Butrint piece, currently the earliest known chesspieces (chatrang pieces) were found at Afrasiab, near Samarkand in Uzbekistan. Those pieces are a king, chariot, vizier, horse (knight-image above), elephant, and two soldiers, all made of ivory. The Afrasiab discovery is significant because the number of pieces found and their configuration allowed chess historians to unequivocally declare that they were, indeed, chess pieces, albeit of the "figural" kind. That the pieces were figural and not abstract could reasonably suggest that the pieces are pre-Islamic, because of Islam's emphasis on not making "images" of living things.

The Afrasiab pieces are dated to about 760 AD because a coin, dated to 761 CE, was found with the chesspieces. The chess pieces could not, therefore, be any younger than the coin, but they could be older than the coin. This assumes that the excavated layer had not previously been disturbed, so that there is no possibility that the coin could have been introduced into a much earlier (or later, for that matter), layer of archaeological deposit.

H.J.R. Murray said that northwest India (ancient "Hind") was where chess originated, and for the better part of the 20th century, most agreed with him. However, there are other possibilities. A strong case can be made that proto-chess first arose in ancient China. There are literary references to such a game that predate the "Chatrang namag" by a couple hundred years. The great scholar Joseph Needham was of the opinion that chess was a Chinese invention. See his comments at Goddesschess (a large PDF file, will be slow-loading for dial-up users).

And our Chief, the late Ricardo Calvo, suggested that Persia itself might be the home of chess. See his comments at Goddesschess. I have been researching rather obscure and esoteric matters Persian that might support this hypothesis for the past several years. A woman's work is never done...

THE WEAVE A DIALOGUE ON CHESS AND CHESS HIS/HERSTORY, FROM THE ART BELL WEB-SITE. Mark Borcherding - 04:31am Apr 6, 1999 MST (#503 of 505) dare to dream upon your own star Leonardo & Chess, If you take Leonardo's diagram of a person the popular one with arms & legs in positions. The outer arms and legs touch a circle and the inner arms and legs touch a square. If you turn the square unto a chess board then the center four squares of the chessboard (a,b,c,d) (2nd pyramid giza) go from stomach area to right above the knee. The very center of the chessgrid would be directly on penis or vagina. The center of the circle would be around the belly-button "navel" about where E&F meet A&B. "ABCDEFGHIJLK" = 51 + 12 letters + 1 = 64 What happens when we mirror our numbers: 15 + 21 + 1 = 37 37 + 27 = 64 Jan Newton - 10:47am Apr 6, 1999 MST (#504 of 505) Mark, was there a particular reason why you put the letters into the chess grid in the way you did? Mark Borcherding - 01:13pm Apr 6, 1999 MST (#505 of 505) dare to dream upon your own star Ref 504 ... Jan, I placed the letters in that order because that is how they were in the digram in a "Flower of Life" book I just recently got. It did not mention a chess board but I counted the squares in their grid and it was 8x8. Did the order have any significance to you? Notice the pattern forms a Celtic cross or mandala and there are two sets of 8 squares one set top to bottome and the other set left to right and this means the 4 center squares are used twice. This would be where the 2nd pyramid is on the chessboard that Philip pointed out. Vickie Ramirez - 03:26pm Apr 6, 1999 MST (#506 of 517) O Music! In your depths we deposit our hearts and souls. Thou hast taught us to see with our ears, and hear with our hearts. Hi Jan, RE post 498: I am a Gemini. I am curious to see how we balance out, too. Neat info about the other chess history group you have contacted. Synchronistic! Just finished reading both of Katherine Nevils Books; The Eight and The Magic Circle. Just could not put them down. Ilumani Mark Borcherding - 06:08pm Apr 6, 1999 MST (#507 of 517) dare to dream upon your own star Ref 506 Ilumani & Jan "Katherine" = 46 "The Eight" = 46 [mirrored] = 64 = 8x8 "The Magic Circle" = 71 [mirrored] = 17 and 71+17=88 Guess I have a couple more books I need to read :) Jan Newton - 08:30pm Apr 6, 1999 MST (#508 of 517) Mark, until I read Neville, other than learning the fundamentals of the game, that was the only contact I'd had with The Game and its Herstory. I recently re-read "The Eight", and had even more appreciation for the depth of Neville's research than before, when I was a "Chess Ignoramus"! Vickie, thanks for the info. I left the little chart I was making up with our "match-ups" at the office; I will post on it tomorrow, I think. Mark, when I looked at the chess grid/letter post, I got a "funny" feeling about it, but I can't explain what it is or what it means; only that I tried to figure out a different way to put the letters into the grid that makes sense to me, but I haven't been able to do it yet. The letters aren't "comfortable" with where I'm putting them, or something like that. I was doing it at the office to boot, not conducive to "mental" endeavors (this is not a joke!). By the way, what is the story involving a horse and Set and Horus? I don't think I'm familiar with that one. One last thing, this may not mean anything, but then again, you never know. While I was researching the Mittani, the Hurrians, and Urartu, I came across an entry in a encyclopedia about the Hyksos. I vaguely remember learning about them eons ago in high school sophomore Ancient History. According to this entry, the Hyksos, whose origins are apparently yet unknown with any precision but suspected to be "from Palestine and Syria, ... were a Semitic people with a nomadic life style", had a temporary but lasting influence in Egypt in founding the 15th dynasty (1674-1567 BCE). They were later overthrown by a revolution of native Egyptians. The entry goes on to say that the Hyksos "came to have lasting influence on Egyptian military technique, as horse and chariot were introduced". Well, knock me over with a feather. This is a much later date than what was put forth in the 1990 Scientific American article I sited a few posts ago, which set forth the domestication of the horse and use of the horse in wheeled vehicles for agricultural purposes as early as around 4000 BCE!!! I can't imagine that it would have taken over 2000 years before the "jump" was made from using horses for agricultural purposes to using them for warfare purposes. So, somebody is wrong on their dates. However, that's not the primary reason why I mentioned the Hyksos. It's the similarity in the name "Hyksos" and "erkhos" that struck me right off the bat, especially because one of the few things I did remember about the Hyksos was their association with horses and chariots. I wonder if the Hyksos were actually peoples from the region (or descendants of people from the region) that encompasses modern-day Armenia, and not a Semitic people at all? Anyone an historian on ancient peoples out there? Jan Newton - 08:56pm Apr 6, 1999 MST (#509 of 517) Sorry folks, very tired tonight. I misspelled the proto Indo-European word for horse. It should be "ekhos", not "erkhos". Looked up "horse" in the venerable Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary circa 1977, and this is what it says: [ME] hors, fr. OE; akin to OHG hros horse]... and then it goes on to explain what a horse is and different usages of the word. ME means Middle English; OE means Old English, and OGH means Old High German. I found it interesting in light of the 1990 article I'd read. However, I also checked the definition of chess, which referred me to "check", and under check it says: [ME chek, fr. OF eschec, fr. Ar shah, fr. Per. lit., king; akin to Gk ktasthai to acquire]. I found that entry interesting too, because I thought the ancient Greek name for chess was zatrikion, played on a round board, but I could be wrong about that. Philip Mistlberger - 11:41pm Apr 6, 1999 MST (#510 of 517) Mark, re 503, the link between the 2nd pyramid and that part of the grid is interesting as this hits exactly on the location of the kundalini (serpent) base in the Indian yogic system. And, since the 2nd pyramid has been linked to both Isis and the planet Venus, its tie in with the Skakti/kundalini serpent force is natural, as Shakti is a form of Isis/Venus. Thus, the 64 grid plotted on Leonardo's "man" verifies one of the symbolic meanings of the 2nd pyramid. I don't know if this has been mentioned here, but both Georgia and I were born on the same day (both Pisces). A couple of fishes for the chess BBQ. Jan, tell me the truth. You must be hiring someone to do all this research. You seem to have enough material for a trilogy, never mind one book. Mark Borcherding - 06:03am Apr 7, 1999 MST (#511 of 517) dare to dream upon your own star Philip and Georgia that is neat, Pisces the fish. I was reading last night that the symbol for Christ was the Dolphin and was changed to the Fish by the Greek Orthodox Church. On the chess - giza grid: 1 Great Pyramid Earth orbit 3 Balance (Male+Female) 2 2nd Pyramid Venus orbit 2 Female 3 3rd Pyramid Mars orbit 4 Male "earth venus mars" = 58 58 + 1+2+3 = 64 = 8x8 Chess connection Interesting that Venus is called the "Morning Star" and people feel this relates to Christ as well. "Christ" = 32 so if we have a male and female then: "Christ Christ" = 64 "Chess", "Love", "Venus" all equal 18 5 + 18 + 18 + 18 + 5 = 64 Notice we have three 18's one for each pyramid and two 5's one 5 for male and one 5 for female. The 5 symbolizes the pyramid 4 base points + 1 capstone and it also symbolizes the 4 directions (east,north,west,south) and 1 center (balance). Note as well 18 = 9+9 so there is a male and female 9 and look what happens when we add the 5+9 = 14 which refers to 1 center/capstone & 4 directions/base points again. 9 = 4 + 1 + 4 (144) Jan Newton - 10:03am Apr 7, 1999 MST (#512 of 517) Pisces!?! I thought you were both Aquarians!!! Are you sure you're Pisces? I know, you're both cuspers! You realize, of course, that that screws up my entire estoric theory about our "signs". Oh well, back to the drawing board. Philip, I have been obsessed. I have been a researching maniac. I have been everywhere. Wait until I post about the Indus Valley connection I found, it will knock your socks off! Got to run but while I have it right in front of me I wanted to post the following information from Gerhard Josten: The next meeting of the IGK will be held in Hamburg, Germany during November 99. If you want more information and about membership e-mail me and I will give you the particulars. (I don't know if it would be against the rules to post that info here, and I don't want to get into trouble - that's a switch, hey?) Going off to the bookstore to see if I can hunt down a copy of "The White Goddess" by R. Graves, which R. Calvo was kind enough to turn me on to... "The Weave" has an enormous wealth of research from scholars from all over the world. The Weave is a journey guided by the words of many fasinating and intelligent people. This is also a fun journey. The humorous, and often cleaver, play between friends makes it a pleasure to read. Wonder through the labyrinth of The Weave and enjoy. Isis

Goddesschess' Showgirls wisdom: Brain Teasers, puzzles, inigmas, end-game chess problems, and play-time, are good for your mental health. The Mutilated Chess Board We have a chessboard with the two opposing corners removed,so that there are only 62 squares remaining. Now we take 31 dominoes shaped such that each domino covers exactly two squares. The question is: is it possible to arrange the 31 dominoes so that they cover all 62 squares on the chessboard? There are two approaches to the problem: To find the answer to this puzzle go to: FORTUNE CITY

What's the Oldest Evidence of Chess?

There’s an old saying "If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it is probably a duck."

That’s why some of us Goddesschess folks believe that this little piece (approximately 1.5 inches tall) is a chess piece, probably a king. It was identified as a chess piece (a king or queen) by the archaeologists who excavated it in July, 2002 during an ongoing dig at the cultural heritage site of Butrint, Albania, and dates to approximately 465 CE.

The assertion that this piece was a chess piece caused quite an uproar within the insular and sedate world of chess historians. More about this tomorrow.

Desperately Needed - Just For Men...

Oh, I know I shouldn't do this, I know I shouldn't. I'll probably be really sorry for this tomorrow morning.

Time and chess wait for no man - well, something like that. I know only too well the sad truth of that maxim whenever I accidentally look in the mirror at myself these days - of course, I'm not a man, but the sentiment is the same, alas... My goddess, to see super hunk GM Vladimir Akopian reduced to such straits - well, perhaps it's time I hung up my chess pieces, darlings.
(Photo upper left: VA at the 5th Gib-tel Masters, January, 2007; photo upper right: VA circa 1998)

It seems just a few years ago, back in August, 1999 when VA was one of the hottest properties in Las Vegas during the 1999 FIDE World Chess Championship at Caesar's Palace. I was there, panting after him - discreetly, of course. He was SO gorgeous - thick black hair, flashing dark eyes, slim, lithe, powerful, dangerous - and those fingers - oh my, those fingers when he picked up a pawn and moved it forward ever so gently yet firmly, just so...be still my heart.

Perhaps we could take up a collection and buy VA a year's supply of "Just for Men," the hair coloring agent that pretends not to be a hair coloring agent - oh, and a year's supply of Gillette razors - whatever the latest whiz-bang model is (I think it has five blades now, it shaves you all at once...)

2007 U.S. Women's Chess Championship 2

Okay, here is the June, 2007 top 20 women in the USA. The top 10 women (who, I assume, accept an invitation to play) will play in the 2007 U.S. Women's Chess Championship: 1 Polgar, Susan Zsuzsa NY USA 2597 2 Zatonskih, Anna NY USA 2491 3 Krush, Irina NY USA 2488 4 Goletiani, Rusudan NY USA 2392 5 Baginskaite, Camilla CA USA 2361 6 Rohonyan, Katerine MD USA 2304 7 Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg CA USA 2275 8 Abrahamyan, Tatev CA USA 2265 9 Battsetseg, Tsagaan MD USA 2234 10 Marinello, Beatriz NY USA 2211 11 Zenyuk, Iryna NY USA 2204 12 Airapetian, Chouchanik WA USA 2188 13 Epstein, Esther MA USA 2165 14 Melekhina, Alisa PA USA 2163 15 Eynullayeva, Roza MA USA 2138 16 Groberman, Elina NY USA 2137 17 Vicary, Elizabeth NY USA 2127 18 Kitagami, Show CA USA 2124 19 Sagalchik, Olga NY USA 2121 20 Shiber, Julia NY USA 2098 We know Susan Polgar won't be playing, so out of the remaining 19 women, who will play?

Chess Life to Female Chessplayers – You’re Invisible

The June, 2007 Chess Life has a nicely-written article by Macauley Peterson about up and coming young chessplayers, among whom Nakamura (born 1987, ELO 2663), Robson (born 1994, ELO 2293), Carlsen (born 1990, ELO 2693) and others are profiled – all males. Now I realize that females make up only a small percentage of chessplayers in this country, but really - are you actually implying (by omission) that there wasn’t one – NOT ONE? – female chessplayer good enough to consider profiling as the "next generation?" I have a few candidates – (hint: I looked up the "Girls Top 20" List at the FIDE website): 1 Koneru, Humpy g IND 2575 8 1987 2 Hou, Yifan wg CHN 2513 22 1994 3 Harika, Dronavalli wg IND 2476 42 1991 Koneru is 20; Hou just turned 13; Harika is 16. I’d say these girls qualify as up and coming young chessplayers, irrespective of their gender. Hey, Chess Life, way to go to appeal to the female chessplayers out here - highlighting ONLY male players. Geez! Female chessplayers DO exist, even if our numbers are small relative to male chessplayers. Can’t you be just a little more aware of us, too? We play in tournaments and support chessclubs and institutions just like you do with our entry fees and dues. We volunteer at local events to do whatever needs to be done and teach kids how to play chess just like you do. Some of us are (and have been) great players, and can kick male chess butt OTB just about any time. Are you just totally oblivious to the fact that there ARE up and coming female chessplayers, or are you deliberately blind to their existence out of sexism - or chicken-heartedness? Who runs the marketing department at USCF? Ha, what am I saying? USCF doesn’t HAVE a marketing department listed in Chess Life! Geez!

It’s USCF Election Time!

Today I received my June edition of Chess Life in the mail – wrapped in a ballot on which, as a member, I can vote for up to four members of the United States Chess Federation Executive Board. The ballot will be mailed to Taylor, Bilyeu and Company and I sincerely hope it is never shown that this company, which I assume is a firm of accountants, has any connection whatsoever in any way, shape or form to any member of the USCF Executive Board or any of its officers, past and present. I’ve previously reported that I had let my USCF membership lapse in, I think, 2004. I renewed my membership around the end of March this year after I started regularly reading Susan Polgar’s chess blog and a few other blogs and chess news sources, and re-acquainted myself with some of the issues affecting USCF and, in particular, this election for EB members. I renewed my USCF membership specifically for the purpose of voting in this election. I would have been inclined in any event to vote for Susan Polgar because she is an icon of chess for all women and is a tireless ambassador the game and promoter of the game among our young people, girls and boys. She is honest, sincere and gutsy and it is because of her fighting the fine fight that today women and girls can play chess in all open tournaments and participate in championship events without regard to their gender. Not so long ago it wasn’t so. All women owe her a debt of gratitude for being one of the trailblazers that has made it easier for the rest of us in so many ways today. Normally chess politics gag me – but I became actively engaged and enraged by the absolute BS I was reading on the internet about SP and the other candidates she supports that was spewed out by gutless wonders hiding behind anonymous identities and the openness of the internet to protect them. I would not have necessarily voted for any of the other candidate SP supports – but after having read so much sexist and racist garbage and trash aimed at SP, Truong and Korenman, I determined to also vote for the three other candidates SP recommends: Paul Truong, Randy Bauer and Mikhail Korenman. So much venom, filth and hatred by those anonymous posters could only be triggered by immense fear that SP and her slate will be elected by ordinary chess people like me who are fed up with the bumbling incompetency and never-ending back-biting politics of the people who have run the USCF for the past several years. And, true to their cowardly hearts, the spineless anonymous jerks have resorted to the lowest of tactics to support their vested interests in seeing that SP and her slate are NOT elected to the Executive Board. When SP and her slate are elected, I do not expect them to work miracles – the USCF is sunk too deeply in debt and has burned so many bridges with potential sponsors that it may take years of concentrated effort and hard work by EVERYONE on the EB and ALL officers of USCF to repair the damage. I do believe that SP, Truong, Bauer and Korenman and other honest-hearted members already sitting on the EB who will support them will stop the slide of our federation which, after all, was founded to promote chess in the United States, and begin the turn-around to a sounder future. I believe that SP and her newly formed association with Texas Tech can only bode well for the future of scholastic and college chess under the auspices of USCF; and, speaking pragmatically, I believe that SP and Paul Truong can attract the kind of big corporate and individual sponsorship for adult and professional level that we desperately need. I ask you to please for Susan Polgar, Paul Truong, Randy Bauer, and Mikhail Korenman to the Executive Board of the USCF.