Synchronicity at Work – The White Horse

It was yesterday I stopped by and checked out The Daily Grail website. You’re saying “whaaattt?” What is the rational JanXena doing visiting SUCH a website? The truth is, I visit there a couple times a month to see what the “other side” is talking about on the internet, on the radio (live broadcasts), and in print. I can always count on the Grail to give me some interesting news; sometimes we publish a piece in our “Random Roundup” at Goddesschess. Although I try to focus on rationalism in most things, I hope I’m not such an intellectual snob that I don’t like to have a little hoodoo/voodoo in my life every now and then! After all, it’s that very hoodoo/voodoo that led me to my interest in the Great Goddess – and chess - for that matter. Anyway, I found a very interesting story at the Grail about a recent crop circle that cropped up (pun!) in Wiltshire, England – a crop circle that looks like a three dimensional pyramid when shot from the air – see the photo above. Now ordinarily I don’t pay a lot of attention to crop circles, although they are fascinating, aren’t they. How DO they make them, anyway – overnight in most cases. Amazing – well, I don’t want to get us all distracted by such musings! This crop circle caught my attention because it is “pointing” to a “white horse” carved out of the underlying chalk on a neighboring hillside. This particular white horse is not ancient – but of course the worship of the white horse IS very ancient. In Britain, she was worshipped as Epona by the Celts, who brought horse worship with them from the European mainland. Horse worship is extremely ancient – and has been intimately connected with the Goddess. The horse is also intimately connected to ancient chess – both in the form of the “knight” (warrior on horse) and the rook, which used to be a chariot pulled by one or more specially trained horses and “manned” by one or more warriors. I did not PLAN this to happen but early this morning I sat down and wrote the post about the “Holy Grail,” the vulva/chalice symbolism and how it cropped up in the Yakut culture in the form of the sacred choron, a carved wooden vessel that is used to hold the sacred kumis (fermented mare’s milk). And I came across a reference to – can you guess? – a white horse: The horse is a central symbol of Sakha (Yakut) culture; the white horse represents the sun whose light energizes plant and animal life. At the ysakh festival, in the spring, a sacred brew of fermented mare's milk is drunk from special wooden vessels called choron. Well, knock me over with a feather, darlings! Or maybe I should say – mare’s tail…

• white horse seen in a photograph of a recent crop circle in Wiltshire, England, found at the website “The Daily Grail” – I like the photograph, so I pass it on to Don for inclusion in a future edition of “Random Roundup” at Goddesschess
• coming across a totally unconnected essay about feminine symbols in ancient history, and learning about the choron of the Yakut (a carved wooden vessel used in sacred ceremonies to hold kumis -–fermented mare's milk)
• writing about Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code” and his theory that the “Holy Grail” chalice is actually a symbol for a woman’s womb and the connection of the “grail/cup” symbolism to the Yakut choron
• the Yakut connection to one and possibly two chess variants
• the Yakut connection to the white horse
• the horse connection to two chess pieces
• the horse connection to the Goddess (Epona is not the only horse/goddess link in antiquity) EQUALS
• chess is the game of the Goddess

Is this a circle or what? I don't think it is just "coincidence." Some people just write us off as nut cases, but --

The Call of the Goddess

For years I resisted the lure of Dan Brown’s mega-hit "The Da Vinci Code;" the buzz continued to build, passed on mostly by word of mouth at first, and then things reached a critical mass and poof – the world had a "hit". From time to time Isis would suggest - for what seemed ages – that I read the book – you’ll like it Sis, she said. Nah, I said. As a joke, I went so far as to book us into the "Da Vinci Hotel" in New York during our 2005 Goddesschess anniversary trip, one of my more quixotic decisions that (except for the tub faucets that would NOT work in my bathroom) turned out perfectly delightful and were really cheap digs. (Image: modern choron).

I finally broke down and purchased the book when it came out in paperback. I read it quickly, nodding my head through much of it because, I have to say, the man certainly did do his research (although he was way off on some points, he was right on regarding others). Then I shipped it off to Don, who dutifully read it but I don’t think he cared for it very much :). Maybe one has to be a woman to fully appreciate – well, that’s a really sexist comment, isn’t it! Ha!

Now darlings, I’ve not paid particular attention to the legend of the Holy Grail nor to Da Vinci Code’s assertion that the Holy Grail was not a chalice, but was actually a metaphor for the womb of a woman – in particular, the womb of Mary Magdalene. I can appreciate the truth about the often brutal and vicious suppression of the so-called "divine feminine" by patriarchal-biased religions without going overboard and swallowing Brown’s story hook, line and sinker. And I am probably more familiar with so-called "goddess" symbolism than an average member of the public, having been studying such things since I first got hooked into the unlikely Goddesschess Partnership way back in December, 1998. So yes, I know about the "delta" and the "V" being symbols for the vulva, being symbols for the womb, etc. etc. etc. and how Brown (and others) drew the comparison to the chalice (grail). But I cannot recall that I’d ever read anything specific linking the symbolism of the chalice/cup (grail) to a woman’s vulva/womb. Lots of supposition and suggestion, but nothing concrete.

Well then, imagine my amazement early this morning when I read this, while checking out a totally unconnected research subject:

[images of] Megalithic women with hands clasped around a large vulva are found in the Bada valley of Sulawesi in eastern Indonesia. They too have abstract mask-like faces, somewhat concave with upturned edges, and no mouths. Menhirs known as bülbül ("grandmother") are scattered across the central Asian steppe, from Mongolia to Ukraine. Some place their hands over the womb; others hold a chalice there. The Yakut people still make carvings of women holding a ceremonial choron in this manner; in their religion, it is women who preside over the great spring festival in which people gather in great circles to dance around chorons elevated on pillars. (Excerpted from Max Dashu’s online essay "Icons of the Matrix.")

Hit me over the head with a hammer, hey – "some place their hands over the womb; others hold a chalice there." Well, Jan, duh! The symbolism is obvious. I think I need to dive back into Gimbutas, Jean Kimball and others and read with more attention…

Choron – a goblet for koumiss. A sacred vessel of our ancestors – choron – has come to us from time immemorial. And today the Sakha people take choron filled with invigorating drink koumiss with deep respect and trepidation. See also here and here.

I haven’t found any specific images of a carved Yakut image showing a female holding a choron, but the vessel at the beginning of this article is an example of a 3-horse leg choron used to serve the kumis (fermented mare’s milk) that was carved by the modern Yakut artist Ammosov. I find it extremely interesting that according to DNA evidence the Yakut may be traced back to northern India! And check this out for a very good synopsis of Yakut history and some images.

Just before the turn of the 20th century, the Yakut and Aleut (living on both sides of the Bering Strait) played (perhaps still play?) one and possibly two variants of chess, one of which Waldemar Jochelson wrote about in 1933, the other of which was described by Frederica de Laguna in later work. I’m working on articles on both of these games – hopefully they’ll be ready for publication at Goddesschess soon. It seems I've been working on them forever, but actually it's only been off and on for the past eight months or so...

It seems to me that the three "hitching posts" depicted in the 1993 school wall painting from Zhigansk look a lot like chess pieces. And there is an image of several people, including one "lady," holding a choron in front of her. The ancient traditions live one – perhaps in a somewhat garbled manner, but they still live...

Blast from the Past - Shahade 2006 Interview

GAMES
March 12, 2006
The queen speaks!

Provocative U.S. women's chess champion Jennifer Shahade on why the thinking person's game isn't just for geeks -- or guys.
By Gary M. Stern

On the cover of her book last year about women in chess, top-ranked competitor Jennifer Shahade wears a strappy pink tank top, a pink wig and a come-hither look. Make no mistake: At 25, the New York City resident is a two-time national women's champion. Although men may get more attention, Shahade wants to encourage greater respect for and involvement by women. Next up: Her students will compete in the All-Girls National Chess Championship, for ages 5 to 18, March 18 and 19 in Chicago. We spoke to her:

Can you make a living at chess?

There isn't enough money from winning. You earn $12,500 from winning the U.S. Women's Championship.

Only 7.5% of competitive chess players are female. Why?

Role models. ... Since there are so few girls involved, it can be alienating.
Why choose chess? Chess can boost a woman's confidence in her intellectual endeavors and raise her self-esteem. You also can gain a Zen type of concentration.

What does chess teach you about life?

You have to submit to failure and keep going. I lost many times before I won the women's championship, and sometimes it was difficult to pick up the pieces and play again.

To earn extra money, you play many exhibitions. How do those work?

I've played up to 45 people at a time in "simuls," as in simultaneous. They're not as difficult for the professional, because chess is more a game of skill than of thinking. A great player sees the correct move instantaneously. It's about experience and intuition.

Any pre-game rituals?

I usually go for a 30-minute walk to clear my head. Chess is physically grueling. Many chess players lose 10 pounds during a tournament.

When did you start playing chess?

I knew the rules at 6, played a tournament around 9, but didn't get serious until 13. My dad is a chess master, so once I started to show motivation, he took me to tournaments.

What has been a major change in chess?

Chess players use computers to prepare for the game. The computers tell us where we went wrong and help us prepare defenses.

What's your favorite piece?

The queen!

Why are we not surprised?

The queen is the most powerful piece.

What do you see in the game's future?

We're going to see chess on TV. TV will help popularize it, like poker.

Best thing about chess?

Its fairness. It has nothing to do with what somebody else thinks about you or how much money you have. It's based on what you bring to the board.

Old Chinese Chess Commentary

Hola darlings! Whew - it's Friday night (finally), and I'm feeling all right! Hot as hell here, and the weekend is jam packed with yard work, an investment club meeting (remind me to tell you about the investment club some time), and a Sunday afternoon at a St. Martin's Fair - dodging thunderstorms, of course!

I came across this information in an article the other day and thought it was interesting - I've never heard of the "book" it mentions and probably most westerners have not. It's not quite clear from the article, but I assume it is about Chinese chess (xiang qi). As far as I can tell, all Chinese scholars think that the west got its chess from xiang qi via transmittal by Persian merchants, and most western scholars follow H.J.R. Murray's school of thought that chess was invented in India and travelled east to China along the Silk Road. Only a few brave voices from the west, such as Joseph Needham and Pavel Bidev, believed chess came out of China but, unfortunately, they're not around anymore to develop their theories further. I'm not aware of anyone else who has chosen to pick up the gauntlet, except perhaps Peter Banaczak, and I have not been able to get in touch with him for at least five years (he probably put me on a "do not receive list" - I can be a pest. Drat!) The last I know, Banaczak was working on his PhD, one of the few western chess historians who can actually read Chinese and has knowledge of ancient Chinese classics that mention a game that might very well be chess or a form of proto-chess.

It seems pretty obvious to me that the "standard history" of chess that we in the west accept as true is steeped in 19th century racism and few have bothered to "call" Murray's progeny on their implicit, unspoken assumptions of "western" cultural superiority. You know, the "Aryan invasion" and all that crap! There's a reason I call some of these people the chess Nazis. Ah, but that's an argument for another day, I don't feel like fighting tonight, I just want to soak my feet and have a glass of wine on the deck while the sun goes down.

The English translation of the article is somewhat quirky. This is the gist of it: a Qing Dynasty collection of chess games and - I think - chess problems - has been declared a "national folk treasure" by the Chinese government and now resides in - I think - a museum in Bejing. It's a bit unclear from the article, but it appears that only a portion of the actual games and/or problems has ever been published. It's also unclear whether what's being exhibited at the Bejing museum is just the published portion of the text, or the whole thing. So, without further adieux, here's the excerpted information from the article:

"The chess manual scripts collection, "the Deep Pool and Infinite Sea," has been cited as the "rarest and most valuable works" highly revered and esteemed among top Chinese chess game players for almost two centuries.

"These folk national gems have kept intact through centuries in spite of vicissitudes they have gone through from generation to generation. So people have taken interest in anecdotes about them and in particular titbits or sidelights of interest.

"The Qing Dynasty (Chinese) chess manual scripts represent a huge collection of the cream or quintessence of ancient chess games and well-known, knotty chess games collected and sorted out by author Chen Wenqian for 17 consecutive years, and he finally completed the copying in 1808. The entire works is divided into 16 volumes with a total of 371 famous chess games. But to date, there is one works only extant, as Chen was too poor and much in need to have it printed at that time.

"The collection of chess games emerged abruptly in 1933 after having had sunken into oblivion for over a century. Then, an ace (Chinese) chess game player in north China's Hebei province, Qian Mengwu, chanced on it but he failed to get it as its owner offered too higher a price that he could pay. Through the maneuvering of his friend, however, he succeeded to borrow it and got his chess pals to hurry through its copying overnight.

"About 30 years later, another chess star Liu Guobin on July 30, 1964 found the chess manual scripts collection with the introduction of an acquaintance at the China Bookstore. Then, he pawned a Swiss-made watch and bought the chess manual scripts with 150 yuan (some 20 dollars) he got from the mortgage. And, grand chess master Qian Mengwu confirmed it afterwards as the very works he had borrowed and had it copied with the help of his chess pals three decades earlier."

2007 U.S. Women's Chess Championship - Players' List 2

I'm so glad that the players' list has been released today - actually I think we've received this information much earlier before the beginning of the actual event than when the players' list for the "Men's" Championship was released from its start date. I checked the USCF website again a few minutes ago and did not see the list published there. While I recognize most of the names on the list, I am most familiar with Krush, Baginskaite and Vicary, who have been fixtures in U.S. women's chess for many years. The players range in age from 15-16 (Melekhina) to 39-40 (Baginskaite). Here is their FIDE information: IM Anna Zatonskih (2468) dob 1978 (28-29 years old) IM Irina Krush (2478) dob 1983 (23-24 years old) WGM Camilla Baginskaite (2328) dob 1967 (39-40 years old) WGM Katerine Rohonyan (2362) dob 1984 (22-23 years old) WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs (2229) dob 1986 (20-21 years old) WF Tatev Abrahamyan (2268) dob 1988 (18-19 years old) WF Chouchanik Airapetian (2180) dob 1975 (31-32 years old) WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (2241) dob 1972 (34-35 years old) WF Alisa Melekhina (2104) dob 1991 (15-16 years old) WF Elizabeth Vicary (2148) dob 1975 (31-32 years old) I'm looking forward to this championship, not only because Goddesschess is sponsoring a brilliancy prize!

2007 U.S. Women's Chess Championship - List of Players

Posted at Susan Polgar's blog early this afternoon, the list of acceptances and pendings for US Women's Championship: "According to Mr. Frank K. Berry, the following players have accepted their invitations for the 2007 US Women's Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma:IRINA KRUSH 2512 CAMILLA BAGINSKAITE 2361 KATERINE ROHONYAN 2304 BATCHIMEG TUVSHINTUGS 2263 TATEV ABRAHAMYAN 2258 CHOUCHANIK AIRAPETIAN 2157 TSAGAAN BATTSETSEG 2234 ALISA MELEKHINA 2168 ANNA ZATONSKISH Undecided due to the recent birth of her baby and/or ROZA EYNULLAYEVA 2122 ELIZABETH VICARY 2155" According to a post by SP, Rusa G. is due to give birth very soon so that why she isn't playing. And we don't known if Zatonskih will decide to play or not (she had her baby in March). I would expect that she is physically recovered by now but her baby is very young and she may opt out of the event this year. I checked the USCF website twice today and did not find this news there - so perhaps the Berry brothers contacted SP and/or Paul Truong directly with the information - or else they have an inside line that gets the news up faster than the USCF webmaster :)

TIC Blast from the Past: Judit Polgar and the 2000 Najdorf

Hola! I thought you might enjoy the following, which originally appeared in the October, 2000 edition of The International Chessoid, that late, great, sadly departed chess spoof ezine. Unfortunately, I no longer had the actual photograph referred to in the article saved on my hard-drive, but I found something similar online - it's not from the 2000 Najdorf, though, it's from an event in 2004, and it's not as form-fitting as I remember the original to be...

Ahem - you'll have to visualize scrolling text spelling out

JUDIT...JUDIT...JUDIT...JUDIT KICKS CHESS BUTT...

NAJDORF SUPER TOURNAMENT 2000
NEWLY WED JUDIT POLGAR OFFENDS MACHO SENSIBILITIES!BOLOGAN FILES DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT WITH FIDE POLITICALLY INCORRECT COMMITTEE!!!!!

September 27, 2000
Dateline Buenes Aires, Argentina
Alpheta Patton, Ace Girl Reporter

She came, she saw, she conquered, and so shocked the sensibilities of a GM Victor Bologan that he filed a complaint with the FIDE Politically Incorrect Committee alleging sexual discrimination! Other South American males on hand to watch the Super Tournament, the crowing (we mean, of course, crowning) event in this year's Najdorf Chess Festival, were appalled by Ms. Judit's easy victory over her male opponents, as well as her very chic form-fitting leopard print top.

Allegations of sexual hi-jinks surfaced in the local press when Judit first appeared the leopard print blouse when she played impressionable teenager MF Diego Flores in a key Round 6 game. Judit easily defeated the up-and-coming teen and a firestorm from South American Macho Male types followed in the pressroom and in the local press. This phenomenon, also known as Stupid Goat Man Syndrome, stems from long-entrenched cultural attitudes that a woman must never appear in public in a skin tight leopard print top. The Syndrome, which takes its name from "Macho", meaning "Stupid Goat Man" in Spanish vernacular, has been studied by sociologists from around the world for a number of years.

Judit weathered the press assault with nary a toss of her long tawny hair and concentrated on her sweetheart (by some accounts, her husband), Gustav Fonts, a Hungarian veterinarian, and the tournament. Judging by Gustav's smiles, she was successful in the one endeavor, while simultaneously kicking male goat chess butt in Buenes Aires.

The controversy continued when the by now infamous leopard print blouse reappeared in Round 9, in her game against GM Victor Bologan. Judit breezed through the game with a disconcerting grin. It was a draw in only 24 moves, and by virtue of tie-breaks Judit won the event by half a point over a visibly upset and tearful Bologan.

I caught up with Judit at a Vegetarians Only eatery in a suburb of Buenes Aires, where she and her honey, Gustav, were enjoying a local patiste known simply as "salad" (the accent is on the second syllable in Buenes Aires).

Patton: Yo, Judit!

Polgar: Oh Alph, I am so glad to see you! Where have you been?

Patton: What do you mean? I've been here since the beginning of the tournament! I even went to that disastrous debut of your Rock Band.

Polgar [shuddering]: Oh Korchnoi! Don't remind me of that! Those people threw beer bottles at us! Can you imagine! I thought that was something that only happened in B level American movies like "Blues Brothers"! I was so insulted!

Patton [patting Polgar's hand consolingly with one hand while hiding the other behind her back with her fingers crossed]: Now, now. Remember the audience! These fellas down here don't appreciate a true artiste! A bunch of sanctimonious horny goat-men, that's what they are!

Gustav: Amen, Alph!

Polgar: Now Alph, aren't you being a little bit too hard on them? After all, they're just Macho Men!

Patton: Now isn't that just like you, Girlfriend, to think up excuses for these [deleted on orders of the Editor. The Editor's Henchman]! You're just too forgiving, that's your problem! Why, just look at your history with the Dark One!

Polgar: Honestly, Alph! Sometimes you are so naive! I was paid very good money for those appearances at Kasparov's floundering website. In fact, those appearances paid for our honeymoon trip around the world, didn't they, darling (Polgar flutters her eyelashes at Fonts).

Gustav: Whatever you say, darling!

Patton: Oh gag me!

Polgar: What was that, Alph?

Patton: On the rag me! That's what PMS will do to a gal, Jude. Now listen, I didn't come all this way just to watch you play chess and listen to your stinky rock band!

Polgar: It is NOT stinky!

Patton: Judit, that group of chess sell-outs couldn't collectively sing their way out of a paper bag!

Polgar: Oh Alph, now you're being ridiculous! They're not chess sell-outs, even if they all do work for KasparovChess.

Patton: [Bleep].

Polgar: Anyway, what do you think about Victor, who I thought was my friend, filing a complaint against me with FIDE! Holy Khalifman!

Patton: Totally bogus, Girlfriend!

Gustav: Amen, Alph!

Polgar: I was so shocked! I cannot believe that in this day and age a fully grown woman can't wear a simple skin-tight leopard print body suit to a chess match without causing off-colour comment and claims of foul play! He said that I sexually enticed him, Alph, and he lost his concentration and that's why he drew in only 24 moves! Can you imagine?

Patton: Isn't that just like a Stupid Goat Man, to think you're coming on to him when all you're trying to do is be fashionable! Faux-leopard prints are all the rage right now, after all! And you've got the nice body to show off the lines. You were only trying to be chic!

Gustav: Amen, Alph!

Polgar: Shut up, Gustav, you're getting on my nerves.

Patton: Judit!

Polgar: Well, you'd be bitchy too, Alph, if you'd been what I've been through these last four days. Honestly!

Patton [Once again patting Polgar's hand with one hand, while holding the other behind her back and - you know the schtick]: Now, now, Girlfriend. It's all right! Here, have a garlic capsule, I hear they're good for your blood pressure. [Polgar takes a capsule and gulps it down with half a glass of Scotch]. Now, there! Don't you feel better?

Polgar: I do, I do!

Gustav: Amen -

Polgar and Patton [simultaneously]: Shut up, Gustav.

Patton: I wouldn't worry about that harassment complaint if I were you, Jude.

Polgar: You wouldn't?

Patton: Nope! If it gets that far, all you have to do is show up at the adjudication hearing in the leopard print body suit. Those chess hommes won't know what hit 'em! Blinded by the Light, and all that. Bologon's complaint will be dismissed. Mark my words.

Polgar: Well, if you say so, Alph. You're the one with the law degree, after all.

Patton: Don't remind me! Now let's get down to brass tacks here, Girlfriend. I didn't chase half-way around the world just to hear your off-key singing of "Sweet Mystery of Life" with that half-baked band of chess nerds!

Polgar [shocked]: You didn't!?!

Patton: Nope. I came because during our last interview in that airport bathroom you made mention of wedding plans with a certain homme of your acquaintance.

Gustav: Amen, Alph!

Patton: Geez, Judit, did you really marry HIM?

Polgar: There's no need to take that tone of voice with me. Alph. Gustav is a perfectly respectable man, of good family and fortune, young and virile, he has a steady job with a good income, and will make me many fine children when I go off birth control pills. And he's cute! Which is more than I can say for your latest amore!

Patton: Judit, I don't HAVE a latest amore!

Polgar: Exactly!

Gustav: Amen, Alph!

Patton: Oh for goddess' sake, shut UP, Gustav! Now Girlfriend, tell me true. Are you - or are you not - married to this cottonhead?

Polgar: Well, Alph, I never!

Patton: Okay, let me rephrase the question. Are you - or are you not - married to this idiot?

Polgar: Well, since you put it that way, I'll tell you -
[Remainder of interview deleted on orders of the Editor. The Editor's Henchman. Oh oh, now Alpheta will be mad at me!]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Judit won the event on tie-break with 6.5/9.

Chess 'n Math in Montreal

I saw a news article online this morning about various shops in Montreal that serve up games, puzzles, craft and hobby supplies and lots of other goodies, for the young and the young at heart. It mentioned the shop sponsored by the Chess 'n Math organization. It's hard to believe it's been four years since I was last in Montreal. I wonder if Pi is still there - its a sort of chess pub/club stationed in a long narrow building on the ground floor on St. Laurence, with stark white walls and local paintings hung for sale, where you can't get alcohol or beer but you can get bad coffee and cold soft drinks and snacks, ask for a board and pieces (they come rent-free with a purchase of a beverage) and while away a couple of hours at tables built for two. The serious chess players congregate near the front door where it and the windows are opened during the summer to let out their cigarette smoke. Cross-ventilation is provided by an open back door. Don and I have passed several pleasant hours at Pi. One June night after a couple of games at Pi we were rambling around late night Montreal and we came across the Chess 'n Math shop - it was closed. We didn't get back during the day to check it out, but it sure looked intriguing from what we could see through the large plate glass windows. It's probably a good thing for my pocketbook that the shop was closed; I tend to go all soft and sentimental for stores that support good causes! Boutique Strategie, 3423 St. Denis St. at Sherbrooke St. 514-845-8352. www.strategy games.ca. Hours: Monday to Wednesday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday noon to 5 p.m. The Chess 'n Math Association (www.chess-math.org) runs this gaming shop, which has sets priced from $2.95 to $1,500 (a carved wooden set that sits on an electronic board), including ones using themes from Peanuts, The Simpsons, Alice in Wonderland, Star Wars and more. There's a wall of chess books, CDs, puzzles, and mind challengers like Risk, Cranium, Axis and Allies, Scotland Yard and Settlers of Catan. Proceeds go to the non-profit association, which offers camps, chess clubs and lessons. Ahhhh, I see they have an online catalog - oh oh, I can see those dollars flying out of my pocket already...

Dast-i-khun (The Hand of Blood)

We've got a newly published article at Goddesschess by Charles K. Wilkinson, written back in 1943, within a relatively short time after the Nishapur chess pieces were discovered in Iran. It's called "Chess and Chessmen," which gives absolutely nothing away, lol! The Nishapur pieces are a big deal to chess historians because they are, I believe, the oldest yet discovered abstract chess pieces after the Arab style, dating to around 760 CE. Wilkinson's article is geared toward the more general reader, as it was published in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Bulletin. And so he gives a rather standard chess historian's overview of the history of chess from the traditionalist point of view (sticking close to the script, as the saying goes), but enlivens his article with several nice graphics depicting scenes from the Shahnameh and chess pieces 1,000 and more years old. We've livened things up even more by adding our own set of footnotes and commentary, some "food for thought." Dast-i-khun - the hand of blood. The phrase comes from the practice, in the early days of chess, of players wagering their own body parts as a bet in a game of chess. Wilkinson added it as a footnote to his article, almost as an afterthought. I was absolutely intrigued by the reference and appalled by the practice, so I tracked down some further information on it. We provide a reference from H.J.R. Murray to the practice and more description that you won't find anywhere else online (until the copyists find the article, that is). I'll bet there are a lot of chemists and pharmaceutical companies out there that would love to know what kind of herbs and other things went into that red "ointment" Murray describes as instantly cauterizing a wound! I am intrigued by the possibility of a "blood" connection to one or possibly more rituals of the ancient Persians from the days of their worship of the fire god and a sort of secrete society meaning for or mystical use of chatrang in either the ritual and/or in the religion; as I understand it, in certain rituals the blood of a sacrificed wolf was drunk by the worshippers. Hmmm, after having read through the above, I guess it's no wonder most men are scared to death of me. Bwwwwwwaaaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaa.....

The Chessplaying Hughes Family (and Dog)

This article caught my eye because of the mention about "training up the dog" to play chess – he’s black and white too, just like my Spencer was. But the story is about a chessplaying family and one in particular, Rhian Hughes, who played on the Scotland Women’s Olympiad Team in Turin in 2006. The dog, as far as I know, does not play. Living Scotsman.com Saturday, june 16, 2007 'We were going to train up the dog' FAMILY MASTERS Parents Jeremy and Brenda Hughes, with Lloyd, 17, Owen, 14, and Rhian 13. LAST summer in Turin, Rhian Hughes, then 12, became the youngest player ever to represent Scotland at Olympiad level. She already has a host of chess trophies to her name, but her best supporters are her first opponents: her family. The chess board on the coffee table of the Hughes' Edinburgh home is clearly not just for show. Jeremy Hughes, an academic renal physician, is also Chess Scotland's director of youth events. His wife Brenda has coached children's chess, and Lloyd, Owen and Rhian make up three-quarters of the chess team at James Gillespie's High School. "I knew there was a reason why we should have had four children," Jeremy laughs. "To have a chess team!" "We were going to train up the dog," Brenda adds. "He is black and white, after all!" Although it looks as though chess is in the blood for the Hughes, Lloyd was actually the first member of the family to play seriously. "I'm dyslexic and we were advised that chess might help my concentration," he says. "We moved to Seattle and I carried on playing there, it was a real hotbed of chess." Rhian was just five when she won her first tournament. Brenda says: "We had taken her brothers to a tournament and she asked if she could play along with the little ones. And then she won the big trophy." By the time she was 11, she was representing her country in international events. Brenda was astonished, when she went with Rhian to a competition in Montenegro, to see the upper echelons of female chess: players who could double as models, sporting the latest fashions. At Olympiad level, however, pressure on players is intense. Jeremy says: "It's not cold and calculating, it's an emotional game, incredibly tense and nerve-racking. There are moments when it's high pressure, like a poker game, suddenly the stakes are very high. People deal with it in different ways." "I get nervous for Rhian, but she's as cool as a cucumber," says Brenda. Rhian shrugs. "I get nervous before the game, but once I'm in it, it doesn't really bother me. But if I've been playing for ages and I make a stupid mistake where I throw it all away in one move, I get annoyed." She practises regularly, doing chess puzzles, learning theory and improving her tactics. Lloyd says: "Dad and I test new things with her. She normally beats us, but she can learn something new, and it's easier playing a person than a computer." Lloyd still enjoys playing, but stopped competing seriously in the last three years in order to concentrate on his school work. He helps organise tournaments and coaches younger players. "It's great helping them to surpass my own standard," he says. Owen tends to prefer practising with his band. Jeremy and Brenda emphasise that they are anything but pushy "chess parents". "We've always said to Rhian it's up to her. We've said that to all three of them. Owen does play but it's not a passion." Here are Rhian’s results from Turin: Hughes Rhian 0 SCO Rp:1703 Rd. SNo Name Rtg FED Rp Pts. Res. Bo. 1 138 WGM Igla Bella 2288 ISR 2238 6,5 w 0 3 2 411 Stolarczyk Anna 2036 POL 1670 2,5 w 0 3 3 419 Arosemena Bethania 0 PAN 1548 3,5 s 1 3 4 376 WFM Franco Beatriz 2048 COL 2053 2,5 w ½ 3 6 364 Mokgacha Keitumetse 0 BOT 1778 5,0 w 0 3 8 71 WFM Zepeda Cortez Sonia Guadalupe 2036 ESA 1985 3,5 s 0 3 11 143 Chierici Marianna 1922 ITA 2022 7,0 s 0 3

Blast from the Past – Soviet Chess Intrigues

This is a new column by Larry Evans at the Sun Sentinel (online) – all I can say is WOW. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It's your move Posted June 17 2007 The Vladimirov flap: The first edition of Gary Kasparov's book Child of Change (1987) appeared in England, exposing some of the nasty tricks by FIDE and Soviet chess officials to deprive him of a shot at the title held by his nemesis. His main target was FIDE President Florencio Campomanes, who is mentioned 197 times in 242 pages. The book was panned in the prestigious Dutch magazine New in Chess by Tim Krabbe, who attacked Kasparov as an egomaniac and wondered, "how a person can drown so naively in his own ego?" Kasparov was taken to task for his "shabby" firing of his longtime aide GM Evgeny Vladimirov, who was suspected of being a mole after some secret opening analysis missing from a safe was found in his room. Krabbe denounced the charge: "In 1986 when he was three points ahead in the third match against [Anatoli] Karpov, Kasparov lost that whole lead in three games. How can such a thing happen? Without any proof, as Kasparov himself admits, the reputation of a colleague is murdered. I really hope Campomanes has not let himself be intimidated by the champion to the extent where he will not at least symbolically suspend Kasparov one day for this." GM Raymond Keene, chess columnist for The London Times, was appalled: "I certainly hope that Krabbe's suggestion was a joke. It leaves a very bad taste in the mouth in the current climate of assault on freedom of speech by FIDE." The American magazine Inside Chess, now defunct, renewed its attack on Kasparov. "It is difficult for this reader to buy the picture painted of Karpov as the epitome of all that is regressive and evil in Soviet life or the equally unlikely portrait of Kasparov as the avatar of progress and light ... Chapter 13, entitled "Knives in the Back," contains Kasparov's version of the ridiculous Vladimirov affair which cost the world champion much credibility and respect throughout the chess world." Kasparov was derided for blaming some of his losses on a spy in his camp. Yet did he not have a right to dismiss an aide he no longer trusted, which happens routinely in the business world? When I mentioned these charges in an interview with Kasparov, he said: "I realize that I have been criticized for banishing Vladimirov from my camp. Many people in the West find it difficult to believe that he passed analysis to Karpov's camp during the third match. But the world saw me change my entire opening repertoire except for the Gruenfeld Defense in the next match. I had to discard old luggage because Karpov knew everything about my opening preparation. I admit that I cannot prove my case beyond all doubt. But I have one question: `What was Vladimirov doing at Karpov's training camp in Odessa before our fourth match in 1987?'" 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.

The Copper Scroll - Treasure Map

The Case of the Copper Scroll SUMMER 2007 TOPICS: Arts, Music, Alumni, Diversity--> By Christine Cole They only survived because they were buried, intentionally, beneath the driest soil on earth. Since they were found-almost 2,000 years after they were hidden-they have been sensationalized, fought over and blamed for conspiracies. They contain clues about a past unknown, and one of DU's own is part of a select group of scholars who study these mysterious relics, known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Of these scrolls, there is one in particular that catches attention, as it is said to lead the way to a fortune worth $1 billion. It is known as the Copper Scroll. For the past several years, DU Assistant Professor Alison Schofield has been translating these relics, looking for new meanings and clues into a hidden past and possible treasure. But she does more than just study antique texts. As an undergraduate student at the University of Utah in 1996, she went on her first archaeological dig-an excavation of an Iron-Age city in Bethsaida, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. "During the dig, I realized that to understand the modern Middle East situation, one must delve deeper into its rich ancient history," Schofield says. Since knowing modern Hebrew and Arabic wasn't enough, she upped the number of her foreign languages to 13. Given the region she was focusing on, she also studied religion. "In studying the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, I was excavating the origins of Judaism and Christianity," Schofield says. In 2002 she received an MA in Hebrew Bible/northwest Semitic philology from Johns Hopkins University, where she studied with P. Kyle McCarter, a Copper Scroll expert. She completed her PhD in 2005 at the University of Notre Dame, focusing her research on the Hebrew Bible and early Judaism. Today Schofield holds a joint appointment with the Center for Judaic Studies and the religious studies department at the University of Denver. For the last two years she's been the University's Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and ancient Judaism expert. And during this time, she has continued her research on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Copper Scroll. "There has always been mystery surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls. They've been sensationalized, as in The Da Vinci Code," she says. The first Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 in 11 caves near Qumran, near the north shore of the Dead Sea. "It took nearly 50 years to publish these scrolls," she says. During this time, questions started swirling and conspiracy theories started to form, including those related to whether the scrolls contained damaging information about Judaism or Christianity. Schofield says there is no evidence that information from the scrolls has ever been suppressed. But, because an original team of seven scholars monopolized the scrolls for decades, it wasn't until the 1990s that many of the translations were completed. Thanks to a Hebrew University researcher who made the scrolls available to scholars around the world, more text was translated in nine years than in the previous decades of work combined. After studying the scrolls herself, Schofield-one of only a few scholars who approach them from a Judaic perspective-was intrigued by the scrolls and what they say. "They are the most important manuscripts found in Biblical archaeology," says Schofield, noting that the scrolls include biblical texts 1,000 years earlier than any previously existing copies of the Bible. "The scrolls show us that the boundaries between Judaism and Christianity are more fluid," as their Jewish authors speak of theological concepts of redemption, repentance and baptism-type rituals in water before their Christian counterparts, she says. "The importance of studying the Dead Sea Scrolls is that through working with them one learns much more about the particular group associated with the scrolls but also about Judaism in general during the last century B.C.E [before the common era] and the first century C.E. [common era]," says theology professor James VanderKam, who advised Schofield at the University of Notre Dame. "Learning more about Judaism at that time is important for several reasons," VanderKam says. "One, it is wonderful to be able to learn more about Judaism at a crucial time in its history and to see what issues were important to the writers and how they interpreted the scriptures. Two, for Christians, learning about Judaism at that time is important because it provides valuable information for understanding Jesus and the other New Testament individuals in their Jewish context. Three, by studying the copies of scriptural books found among the scrolls, one can examine the development of the text of the books that would become parts of the Bible." "We have very few texts surviving from this time," Schofield adds. "The scrolls illuminate the Bible; they are the greatest window into biblical text ever. They also illuminate a Judaism of the time that most people don't know existed." During the time the scrolls were supposedly written, 200 B.C.E to 68 C.E., there were numerous sects of Jews. Schofield notes that most people are familiar with the Pharisees (today's Rabbinic Jews are their descendents), but it was likely a group known as the Essenes who wrote the scrolls. Most manuscripts of the time-including the Dead Sea Scrolls-were written on skins and papyrus and didn't last. But the Dead Sea Scrolls survived the ravages of time because the Essenes buried them in the arid caves near the Dead Sea. What would make a population go to this extreme? The Essenes fled into the desert because of corruption within the Temple of Jerusalem, and they created a holy community on the shore of the Dead Sea, Schofield explains. Given the destruction that was about to take place in Jerusalem, the Essenes prepared for the destruction that was also likely to come their way. While most of the other scrolls were copied during the century prior to the destruction, the Copper Scroll was one of the last, written in 68 C.E., two years before the Romans destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem. Given the timing, the Copper Scroll probably refers to treasures the Essenes buried before the Romans came, Schofield says. Yes-buried treasure. Schofield counts herself among the school of scholars who believe that the Copper Scroll details the whereabouts of a real treasure of gold, silver and bronze-hidden in 63 hoards-that today would be worth $1 billion. "From a scholar's perspective, the real treasure is the window it gives us to otherwise unknown aspects of Judaism," says Schofield, who was featured in a recent History Channel episode about the scroll. The 800 Dead Sea Scroll fragments can be divided generally into three main categories, she says, noting that the scrolls pick up where the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament end, right after the Book of Daniel. One third of the scrolls are copies of the Bible; one third are the Essenes' theological texts, such as the "Community Rule"; and one third are copies the Essenes made of Jewish literature of the time-basically "the items that didn't make it into anyone's Bible," she says. The content of the Copper Scroll doesn't fit into any of the three categories. Nor does anything else about it. While the other scrolls were written on skins and papyrus, the Copper Scroll was actually written on more valuable and durable copper, signifying its importance. The Copper Scroll also was written in the vernacular Hebrew of the day, while the other scrolls were written in a liturgical, biblical Hebrew, Schofield explains. Once scholars began translating it, it not only gave clues about buried treasures but also gave them insight into the time that it was written. "The primary drive for me is the anomalies," Schofield says. The Essene priests used general names and place names when giving clues to the treasures' whereabouts, so there is no definitive way to determine where the map starts, Schofield says. One must have knowledge of the landscape and geography of the time, and even then, no one really knows where it begins. Although Schofield believes the Copper Scroll is a real treasure map, she doesn't know whether or not the treasure still exists. It's possible that the Essenes moved it at a later date or that it was found by another group years later. Although some scholars believe that the treasure is too great to be real, Schofield and others disagree. "First, it's written on an expensive medium-it's valuable. Second, it's not written in a fairytale fashion; it doesn't sound like fiction," she says. "It's boring, very dry, almost in a bookkeeping style." The person who transcribed it likely was illiterate, she says, noting that the transcriber confused letters throughout the scroll. The author or authors would have used an illiterate scribe because they didn't want him to know what he was transcribing, Schofield explains. Although the scroll has been completely translated, as have most of the Dead Sea Scrolls, new computer technology and digital photographs allow scholars to review and revise particularly difficult passages and words, Schofield explains. Working with themes she sees in the scrolls, Schofield is writing an upcoming book, Community and Identity in the Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Synthesis. She also is starting another book, Wilderness as Place and Experience in the Hebrew Tradition, about the concept of wilderness and the desert in early Judaism, both literally and symbolically. "The scrolls are tangible pieces of evidence about a group that saw the desert as a sacred place," as the wilderness is symbolic and very holy, Schofield says. Some of the questions she is still investigating are why the Essenes felt compelled to go into the desert, and why they hid the treasure. Schofield also is interested in understanding the role the Copper Scroll may have played in maintaining the Essenes' identity in the face of extinction. And, Schofield says, another important mystery remains: The Essenes seem to have broken away from the Jerusalem temple. If that's the case, how did they gain access to its treasure? In December 2006, Schofield conducted an archaeological survey in the Judean wilderness near the site where the scrolls were found. But, she says emphatically, she's not part of the "treasure-seeking wacko camp." It's likely the desert is still hiding many other undiscovered items and that with one find, she says, "all the theories built on the scrolls could be wiped out." Or maybe, just maybe, the Copper Scroll treasures will be found. *************************************************************************** You can find more information about the Copper Scroll here.

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."