Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen Raising Money to Fund Archaeology Chair

Who knew!  Actor Ted Danson's father is an archaeologist.

From The Arizona Daily Sun (online edition)

Q and A: Danson, Steenburgen interview
Posted: Tuesday, November 8, 2011 9:00 am

Eric Betz: Can you tell me a bit about tonight's events?

Ted Danson: Its kind of the family kitchen sink tonight. We're raising money for an archaeology chair at the Museum of Northern Arizona. It would fund an archaeologist always to be present doing the work that the museum's been doing for years and it would be in my father's name.
EB: I just finished reading your nephew Eric Haury's book about your father and your family and in it he writes about your frequent picnics in the peaks and road trips to the canyon. What's it like for you to come back to this area?

TD: It's always overwhelming for about a day as all the emotions come slamming back into my head. I was surrounded by love growing up. My parents loved me well. My sister is one of the most loving people I know. So, to come back in is like being bathed in this wonderful memory. I don't come to Flagstaff that often, so this always brings back a whole bunch of wonderful memories.

EB: Mary, I'm also curious, how does this area resonate with you? Has Ted taken you to the Peaks or the South Rim or the Hopi Reservation?

Mary Steenburgen: I have not yet been to the Hopi. Every time we plan it, one of us gets a job. He's going back to CSI and I'm going to 30 Rock. I have been here before and he's always pointed out the Orpheum to me and I've never actually seen the inside of it I've just seen the outside of it. So, this is really fun for me. I've spent a lot of time in Sedona where his sister and before that his parents lived in the last years of their life and I've fallen in love with the people and the whole kind of casual and accepting, cool-vibe here is very nice, nothing up tight about it. It's very nice.
EB: Haury also writes that you didn't have a TV in the house growing up. How'd you end up getting into acting then?
TD: Don't starve your kids from pop culture or they will immerse themselves in it. We lived far enough out of town that it would have cost a fortune to bring the cable out because it was all cable back then …
MS: Oh, I never thought about it. That's why you didn't have TV.
TD: …and then my mom was anti-TV. She didn't buy a TV until Cheers and then she put a tapestry over it. Really I wanted to play basketball. I went to Stanford and got nowhere there and tried out for a play just out of nowhere, a Bertolt Brecht play, and it just was like the light bulb went off. Life made sense. I literally moved my station wagon with the mattress in the back behind the studio theatre. I literally didn't leave. And then they said 'if you're that serious, you should go back east, but I couldn't get into her school …
MS: … plus you smell bad (laughs).
TD: … and please stop stalking the theatre (laughs).
MS: What do you mean you couldn't get into my school?
TD: The Neighborhood Playhouse (a renowned acting school) had just finished its first round of auditions.
MS: Oh I didn't ever know you tried. Now I feel even more superior (laughs).
TD: Yeah, you should. It's that whole Oscar thing, don't get her started.

EB: So, did you ever consider following your dad's track into the sciences?
TD: Not even in the foggiest. … My father being an archaeologist, I think I got that sense of 'there's a lot that's come before us and there's a lot that will come after us'. This is not about us. It's about our stewardship of this time. I must have absorbed that. … I've been on the board of directors of Oceana and I think part of that, a huge part of that, came from being surrounded by the science that my father was doing.
EB: You've got all these other conservation efforts that you're a part of and yet you're coming back for the Museum of Northern Arizona. There's a lot of other ways you could be of service. What drives you to work with the museum?
TD: It's such a family affair right now. Eric wrote this book -my nephew. My sister and her husband have been putting this event together for the last year. My cousin Pam, you know, wrote the book Mary and I are reading together tonight. It's become this family affair. And you know what? The museum is a jewel, an absolute jewel. Not only does it reflect the natural history of this area, which is one of the most beautiful areas in the world, I mean look at all the people that come through here, but it also, one of its mandates is to nurture and cultivate the Hopi and Navajo Indian's pueblo cultures and they have done that so successfully so collaboratively with the Hopi and the Navajo. It is something that this area should be so proud of. It's an amazing jewel of a museum. So I'm thrilled to do anything for it.

Copyright 2011 azdailysun.com. All rights reserved.

Oh Them Spotted Horses, Oh, Them Spotted Horses...

aint no figure of my
Imagination!
No No No!  OH!

Are they real?  Or are they figments created in dark caves by torchlight, 25,000 years ago?

How arrogant for any modern-day person to assume that what those fantastic artists of 25,000 to 11,000 years ago were recording animals that didn't really exist - what baloney!  Now they're finally admitting that, yeah, those people were recording what they actually saw.  Holy Goddess!  Hmmm, some people just deserve a big Goddess slap up alongside the head, please...

The image of the beautifully rendered spotted horses, above, is from the website for the Peche Merle (Cave) Prehistory Center (scroll down to point 12).  The description:  The dotted horses about 25,000 BP (radiocarbon dated) (M+F). Right-hand horse : his small head is drawn in the natural cut of the rock, resembling a horse's head. On his back : a large red fish (it seems to be a pike) (M+F). Six stencilled black hands all around the horses. Black dots inside and outside. Red dots. Left-hand horse, in red : 7 hook-like signs (M).  The horses are interposed over the image of a bison, lower right, also taking advantage of the curve in the cave wall to render a three-dimensional effect!

Here's a modern spotted horse, image by Thomas Hackmann, 2011, from The New York Times article:

There were news stories before this one, but I chose this one from The New York Times:

Spotted Horses in Cave Art Weren’t Just a Figment, DNA Shows
By HILLARY ROSNER
Published: November 7, 2011

Roughly 25,000 years ago in what is now southwestern France, human beings walked deep into a cave and left their enduring marks. Using materials like sticks, charcoal and iron oxides, they painted images of animals on the cave walls and ceilings — lions and mammoths and spotted horses, walking and grazing and congregating in herds.       

Today, the art at the Pech-Merle cave, and in hundreds of others across Europe, is a striking testimony to human creativity well before modern times.

But what were these cave paintings, exactly? Were prehistoric artists simply sketching what they saw each day on the landscape? Or were the images more symbolic, diverging from reality or representing rare or even mystical creatures? Such questions have divided archaeologists for years.

Now, a group of researchers has used distinctly modern techniques to help decipher the mystery, at least in the case of Pech-Merle’s famous spotted horses. By comparing the DNA of modern horses and those that lived during the Stone Age, scientists have determined that these drawings are a realistic depiction of an animal that coexisted with the artists.

The research, published online on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, grew out of an effort to discern the coat colors of ancient horses to help figure out when the animals were domesticated, a pivotal moment in the development of human societies. In general, domesticated species exist in a far greater variety of colors than wild ones, so understanding color variation in fossil animals can help pinpoint the timing.

Previous research on DNA from the bones and teeth of horses that lived 7,000 to 20,000 years ago showed that those animals were either black or bay (a brown coat with a black mane and tail). That work was published in the journal Science in 2009. Since then, geneticists have deciphered the underlying code for the spotted pattern, known as leopard, in modern horses. So the scientists went back to their samples, looking for the leopard sequence in horses that lived in Europe 11,000 to 15,000 years ago.

“There is a striking correspondence between the coat-color patterns of horses painted in Paleolithic caves of France with what geneticists found in the genotypes” — the specific genetic sequences — “of color genes,” said Hopi E. Hoekstra, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard who studies pigmentation. Dr. Hoekstra was not involved in the study but called it “very convincing.”

An author of the study, Michael Hofreiter, an evolutionary biologist at the University of York in England, said: “Why they took the effort making these beautiful paintings will always remain a miracle to us.

“It’s an enigma, but it’s also nice to see that if we go back 25,000 years, people didn’t have much technology and life was probably hard, but nevertheless they already endeavored in producing art. It tells us a lot about ourselves as a species.”

Extracting DNA from such old material is a complex process, and the potential for contamination is huge. Early studies of Neanderthal DNA were marred by contamination from humans, and led to skepticism about the field’s future.

Since then, researchers have adopted strict procedures to ensure they are not contaminating ancient samples with modern-day DNA. The procedures include analyzing ancient and contemporary material in physically separate facilities and replicating results multiple times.

“This is a whole different level of clean,” said Jessica L. Metcalf, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Colorado who also works with the Australian Center for Ancient DNA in Adelaide, where the labs that work on ancient and modern DNA are more than half a mile apart.

“We have sealed rooms with HEPA filter air flow, UV lights that sterilize when you come in,” she said. “We spend over half our time cleaning. We use a lot of bleach. You’re in this ridiculous-looking clean suit with a face shield on.”

In fact, Dr. Hofreiter said, researchers who work with ancient horse genes should not even go horseback riding. “Traces of DNA,” she said, “they just stick to people.”

Dr. Hofreiter, 38, began his career working with a pioneer of ancient DNA research, Svante Paabo. Though he intended to study taxonomy, he was so intrigued by the idea of extracting DNA from ancient material that he switched his focus. “You have this 30,000-year-old piece of feces in your hand,” he said, adding: “Well, you should wear gloves. And you can actually get to the genetic code from the animal. And I thought, this is so fascinating.”

He and his colleagues did not set out to study cave art. They were simply continuing their work on coat color in prehistoric horses. Only after they found the spotted horse gene in their ancient samples did they realize they could say something about archaeology.       

“What we found is that there were really only these three color patterns — spotted or dappled; blackish ones; and brown ones,” he said. “These are the three phenotypes we find in the wild populations. And then we realized these phenotypes are exactly the ones you see in cave paintings.”       

Terry O’Connor, an archaeologist at the University of York who collaborated on the study, said spotted horses in particular had been used to argue that cave art was more symbolic than realistic, and that as a result the finding could cause a stir. But now it is clear that some horses had a gene for that coat color. “People drew spotty horses,” he said, “because they saw spotty horses.”   

Last summer, exploring a cave in the Dordogne region, Dr. O’Connor said he became transfixed by a series of line drawings of mammoths. “They were absolutely superb, some using contours of the cave itself, capturing the size and shape and movement,” he said. “You look at that and say, ‘These guys know what the animals looked like, and they can draw.’ ” 

As techniques for working with ancient DNA have matured, scientists are now using it to answer an increasing variety of questions about the past — from what happened to a species’ genetic variation as its environment changed to how humans recolonized Europe after the last ice age to what type of microbes lived in the guts of people and animals thousands of years ago.       

“One of the things that most pleases me about this paper as a piece of ancient DNA science,” Dr. O’Connor said, “is it kind of begins with a question. These spotty horses, were they magical or real? And then science answers that. It’s not just, ‘Let’s rip the DNA out of ancient bones and see what it tells us.’ ”            

Four Year Old Chess Princess Looks for Sponsorship

From Malay Mail Online
Nice move!
Puteri Rabiatul, 4, youngest to represent Malaysia in chess Hamzah Nazari
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 11:21:00

SHAH ALAM: Deep in concentration, eyes focused on the chess board, she makes her move but upon realising her mistake, groans loudly and jumps on the sofa, curls her legs beneath her and hides her face in her hands.

While not the usual reaction one expects from a chess player, her sudden loss of composure is not surprising — Puteri Rabiatul Adawiyah Mat Zaki is only four years old.

She is the youngest person to be chosen to represent Malaysia in an international chess competition by the Malaysian Chess Association. If financial assistance is forthcoming, she will compete at the 7th Asian Schools Chess Championship in New Delhi, India, from Dec 16 to 23.

However, her taking part is uncertain as her family is looking for individual or corporate sponsors to raise the RM9,000 she needs since the association is not able to allocate funds.

"Secondary or primary school students as young as eight have been selected before but this is the first time Malaysia is competing in the under-fives,” her mother, Raja Noraizah Raja Mahmood, told The Malay Mail at the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) building here.

Although children usually start playing chess at the age of six or seven, Puteri Rabiatul was sent to the Insofar Chess Academy for training at the age of three. She can beat children aged eight or nine.
Raja Noraizah said Puteri Rabiatul could recognise chess pieces since she was just one.

“I once asked her ‘which one is the knight?’ and she picked up the right piece. She had a pacifier in her mouth at the time," she said.

“We didn’t expect her to be able to play chess at such a young age. She does not merely play the game but strategises, knowing if a piece is safe or if it can be taken."

Puteri Rabiatul usually plays chess with her mother or trains at the Az-Zahrah Multi-Intelligence Academy (AMPAC Centre) in Bandar Baru Bangi or the Haris Bakar Group of Companies at the PKNS building here.

According to her parents, they suspect their child may be a prodigy or even a genius but they do not know for sure.

Even so, they are confident she could one day become an International Grandmaster in chess, if she continues to play regularly.

The family’s short-term goal is that Puteri Rabiatul could become the defending champion for the under-five category next year.

Those interested in sponsoring Puteri Rabiatul may call 012-3415030.

Women's World Chess Champion GM Hou Yifan Wins Award

From tyrepress.com

Check mate: Linglong chess player awarded prize
Created: November 08, 2011 01:21:00 PM

On 11 October 2011, Hou Yifan, member of Linglong Tyre chess team was awarded “Non-olympic Athlete of the Year” at the 10th China Laurens Prize ceremony was held in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. The award was the second grand prize she won after a prizegiving by state television - “CCTV non-olympic athlete” - at the beginning of this year.

Shandong Linglong reports that it has been supporting developments of China chess for the past few years. Linglong's tyre chess team made many achievements in important matches at home and abroad, among whom Hou Yifan became the youngest woman chess champion in the world.

2011 European Team Chess Championships - Women

Results R6:

Bo.	1	Russia	Rtg	-	5	Poland	Rtg	2 : 2
1.1	GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2546	-	GM	Socko Monika	2479	1 - 0
1.2	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2526	-	WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	2326	½ - ½
1.3	IM	Gunina Valentina	2514	-	WGM	Majdan Gajewska Joanna	2386	0 - 1
1.4	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2439	-	WGM	Szczepkowska-H. Karina	2379	½ - ½
Bo.	2	Ukraine	Rtg	-	3	Georgia	Rtg	2½:1½
2.1	GM	Lahno Kateryna	2549	-	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2516	1 - 0
2.2	GM	Zhukova Natalia	2427	-	IM	Javakhishvili Lela	2475	½ - ½
2.3	IM	Ushenina Anna	2463	-	WGM	Paikidze Nazi	2422	1 - 0
2.4	IM	Muzychuk Mariya	2460	-	IM	Khurtsidze Nino	2440	0 - 1
Bo.	18	Czech Rep.	Rtg	-	12	France	Rtg	1½:2½
3.1	WGM	Kulovana Eva	2297	-	IM	Milliet Sophie	2386	½ - ½
3.2	WGM	Nemcova Katerina	2276	-	WGM	Maisuradze Nino	2315	½ - ½
3.3	WIM	Havlikova Kristyna	2285	-	WGM	Guichard Pauline	2305	½ - ½
3.4	WIM	Olsarova Karolina	2167	-	WGM	Leconte Maria	2282	0 - 1
Bo.	6	Hungary	Rtg	-	11	Slovenia	Rtg	1½:2½
4.1	GM	Hoang Thanh Trang	2446	-	IM	Muzychuk Anna	2557	0 - 1
4.2	IM	Madl Ildiko	2399	-	WGM	Krivec Jana	2291	½ - ½
4.3	WGM	Rudolf Anna	2347	-	WGM	Srebrnic Ana	2219	½ - ½
4.4	WGM	Gara Ticia	2375	-	WIM	Rozic Vesna	2263	½ - ½
Bo.	14	Serbia	Rtg	-	13	Netherlands	Rtg	2½:1½
5.1	IM	Bojkovic Natasa	2396	-	GM	Peng Zhaoqin	2379	½ - ½
5.2	WGM	Chelushkina Irina	2276	-	WIM	Schut Lisa	2284	½ - ½
5.3	WGM	Stojanovic Andjelija	2280	-	IM	Lanchava Tea	2320	½ - ½
5.4	WIM	Eric Jovana	2236	-	WIM	Haast Anne	2268	1 - 0
Bo.	16	Greece	Rtg	-	4	Armenia	Rtg	1 : 3
6.1	IM	Dembo Yelena	2468	-	GM	Danielian Elina	2507	½ - ½
6.2	WGM	Botsari Anna-Maria	2313	-	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2469	0 - 1
6.3	WIM	Fakhiridou Ekaterini	2180	-	IM	Galojan Lilit	2383	½ - ½
6.4	WIM	Pavlidou Ekaterini	2176	-	WGM	Aginian Nelly	2263	0 - 1
Bo.	7	Germany	Rtg	-	9	Romania	Rtg	3 : 1
7.1	IM	Paehtz Elisabeth	2457	-	IM	Foisor Cristina-Adela	2418	1 - 0
7.2	WGM	Michna Marta	2382	-	WGM	Cosma Elena-Luminita	2335	1 - 0
7.3	WIM	Ohme Melanie	2361	-	WIM	Bulmaga Irina	2334	1 - 0
7.4	WGM	Levushkina Elena	2307	-	WGM	Voicu Jagodzinsky Carmen	2300	0 - 1
Bo.	8	Bulgaria	Rtg	-	27	Turkey	Rtg	3 : 1
8.1	WGM	Videnova Iva	2297	-	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	2301	1 - 0
8.2	WGM	Voiska Margarita	2328	-	WIM	Ozturk Kubra	2239	0 - 1
8.3	WGM	Djingarova Emilia	2309	-	WCM	Kaya Emel	2005	1 - 0
8.4	WGM	Nikolova Adriana	2286	-		Menzi Nezihe Ezgi	1911	1 - 0
Bo.	15	Israel	Rtg	-	17	Azerbaijan	Rtg	1½:2½
9.1	WIM	Porat Maya	2299	-	WGM	Mamedjarova Zeinab	2314	½ - ½
9.2	WIM	Efroimski Marsel	2230	-	WIM	Mammadova Gulnar	2290	½ - ½
9.3	IM	Borsuk Angela	2257	-	WGM	Mamedjarova Turkan	2277	½ - ½
9.4	WIM	Vasiliev Olga	2305	-	WIM	Umudova Nargiz	2210	0 - 1
Bo.	19	Croatia	Rtg	-	10	Spain	Rtg	2 : 2
10.1	WGM	Golubenko Valentina	2293	-	IM	Alexandrova Olga	2423	1 - 0
10.2	WIM	Franciskovic Borka	2280	-	WGM	Vega Gutierrez Sabrina	2327	½ - ½
10.3	WIM	Saric Kristina	2255	-	WIM	Hernandez Estevez Yudania	2284	0 - 1
10.4	WIM	Jelica Mara	2234	-	WFM	Pascual Palomo Lucia	2104	½ - ½
Bo.	20	Latvia	Rtg	-	26	Lithuania	Rtg	3 : 1
11.1	WGM	Reizniece-Ozola Dana	2281	-	WGM	Daulyte Deimante	2238	½ - ½
11.2	WGM	Berzina Ilze	2320	-	WIM	Zaksaite Salomeja	2200	1 - 0
11.3	WIM	Skinke Katrina	2227	-		Batkovskyte Dominyka	2102	1 - 0
11.4	WFM	Ungure Liga	2066	-		Vanagaite Giedre	1958	½ - ½
Bo.	21	Austria	Rtg	-	24	Montenegro	Rtg	3 : 1
12.1	IM	Moser Eva	2448	-	WGM	Vojinovic Jovana	2346	½ - ½
12.2	WFM	Exler Veronika	2124	-	WFM	Milovic Aleksandra	2171	½ - ½
12.3	WIM	Kopinits Anna-Christina	2276	-	WFM	Stojanovic Marija R	2095	1 - 0
12.4	WFM	Newrkla Katharina	2131	-		Bacic Kristina	1803	1 - 0
Bo.	23	Italy	Rtg	-	25	Switzerland	Rtg	2½:1½
13.1	IM	Sedina Elena	2343	-	WIM	Seps Monika	2198	1 - 0
13.2	IM	Zimina Olga	2338	-	WIM	Heinatz Dr Gundula	2205	½ - ½
13.3	WIM	Brunello Marina	2221	-		De Seroux Camille	2056	1 - 0
13.4		Messina Roberta	1964	-		Stoeri Laura	1939	0 - 1
Bo.	28	Norway	Rtg	-	22	England	Rtg	0 : 4
14.1	WFM	Johnsen Sylvia	2028	-	IM	Ciuksyte Dagne	2327	0 - 1
14.2		Reppen Ellisiv	1949	-	WFM	Yurenok Maria S	2106	0 - 1
14.3		Carlsen Ellen Oen	1931	-	WFM	Bhatia Kanwal K	2087	0 - 1
14.4		Hansen Erle Andrea Marki	1762	-	WFM	Hegarty Sarah N	2060	0 - 1

Rank after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1		Russia	RUS	6	5	1	0	11	17.0	78.0
2	2		Ukraine	UKR	6	5	0	1	10	16.0	76.0
3	5		Poland	POL	6	4	1	1	9	16.0	76.0
4	14		Serbia	SRB	6	3	2	1	8	15.5	55.0
5	11		Slovenia	SLO	6	3	2	1	8	15.0	55.0
6	12		France	FRA	6	4	0	2	8	14.0	67.0
7	3		Georgia	GEO	6	4	0	2	8	13.5	91.0
8	4		Armenia	ARM	6	3	2	1	8	13.0	77.5
9	7		Germany	GER	6	3	1	2	7	14.5	69.0
10	17		Azerbaijan	AZE	6	3	1	2	7	13.5	64.5
11	8		Bulgaria	BUL	6	3	1	2	7	13.0	78.0
12	18		Czech Rep.	CZE	6	2	3	1	7	12.5	80.0
13	6		Hungary	HUN	6	2	2	2	6	11.5	83.0
14	13		Netherlands	NED	6	2	2	2	6	11.5	81.0
15	20		Latvia	LAT	6	2	1	3	5	12.5	49.0
16	10		Spain	ESP	6	2	1	3	5	12.0	70.0
17	23		Italy	ITA	6	2	1	3	5	12.0	50.5
18	16		Greece	GRE	6	1	3	2	5	11.5	76.0
19	15		Israel	ISR	6	2	1	3	5	11.5	75.5
20	27		Turkey	TUR	6	2	1	3	5	11.5	68.5
21	21		Austria	AUT	6	2	1	3	5	11.0	54.5
22	19		Croatia	CRO	6	2	1	3	5	10.5	77.0
23	9		Romania	ROM	6	2	1	3	5	9.5	89.0
24	22		England	ENG	6	2	0	4	4	11.5	62.5
25	26		Lithuania	LTU	6	0	3	3	3	9.0	78.0
26	25		Switzerland	SUI	6	1	1	4	3	8.0	82.5
27	24		Montenegro	MNE	6	1	1	4	3	8.0	74.5
28	28		Norway	NOR	6	0	0	6	0	1.0	77.5

Annotation:
Tie Break1: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for Draws, 0 for Losses)
Tie Break2: points (game-points)
Tie Break3: Buchholz Tie-Breaks (variabel with parameter)

38th Indian Women's National Chess Championship

Tomorrow decides it, darlings!  Here are the pairings for the final round (11):

1	4	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2325	7½		6	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	2213	11
2	3	IM	Karavade Eesha	2348	7		7	WGM	Padmini Rout	2356	2
3	1	IM	Tania Sachdev	2419	6½		6	WIM	Meera Sai	2117	14

From The Times of India:

Mary Ann inches closer to national chess title
TNN | Nov 9, 2011, 02.01AM IST

CHENNAI: Mary Ann Gomes' first priority was to complete her International Master title. The Kolkata girl completed that with a draw against Eesha Karavade of Maharashtra in the penultimate round of the Premier National women's chess championship at the Nehru indoor stadium on Tuesday.

Mary Ann, representing Airport Authority of India, goes into her last-round game against Kiran Manisha Mohanty of Orissa on Wednesday gunning for her maiden Premier national title.

She has a half point lead over Eesha Karavande and Padmini Rout of Orissa but they are meeting each other in the last round so she needs to only watch that game.

Mary Ann had black pieces against Eesha and presented the Benoni with dynamic play. She rolled her pawns early in the game. After an hour, Mary had achieved more than equality. A rook for bishop sacrifice on move 23 showed her deep middle game calculation. Mary did not follow through with her attack and offered a draw, which the Pune player accepted. "I was black and I had compensation for the exchange but my primary target was the IM title," she said after the game.

Rout and Tania Sachdev of Delhi escaped on the second and third boards respectively. Padmini was let off by her Orissa state-mate Kiran Manisha Mohanty, who had a clear two pawn advantage in a rook and pawn ending after four hours and 65 moves of play. Padmini's dogged defence paid off as Kiran misplayed the ending and drew the game after 97 moves.

In a similar situation, Chandika Divyasree of AP allowed top seed Tania to get away with a draw. The Andhra girl gained the advantage in Sicilian and on completion of the first time control, Tania found herself in a clear minus position, with two pawns down in a rook and pawn ending. Divyasree could not keep the pressure and split the point after 100 moves.

 

Rank after Round 10

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	IND	2325	WB	7.5	2267	2282	2303
2	WGM	Padmini Rout	IND	2356	ORI	7.0	2196	2196	2188
3	IM	Karavade Eesha	IND	2348	MAH	7.0	2186	2181	2171
4	IM	Tania Sachdev	IND	2419	Air Ind	6.5	2256	2266	2285
5	IM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2320	PSPB	6.0	2248	2259	2278
6		Chandika Divyasree	IND	2129	AP	6.0	2188	2195	2198
7	WIM	Meera Sai	IND	2117	IB	6.0	2176	2181	2182
8	WGM	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	IND	2213	ORI	6.0	2097	2078	2081
9		Pratyusha Bodda	IND	2062	AP	5.5	2282	2297	2301
10	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	IND	2297	Air Ind	5.5	2254	2264	2285
11		Nimmy A G	IND	2252	KER	5.5	2145	2136	2119
12	WIM	Kulkarni Bhakti	IND	2289	GOA	5.5	2124	2113	2084
13	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2318	PSPB	5.5	2118	2104	2088
14	WFM	Bharathi R	IND	2112	TN	5.5	2101	2094	2072
15		Michelle Catherina P	IND	2088	TN	5.5	2069	2055	2040
16		Harini S	IND	2055	TN	5.0	2198	2219	2227
17	WGM	Swathi Ghate	IND	2278	LIC	5.0	2140	2125	2099
18	WFM	Pon Nkrithika	IND	2044	AICF	5.0	2139	2153	2165
19	WFM	Saranya J	IND	2106	TN	4.5	2206	2218	2224
20		Cholleti Sahajasri	IND	2074	AP	4.5	2174	2182	2197
21	WGM	Ramaswamy Aarthie	IND	2209	Air Ind	4.5	2086	2065	2037
22		Bala Kannamma P	IND	1978	TN	4.5	2083	2092	2094
23	WFM	Swati Mohota	IND	2030	WB	4.5	2065	2068	2073
24		A Akshaya	IND	1990	TN	4.5	2048	2045	2052
25	WFM	Mahalakshmi M	IND	1954	TN	4.0	2150	2143	2139
26		Shweta Gole	IND	1999	MAH	4.0	2123	2131	2136
27		Nandhidhaa Pv	IND	2105	TN	4.0	1996	1989	1993
28		Madhurima Shekhar	IND	1906	DEL	2.5	2027	2034	2032
29		Supriya Joshi	IND	1904	MAH	2.0	2027	2034	2035
30	WIM	Thipsay Bagyashree Sathe	IND	2108	AICF	1.0	2059	0	0

Annotation:
Tie Break1: rating average of the opponents (variabel with parameters)
Tie Break2: rating average of the opponents (variabel with parameters)
Tie Break3: rating average of the opponents (variabel with parameters)

Massive Excavation of Mayan City to Begin

A city in the jungle, with only mounds cropping out beneath extensive vegetation, covers 11.5 square miles!  That's a big city for the time - estimated to have been built around 200 years before the birth of Christ!

Work to Uncover Massive Mayan City Begins
Bogota, Colombia | Nov 05, 2011 at 6:32 PM PDT

Thick vegetation covers the ground over the ruins of the large Mayan city. Mexican archaeologists have begun recovery of a great Mayan city buried under tons of earth and jungle in the area of Ichkabal on the Yucatan peninsula, according to the National Anthropology and History Institute (INAH).

Previous archaeological digs in Ichkabal have indicated existence of a vast Mayan settlement of buildings, the biggest roughly 650 feet wide at the base and 150 feet high. The buildings are believed to be part of a city covering about 11.5 square miles whose study will add important archaeological information to what is known about ancient Mayan civilization.

“This is a city whose construction began in preclassic times, 250 years before Christ,” INAH said. No architectural details are visible on the surface. All that can be seen are mounds covered by “the exuberant vegetation” of the area.

The site was discovered in 1995 by a local inhabitant, who revealed the existence of pre-Colombian vestiges to two Mexican archaeologists.

Teammates Head to World Youth Chess Championships

Four teammates (three girls and a boy) from Windsor constitute 10% of the 40 member team Canada will be sending later this month to the World Youth Chess Championships:

From The Windsor Star

Chess mates headed for world tourney

Four of 40 on Canada team from Windsor

By Kristie Pearce, The Windsor Star

November 7, 2011

From left: Jeannie Zhang, 8; Rachel Tao, 12; Lily Zhou, 9.
Photograph by: Dax Melmer, The Windsor Star

Together, the three young girls can't help but have fits of giggles as they joke around.  But once they sit in front of a chessboard, it's game on.

Jeannie Zhang, 8, Lily Zhou, 9 and Rachel Tao, 12, won their way on the Canadian chess team and will play in the World youth Chess Championship in Caldas Novas, Brazil later this month.

Windsor makes up 10 per cent of the 40 member team with eight-year-old Rohan Talukdar rounding out the local field.

Zhang, Zhou and Tao all finished in the top three in their age and gender groups at the Canadian Youth Chess Championship in Richmond Hill in July.  All four children are members of a chess class for advanced kids who meet weekly at the Sobeys at Tecumseh Mall.

Chess master Vlad Drkulec is one of the many coaches who work with the kids.  He said he's been focusing on getting them to slow down their game.  In Brazil the children will play five-to six-hour games.  On average, the children are used to playing threehour games. Drkulec said the coaches instruct the kids to wait at least one minute before making a move.

"They learn very rapidly at this age," Drkulec said. "They're improving quickly."

Last year, Minya Bai, who is also in the class, represented Canada in Greece at the 2010 World Youth Championship.

Tao hopes to one day become a chess master. "It's a challenging game and every game I play is different," she said.

Tao's father introduced her to chess. When she started to show talent and defeat her father in matches her parents hired Frank Lee as a coach.

This will be the girls' first time to Brazil.  "I get to represent Canada," Tao said. "I like that."

All three said they are both nervous and excited to play against children from around the world.
"It's going to be very challenging," Zhang said.

After each match the coaches sit with the children and analyze the game move by move.
Tao said she finds this helpful, "especially when I lose. I learn not to make the mistake again."

Talukdar and Zhang won the Ontario Youth Chess Championship held in Kitchener in May.
The children and their families leave for Brazil Nov. 17.  They will play nine games in 11 days. A win gives them one point, a draw a half point and a loss is zero. The player in each age group with the highest score will be named World Youth Champion.

"Chess teaches them discipline," Drkulec said. "Any lapse in concentration has consequences."
Drkulec was brimming with pride as he talked about his students.  "We're hoping for big things for them," he said.

You can follow the Canadian team's progress at wycc2011canada.blogspot.com.

© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star

2011 European Team Chess Championships - Women

Round 5 on 2011/11/07 at 15:00
Bo.	3	Georgia	Rtg	-	1	Russia	Rtg	1½:2½
1.1	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2516	-	GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2546	1 - 0
1.2	IM	Javakhishvili Lela	2475	-	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2526	½ - ½
1.3	WGM	Paikidze Nazi	2422	-	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2439	0 - 1
1.4	IM	Melia Salome	2392	-	WGM	Pogonina Natalija	2451	0 - 1
Bo.	12	France	Rtg	-	5	Poland	Rtg	1 : 3
2.1	IM	Milliet Sophie	2386	-	GM	Socko Monika	2479	½ - ½
2.2	WGM	Maisuradze Nino	2315	-	WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	2326	½ - ½
2.3	WGM	Guichard Pauline	2305	-	WGM	Majdan Gajewska Joanna	2386	0 - 1
2.4	IM	Collas Silvia	2287	-	WGM	Szczepkowska-H. Karina	2379	0 - 1
Bo.	9	Romania	Rtg	-	2	Ukraine	Rtg	1 : 3
3.1	IM	Foisor Cristina-Adela	2418	-	GM	Lahno Kateryna	2549	½ - ½
3.2	WGM	L'ami Alina	2364	-	GM	Zhukova Natalia	2427	0 - 1
3.3	WGM	Cosma Elena-Luminita	2335	-	IM	Ushenina Anna	2463	0 - 1
3.4	WIM	Bulmaga Irina	2334	-	IM	Gaponenko Inna	2435	½ - ½
Bo.	11	Slovenia	Rtg	-	4	Armenia	Rtg	2 : 2
4.1	IM	Muzychuk Anna	2557	-	GM	Danielian Elina	2507	1 - 0
4.2	WGM	Krivec Jana	2291	-	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2469	0 - 1
4.3	WGM	Srebrnic Ana	2219	-	IM	Galojan Lilit	2383	0 - 1
4.4	WIM	Rozic Vesna	2263	-	WGM	Kursova Maria	2315	1 - 0
Bo.	6	Hungary	Rtg	-	14	Serbia	Rtg	2 : 2
5.1	GM	Hoang Thanh Trang	2446	-	IM	Bojkovic Natasa	2396	0 - 1
5.2	IM	Madl Ildiko	2399	-	WGM	Chelushkina Irina	2276	½ - ½
5.3	WGM	Rudolf Anna	2347	-	WIM	Drljevic Ljilja	2273	1 - 0
5.4	IM	Gara Anita	2340	-	WIM	Eric Jovana	2236	½ - ½
Bo.	7	Germany	Rtg	-	18	Czech Rep.	Rtg	1½:2½
6.1	IM	Paehtz Elisabeth	2457	-	WGM	Kulovana Eva	2297	½ - ½
6.2	WGM	Michna Marta	2382	-	WGM	Nemcova Katerina	2276	0 - 1
6.3	WGM	Levushkina Elena	2307	-	WIM	Havlikova Kristyna	2285	1 - 0
6.4	WIM	Hoolt Sarah	2286	-	WIM	Olsarova Tereza	2232	0 - 1
Bo.	8	Bulgaria	Rtg	-	16	Greece	Rtg	2 : 2
7.1	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2531	-	IM	Dembo Yelena	2468	½ - ½
7.2	WGM	Videnova Iva	2297	-	WGM	Botsari Anna-Maria	2313	1 - 0
7.3	WGM	Voiska Margarita	2328	-	WGM	Makropoulou Marina	2201	½ - ½
7.4	WGM	Djingarova Emilia	2309	-	WIM	Pavlidou Ekaterini	2176	0 - 1
Bo.	10	Spain	Rtg	-	13	Netherlands	Rtg	1 : 3
8.1	IM	Alexandrova Olga	2423	-	WIM	Schut Lisa	2284	½ - ½
8.2	WGM	Vega Gutierrez Sabrina	2327	-	IM	Lanchava Tea	2320	0 - 1
8.3	WGM	Calzetta Ruiz Monica	2301	-	WIM	Bensdorp Marlies	2242	½ - ½
8.4	WIM	Hernandez Estevez Yudania	2284	-	WIM	Haast Anne	2268	0 - 1
Bo.	20	Latvia	Rtg	-	15	Israel	Rtg	1 : 3
9.1	WGM	Reizniece-Ozola Dana	2281	-	IM	Klinova Masha	2316	1 - 0
9.2	WGM	Berzina Ilze	2320	-	WIM	Efroimski Marsel	2230	0 - 1
9.3	WGM	Erneste Inguna	2218	-	IM	Borsuk Angela	2257	0 - 1
9.4	WFM	Ungure Liga	2066	-	WIM	Vasiliev Olga	2305	0 - 1
Bo.	17	Azerbaijan	Rtg	-	24	Montenegro	Rtg	4 : 0
10.1	WGM	Mamedjarova Zeinab	2314	-	WGM	Vojinovic Jovana	2346	1 - 0
10.2	WIM	Kazimova Narmin	2241	-	WFM	Milovic Aleksandra	2171	1 - 0
10.3	WIM	Mammadova Gulnar	2290	-	WFM	Stojanovic Marija R	2095	1 - 0
10.4	WGM	Mamedjarova Turkan	2277	-		Blagojevic Tijana	1925	1 - 0
Bo.	27	Turkey	Rtg	-	25	Switzerland	Rtg	3 : 1
11.1	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	2301	-	WIM	Heinatz Dr Gundula	2205	½ - ½
11.2	WIM	Ozturk Kubra	2239	-		De Seroux Camille	2056	1 - 0
11.3	WCM	Kaya Emel	2005	-		Stoeri Laura	1939	1 - 0
11.4		Cemhan Kardelen	1881	-		Thuerig Catherine	2049	½ - ½
Bo.	22	England	Rtg	-	19	Croatia	Rtg	1½:2½
12.1	IM	Houska Jovanka	2415	-	WGM	Golubenko Valentina	2293	½ - ½
12.2	IM	Ciuksyte Dagne	2327	-	WIM	Franciskovic Borka	2280	½ - ½
12.3	WFM	Bhatia Kanwal K	2087	-	WGM	Medic Mirjana	2236	½ - ½
12.4	WFM	Hegarty Sarah N	2060	-	WIM	Jelica Mara	2234	0 - 1
Bo.	26	Lithuania	Rtg	-	23	Italy	Rtg	2 : 2
13.1	WGM	Daulyte Deimante	2238	-	IM	Sedina Elena	2343	0 - 1
13.2	WIM	Zaksaite Salomeja	2200	-	IM	Zimina Olga	2338	0 - 1
13.3		Batkovskyte Dominyka	2102	-	WIM	Brunello Marina	2221	1 - 0
13.4		Vanagaite Giedre	1958	-		Panella Fiammetta	2014	1 - 0
Bo.	21	Austria	Rtg	-	28	Norway	Rtg	3½: ½
14.1	IM	Moser Eva	2448	-	WFM	Johnsen Sylvia	2028	1 - 0
14.2	WFM	Exler Veronika	2124	-		Reppen Ellisiv	1949	1 - 0
14.3	WIM	Kopinits Anna-Christina	2276	-		Carlsen Ellen Oen	1931	1 - 0
14.4	WFM	Newrkla Katharina	2131	-		Hansen Erle Andrea Marki	1762	½ - ½

Rank after Round 5

Rk.	SNo		Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1		Russia	RUS	5	5	0	0	10	15.0	54.0
2	5		Poland	POL	5	4	0	1	8	14.0	48.5
3	2		Ukraine	UKR	5	4	0	1	8	13.5	54.0
4	3		Georgia	GEO	5	4	0	1	8	12.0	63.0
5	18		Czech Rep.	CZE	5	2	3	0	7	11.0	54.5
6	14		Serbia	SRB	5	2	2	1	6	13.0	38.0
7	11		Slovenia	SLO	5	2	2	1	6	12.5	36.5
8	12		France	FRA	5	3	0	2	6	11.5	47.5
9	6		Hungary	HUN	5	2	2	1	6	10.0	58.5
10	13		Netherlands	NED	5	2	2	1	6	10.0	56.0
11	4		Armenia	ARM	5	2	2	1	6	10.0	55.5
12	7		Germany	GER	5	2	1	2	5	11.5	46.5
13	17		Azerbaijan	AZE	5	2	1	2	5	11.0	45.5
14	16		Greece	GRE	5	1	3	1	5	10.5	51.5
15	27		Turkey	TUR	5	2	1	2	5	10.5	47.0
16	8		Bulgaria	BUL	5	2	1	2	5	10.0	55.5
17	15		Israel	ISR	5	2	1	2	5	10.0	49.0
18	9		Romania	ROM	5	2	1	2	5	8.5	62.5
19	10		Spain	ESP	5	2	0	3	4	10.0	50.5
20	19		Croatia	CRO	5	2	0	3	4	8.5	50.5
21	23		Italy	ITA	5	1	1	3	3	9.5	35.5
22	20		Latvia	LAT	5	1	1	3	3	9.5	34.5
23	26		Lithuania	LTU	5	0	3	2	3	8.0	52.5
24	21		Austria	AUT	5	1	1	3	3	8.0	39.5
25	24		Montenegro	MNE	5	1	1	3	3	7.0	52.0
26	25		Switzerland	SUI	5	1	1	3	3	6.5	59.5
27	22		England	ENG	5	1	0	4	2	7.5	49.5
28	28		Norway	NOR	5	0	0	5	0	1.0	52.5