2014 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Totally missed it, darlings, so busy involved in this house thing!  I'm going into this news fresh -- don't even know who won.  So, without further ado, here are the final standings:

ch-USA w 2014 Saint Louis USA (USA), 7-21 v 2014															cat. I (2270)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Krush, Irina	g	USA	2489	*	1	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	1	6½	2411
2.	Zatonskih, Anna	m	USA	2469	0	*	1	½	½	1	1	½	1	1	6½	2413
3.	Abrahamyan, Tatev	wg	USA	2366	½	0	*	1	½	1	1	½	1	1	6½	2424
4.	Nemcova, Katerina	wg	USA	2282	0	½	0	*	½	½	1	½	1	1	5	2311
5.	Zenyuk, Iryna		USA	2249	½	½	½	½	*	0	½	1	0	½	4	2228
6.	Melekhina, Alisa	f	USA	2151	½	0	0	½	1	*	0	1	½	½	4	2239
7.	Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	wg	USA	2238	½	0	0	0	½	1	*	0	1	1	4	2230
8.	Ni, Viktorija	wm	USA	2206	½	½	½	½	0	0	1	*	0	½	3½	2196
9.	Eswaran, Ashritha		USA	1979	0	0	0	0	1	½	0	1	*	1	3½	2221
10.	Baginskaite, Camilla	wg	USA	2267	0	0	0	0	½	½	0	½	0	*	1½	1996

Round 1 (May 8, 2014)
Abrahamyan, Tatev	- Melekhina, Alisa	1-0	46	C50	Giuoco Piano
Nemcova, Katerina	- Krush, Irina	0-1	57	B89	Sicilian Sozin Attack
Zenyuk, Iryna	- Zatonskih, Anna	½-½	50	E12	Queens Indian Petrosian
Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	- Baginskaite, Camilla	1-0	34	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ni, Viktorija	- Eswaran, Ashritha	0-1	83	A46	Queen's Pawn Opening
Round 2 (May 9, 2014)
Krush, Irina	- Eswaran, Ashritha	1-0	39	A30	English Symmetrical
Zatonskih, Anna	- Abrahamyan, Tatev	1-0	48	C02	French Advance
Nemcova, Katerina	- Zenyuk, Iryna	½-½	38	B35	Sicilian Defence
Melekhina, Alisa	- Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	0-1	53	C02	French Advance
Baginskaite, Camilla	- Ni, Viktorija	½-½	61	A56	Old Indian Defence
Round 3 (May 10, 2014)
Abrahamyan, Tatev	- Nemcova, Katerina	1-0	47	C53	Giuoco Piano
Zenyuk, Iryna	- Krush, Irina	½-½	30	D38	QGD Ragozin
Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	- Zatonskih, Anna	0-1	45	E34	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ni, Viktorija	- Melekhina, Alisa	0-1	34	A04	Dutch System
Eswaran, Ashritha	- Baginskaite, Camilla	1-0	62	B92	Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Be2
Round 4 (May 12, 2014)
Krush, Irina	- Baginskaite, Camilla	1-0	23	E56	Nimzo Indian
Zatonskih, Anna	- Ni, Viktorija	½-½	63	E60	King's Indian without Nc3
Nemcova, Katerina	- Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	1-0	29	B06	Modern Defence
Zenyuk, Iryna	- Abrahamyan, Tatev	½-½	55	A33	English Symmetrical
Melekhina, Alisa	- Eswaran, Ashritha	½-½	60	B23	Sicilian Closed
Round 5 (May 13, 2014)
Abrahamyan, Tatev	- Krush, Irina	½-½	41	B32	Sicilian Labourdonnais
Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	- Zenyuk, Iryna	½-½	47	E38	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ni, Viktorija	- Nemcova, Katerina	½-½	50	E17	Queens Indian
Eswaran, Ashritha	- Zatonskih, Anna	0-1	43	C11	French Defence
Baginskaite, Camilla	- Melekhina, Alisa	½-½	111	A59	Volga Gambit
Round 6 (May 14, 2014)
Krush, Irina	- Melekhina, Alisa	½-½	49	E10	Blumenfeld Counter Gambit
Zatonskih, Anna	- Baginskaite, Camilla	1-0	103	D40	Semi-Tarrasch Defence
Abrahamyan, Tatev	- Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	1-0	38	C54	Giuoco Piano
Nemcova, Katerina	- Eswaran, Ashritha	1-0	54	A22	English Opening
Zenyuk, Iryna	- Ni, Viktorija	1-0	42	A41	Modern Defence
Round 7 (May 16, 2014)
Melekhina, Alisa	- Zatonskih, Anna	0-1	72	C02	French Advance
Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	- Krush, Irina	½-½	78	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ni, Viktorija	- Abrahamyan, Tatev	½-½	47	A46	Queen's Pawn Opening
Eswaran, Ashritha	- Zenyuk, Iryna	1-0	63	E66	King's Indian Fianchetto
Baginskaite, Camilla	- Nemcova, Katerina	0-1	14	E47	Nimzo Indian
Round 8 (May 17, 2014)
Krush, Irina	- Zatonskih, Anna	1-0	75	A13	Reti Opening
Abrahamyan, Tatev	- Eswaran, Ashritha	1-0	71	B32	Sicilian Labourdonnais
Nemcova, Katerina	- Melekhina, Alisa	½-½	52	C50	Giuoco Piano
Zenyuk, Iryna	- Baginskaite, Camilla	½-½	45	E11	Bogo Indian Defence
Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	- Ni, Viktorija	0-1	52	A53	Old Indian Defence
Round 9 (May 19, 2014)
Zatonskih, Anna	- Nemcova, Katerina	½-½	81	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Melekhina, Alisa	- Zenyuk, Iryna	1-0	47	B31	Sicilian Rossolimo
Ni, Viktorija	- Krush, Irina	½-½	66	B23	Sicilian Closed
Eswaran, Ashritha	- Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	0-1	40	A04	Dutch System
Baginskaite, Camilla	- Abrahamyan, Tatev	0-1	46	E46	Nimzo Indian Rubinstein

ch-USA Armageddon w 2014 Saint Louis USA Wed 7th May 2014 - Wed 21st May 2014 Leading Final Round 1 Standings:
Rk	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	1	Pts
1	Abrahamyan, Tatev	WGM	USA	2366	=	0.5
2	Zatonskih, Anna	IM	USA	2469	=	0.5
2 players

ch-USA TB w 2014 Saint Louis USA Wed 7th May 2014 - Wed 21st May 2014 Leading Final Round 2 Standings:
Rk	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	1	2	Pts
1	Krush, Irina	GM	USA	2489	1	=	1.5
2	Abrahamyan, Tatev	WGM	USA	2366	0	=	0.5
2 players

GM Irina Krush won her 6th U.S. title and successfully defended her 2013 title.  Again, the top three female players in the country -- Anna Zatonskih, Tatev Abrahamyan, and Krush, battled it out to an exciting climax.  Tatev -- continues to be a bridesmaid, not a bride!  But I have faith in her.  She WILL win the title within the next few years, unless she quits chess altogether.  I just can't imagine that happening, not until she's won her title! 

Article at website of St. Louis Chess Club.  Oh yeah.  GM Gata Kamsky won the men's title.

Women's Prize Structure ($72,000 total; men's prizes were $172,000 total.  Yeah, it's bullshit):

Place	Prize	Place	Prize
1st	$20, 000	6th	$4, 500
2nd	$13, 000	7th	$4, 000
3rd	$9, 000	8th	$3, 500
4th	$7, 000	9th	$3, 000
5th	$5, 000	10th	$2, 000
Best Game Prize: $1,000
Total Prize Fund: $72, 000

I was sorry not to see Anjelina Belakovskaia play again this year. 

Two Teenaged Girls Raped and Murdered in Uttar Pradesh, India

May 29, 2014

Indian teen girls gang-raped and hanged from a tree: police

By Nita Bhalla2 hours ago

NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Indian police have arrested one man and are looking for four other suspects after two teenage girls were gang-raped and then hanged from a tree in a village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Thursday.

The two cousins, who were from a low-caste Dalit community and aged 14 and 15, went missing from their village home in Uttar Pradesh's Budaun district when they went out to go to the toilet on Tuesday evening.

The following morning, villagers found the bodies of the two teenagers hanging from a mango tree in a nearby orchard.

"We have registered a case under various sections, including that of rape, and one of the accused has been taken into custody. There were five people involved, one has been arrested and we are looking for the others," Budaun's Superintendent of Police Man Singh Chouhan told reporters.

Chouhan said a post-mortem confirmed the two minors were raped and died from the hanging. DNA samples have been also been taken to help identity the perpetrators, he added.

The victim's families say the girls were gang-raped and then hanged by five men from the village. They allege that local police were shielding the attackers as they refused to take action when the girls were first reported missing.

It was only after angry villagers found the hanging corpses and took the bodies to a nearby highway and blocked it in protest, say the families, that police registered a case of rape and murder.

A case of conspiracy has also been registered against two constables, said Chouhan, adding that they had also been suspended.

Sex crimes against young girls and women are widespread in India, say activists, adding that females from poor, marginalized, low-caste communities are often the victims.  A report by the Asian Centre for Human Rights in April last year said 48,338 child rape cases were recorded in India from 2001 to 2011, and the annual number of reported cases had risen more than fourfold - 336 percent - over that period.

Women's rights experts and lawyers say rape victims also have to endure harsh treatment from an archaic, poorly funded and insensitive criminal justice system.  Police often try to dissuade victims from complaining and suggest a "compromise" between the victim and the perpetrator, largely because of their insensitivity to sex crimes, but also because police officials are rarely held accountable.

Public outrage over the fatal gang rape of a woman in New Delhi in December 2012 pushed the government into passing a tougher new law to punish sex crimes. This includes sentences of up to two years’ jail for police and hospital authorities if they fail to register a complaint or treat a victim.

(Editing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Made in China: Museum Shut Down After Fake "Relics" Uncovered

LOL!  Maybe they imported the fakes from Vietnam...  They're producing such things cheaper than China, now. 

Reported at The Telegraph (UK) online:

Chinese museum shut over fakes

A museum in China has been told to close after almost a third of its exhibits were found to be fake

By Oliver Smith, and agencies

11:52AM BST 22 May 2014

 

According to the Global Times newspaper, Lucheng Museum, in the province of Liaoning, was investigated by police who found thousands of counterfeits among its collection of 8,000 items.

The counterfeits included a sword supposedly from the Qing Dynasty, and claimed to be worth 120 million yuan (£11m).
 

Around 300 new museums have been built in the last year, according to Chinese state media, but the closure is likely to raise further doubts about the authenticity of their exhibits. Experts have already warned that China’s antiques market is rife with fakes.
 

Last year the 60 million yuan (£6.4 million) Jibaozhai Museum, located in Jizhou, a city in the northern province of Hebei, shut its doors amid claims that many of its cultural treasures were in fact forgeries.

Ancient Coin Mold Points to Counterfeiting in 100 CE

Here's another old saying from the Bible, courtesy of King Solomon (allegedly):  There is nothing new under the Sun... Forgery and counterfeiting, as old as man.

Story at The Deccan Herald
Tuesday 27 May 2014
News updated at 1:35 AM IST

Mould for minting Roman coins found in Talkad

Akram Mohammed, Mysore, May 19, 2014, DHNS:

 

For those who think financial fraud or circulating fake currencies is a modern day phenomenon, an ancient Roman coin mould on display at the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage in the city is a startling revelation.

The Roman coin mould, which is being displayed for the first time since its excavation in 1993, indicates that fake coins were in circulation around 19 to 20 centuries ago. The terracotta mould is among the most important objects displayed at the exhibition, apart from terracotta figurines, iron objects, bronze dies, stone beads.

 

The mold is gold, har :)

M S Krishnamurthy, a retired professor of Archaeology who led the team that unearthed the mould, told Deccan Herald that it was a mould for Roman coins in circulation during the first century AD. “The coins probably were minted either during the period of Augustus or his son Tiberius,” he said.

“In the area where we spotted the mould, a foundry with a crucible was also found. Considering this, it is possible that a person living in Talkad was minting duplicate coins of Romans,” he said. He added that it was one of the rare and unique moulds excavated in the State.

Archaelogist Gowda N L said that the mould contained an inscription of Greek goddess Livia with words, ‘Maxim Pontis’.

“The coins with the same inscriptions were in circulation around the country. Roman coins belonging to the first century AD have been found in various excavation sites around the country. However, such a terracotta mould has never been found elsewhere.”

He added that the coins might have been minted at Talkad and circulated around the country. “It is possible that the value of Roman currency was more in India during the period, which might have led a few individuals at Talkad to indulge in minting fake coins,” he added.

Villagers Protect Archeological Site as Civil War Rages

Oh my!

From the UCLA News Room online:

Archaeologist, villagers protect ancient Syrian city as civil war rages

Letisia Marquez | May 23, 2014

Almost 20 years ago, UCLA archaeologist Giorgio Buccellati and his team identified the ancient city of Urkesh in northeastern Syria as a site of an important religious and political center more than 4,000 years ago.
 

The discovery received international media attention and acclaim for Buccellati and his wife, Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati, a visiting professor with UCLA’s Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.

 

Buccellati, a professor emeritus of Near Eastern Languages and Culture and history as well as the director of the Cotsen's Mesopotamia Area Lab and International Institute for Mesopotamian Area Studies, had hoped that the next 20 years would lead to even more discoveries at Urkesh as well as the development of an archaeological park to welcome and educate visitors to the site and preserve a national treasure.

 

But civil war, now three years old, has put those plans on hold. Because of the eruption of violence in Syria, the Buccellatis haven’t been able to visit the site since December 2011. They became among the last foreign archaeologists to visit Syria.

 

"The reason we cannot go back is tragic," said Buccellati about the violence between the Assad government and opposition groups that has taken the lives of at least 120,000 and displaced more than 6 million people from their homes. "It is devastating to see what is happening in Syria."

 

So far, the violence hasn’t reached the site, which is located in a rural area that just recently received potable water and a sewer system.

 

"Our particular area is more protected, but there have still been battles within 60 kilometers (37 miles) in either direction so the area is potentially at risk," said Buccellati.

 

His efforts to win the cooperation of the local people who now serve as gardians of the site are documented in a recent report, "In the Eye of the Storm," that details how a plan to protect Urkesh from crumbling unfolded there.

 

Six Syrian villagers, whom Buccellati is constantly in touch with via cell phones, e-mail and Skype, work at the site. One of their main duties is protecting the site’s centuries-old mud brick walls from rain and snow. So far, the damage to the mud brick has been minimal because the workers have covered the site with metal trellises and tarps.

Villagers covering Urkesh archaeological site.

 

UCLA and Gulfsands, a London-based oil company that operates in Syria, help fund the villagers’ employment.

 

New House Found!

Hola darlings!  I've been neglecting both of my blogs while engaged in an intense search for a new home. I will spare you the details :)  I am happy to report that, at last, I found a lovely home and may be moving by the end of June - more quickly than I'd anticipated.

I am frantically running around trying to get projects done around here.  The spirit is willing but the body is weak, as the biblical saying famously notes.  Now that the weather has finally improved here, I've been several weekends out in the yards doing winter clean up, and now the grass is growing leaps and bounds.  It takes several hours to cut the front and back lawns each weekend.  I love working outdoors, but it sure does cut into my weekends, which are the only time to get those projects around here finished!  I'm too tired at night when I get home from the office to do much of anything these days.  Retirement is 920 days away and counting down...

Yesterday I filled the staple holes and some gouges I made digging them out in the staircase.  The holes, and about a gajillion staples, were left behind when I removed the ratty old carpeting a year ago June!  That project sat for a long time, until I sold the house!  Today I sanded down the stairs to leave a (hopefully) smooth surface for refinishing.  I will be putting on a wood conditioner shortly, but right now I'm set up outside enjoying the warm weather.  A storm is coming, I can see it off to the northwest.  It's hot and muggy right now, and overcast.  I had planned on also finishing the stripping of the wallpaper in the family room over this Memorial Day three-day weekend, but that's going to have to wait. I've no intention of turning on the central air to coll down and dry out the house, so hard physical labor will have to wait for another day :)  Today is the warmest of the three -- I actually got quite a bit accomplished Saturday and yesterday (Sunday).

Here she is, so cute!  Just wait until I get a lovely new garden going in the front and add planter boxes
underneath the windows.  And a beautiful trellis between the two ranch-windows.  The architecture is
calling for some vertical accents and circles -- maybe a circular flag-stone area in the middle of the yard centered
on the picture window, with a bird bath in the middle.  A pergola stretching across the front stoop to the end of
the house nearest the driveway, to provide much needed shade in the living room with this western exposure!
Many more improvements planned.  Yes -- it's true!  I'm going to turn into one of those little old ladies
with fake red hair puttering around in her garden...but I will NEVAH wear a house dress, darlings.

So, the new house -- it is some 500 square feet smaller than my current home, which I had built in 1990.  It's a 60 year old one story ranch with beautiful hardwood floors and much smaller front and backyards.  Nearly everything is new in or on the house: new siding; new exterior doors; new concrete patio in the backyard; new steps leading down to said patio from new patio door installed in the dinette area of the kitchen with new laminate floors; new air conditioning unit; new high-efficiency furnace; new privacy fence/gate along the south lot line (borders the driveway.  I will have some painting to do on the inside, and the landscaping -- well, let's just say my gardener's fingers are already itching to get at it!  The kitchen was remodeled in about 2010 and has lovely new appliances.  I will be doing some remodelling of that space, though, to make it exactly as I want it.

A lot of my furniture is being left behind for the young couple who bought my house.  It's a small house!  There is a lower level (basement) rec room that will provide additional living space, but it needs some updating (okay, a lot of updating).  The furniture I am taking with me is too big for the little ranch house!  But I'll make it work.  After all, there is a nice bar in the rec room:

And what self-respecting gal born and raised in Beer City USA doesn't like her own personal bar...

So, I'm going to be consumed with projects and packing, all the logistics of moving to a new home, getting the financing in order and the closing done so I get the keys to the new place.  Oy!  I must be crazy.  Downsizing is a lot of work!  I'll be neglecting the blogs for awhile, alas, but a version of sanity will eventually return to my house and the blog will (eventually) resume it's former pace of posts.  Have patience with me, darlings!

Sarcophagi of Ancient Singer Found In Tomb of Princess

This is an interesting discovery in an 18th Dynasty tomb at Saqqara, at ahramonline:

Funeral relics of pharaonic singer unearthed at Saqqara necropolis
Three painted sarcophagi belonging to an Ancient Egyptian singer have been unearthed at Saqqara

Nevine El-Aref , Saturday 17 May 2014

 

During excavation works carried out in Bastet cemetery at the Saqqara necropolis just outside Cairo, French archaeologists stumbled upon three wooden sarcophagi belonging to Ta-Ekht, a singer in a sacred choir in the 18^th dynasty period (1543–1292 BC).

Presumably Ta-Ekht.  She looks rather like Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra...

Mohamed Ibrahim, the antiquities minister, said that the sarcophagi were found inside each other. The outer sarcophagus is a little deteriorated while the middle and inner ones are well-preserved.

Ibrahim told Ahram Online on Saturday that the sarcophagi were unearthed during excavation works at the tomb of the daughter of 18th dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten, Maya, who was known as Meritee Atun.

Ali El-Asfar, head of the ancient Egyptian antiquities department at the ministry told Ahram Online that the sarcophagi depict the facial features of Ta-Ekht and are decorated with paintings of foliage.
Some elements of Ta-Ekht's funerary collection were also found inside the middle sarcophagus, including two wooden headrests and a rectangular wooden box inlaid with ivory.

The box contained a collection of beauty tools were found, including a spoon with a gazelle-shaped handle, two eye liner containers, a collection of faience beads, and a faience amulet in the famous “eye of Horus” shape.

El-Asfar said that studies are now being conducted to find out why the singer’s sarcophagi were located inside Maya tomb.

Iraqi Law Proposes Nine Year Old Girls Can Be Married Off

Story from The Week. com

foreign affairs 9:58pm ET

Law proposed in Iraq would allow girls to marry at 9

 

Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

A controversial law in Iraq, proposed by former Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari and passed by the Cabinet, would have girls considered adults at the age of 9 and able to marry, NPR reports.

Known as the Jaafari law (after a school of Islam by the same name), it still has to make its way to the Parliament. Action likely won't be taken until after Iraq forms its new government, following last month's elections. If passed, following the law will be voluntary, and will only apply to the country's Shiite Muslim majority.

Those who oppose the law say that although the people of Iraq have more opportunities to travel and internet access, women's rights are not moving forward, and conservative religious politics are becoming more mainstream. "We know the state of women in Iraq is getting worse, despite the intellectual openness that women had benefited from following the American occupation and the removal of the regime," Fawzia al-Babakhan, a lawyer, told NPR.

While the law is unlikely to be passed and was likely an overture to conservative Shiites, it is still unsettling to radio host Ahlam al-Obeidi. "We are a society plagued by patriarchal attitudes and outdated tribal laws, which are all conducive to violence against women," she said to NPR. "This is not marriage, but rather the selling and buying of young women." --Catherine Garcia

A Closer Look At St. George

Hola Darlings!

This house thing is driving me nuts.  I have no idea what I'm going to do, but I will be doing something...

Meanwhile, back at the Goddesschess Ranch.  After posting that fascinating article last night on Orthodox Christian Palestinians and their reverence for St. George, I turned to Barbara Walker's "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" and checked to see if there was an entry for St. George.  There was.  But I was too weary to type it all in last night.

So, here it is, but first, I would like you to read yesterday's post on the Christian Palestinians and St. George, because you will find many points of similar references in Walker's take on the subject of St. George. I have liberally sprinkled in my own "Notes"  and commentary and also added highlights,

George, Saint

Fictitious patron saint of England.  St. George's Day was known to the Romans as the Feast of Pales, a fertility festival [Note: Pales, a blatant phallic symbol.  Interestingly, the word "pale" is still used in English today.  It is a rounded stake or pole made of wood.]  Medieval custom honored St. George on Easter Monday, the Moon-day following the Sun-day of the Christian hero.  Folklore named the pagan savior Green George, a spirit of spring.(1)  His image was common in old church carvings, a human head surrounded by leaves or looking out of a tree trunk.  Some called him the witches' god, a confused idea of something between a tree and a man," or "the devil in the shape of a trunk of a tree ...with some form of a human face."(2) [Note: Also known as the "Green Man."  The Arabic word for green translated into English:  green / a-kh-dh-ar /.  Cf. Village of Khadar that features prominently in the article on St. George and the Palestinian Christians.]

St. George the Dragon-slayer apparently evolved from a mythic meld of Green George with an Arian bishop of Alexandria who opposed St. Athanasius, and put to death an orthodox Master of the Mint named Dracontius, "Dragon." (3) [Note: Ripe for further research.  I've no idea who St. Athanasius or the Master of the Mint Dracontius were!]

St. George's emblem was a vesica piscis, a prime fertility symbol because it represented the Goddess's yoni; but Christian authorities preferred to interpret it as a "shield." [Note: The vesica piscis is a well-known geometric form (basically, an oval formed by the intersection of two circles).  Roman Catholics are familiar with the form as the "fish" of Jesus -- a vesica piscis. Astrologists and magi are familiar, of course, with "Pisces, the Fish" as an astrological symbol.]  Still, George was so shamelessly involved in fertility rites that the church discredited him and began calling him the "imaginary saint."  An old English ballad said "Some say there was no George; some, that there no Dragon was; pray God, there was at least a maid." (4)

(Footnotes:)

(1)  Frazer, G.B., 145-146.
(2)  Knight, D.W.P., 221, 229.
(3)  Baring-Gould, C.M.M.A., 269.
(4)  Brewster, 209-10.

And, for your added viewing pleasure:



Christian symbol for Christ, in Greek ,"Ichthys."
Source.

A vesica piscis:

If you don't know what a yoni looks like, you need to find out for yourself, darlings... Well, okay, her[e] is a clue.  I'm really giving away the entire game here, because this ancient stone yoni resembles some ancient board games (or an ancient Egyptian offering table and, in later dynastic tombs, the sacred doors, ahem) with which you all should be familiar by now:

Do you get it yet?

FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2014 Khanty Masiysk

Hola darlings!  My last post for tonight.  This selling the house thing is INSANE!  It has consumed weeks and is yet to consume more weeks, because finally, the buyers have fully committed to purchasing after endless contractors tramping through or around the house (sometimes both); now the buyers have to procure a financing commitment, or the entire deal will once again teeter on the brink.  Meanwhile, I now once again have to pick up the house hunt in a market that has extremely slim pickings for me at the moment.  I should have known.  I should have chased the kids away with garlic and a mirror rather than agree to this!  Geez.

One of my chess favorites, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, did very well this event, digging herself out of a hole in this event, but it was won by GM Hou Yifan.  I continue to be impressed by WGM Olga Girya.  Look at her performance rating. 

I last left you off with the standings after R7.  Here are the final standings:

Rank	SNo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts	Res.	IRat-Ø	W	n	We	Rtg+/-	Ra	Rp
1	6	GM	Hou Yifan	2618	CHN	8½	0	2484	8,5	11	7,38	11	2484	2695
2	4	WGM	Girya Olga	2450	RUS	7	0	2500	7,0	11	4,75	23	2500	2602
3	12	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2527	RUS	6½	0	2493	6,5	11	5,99	5	2493	2558
4	10	GM	Lagno Kateryna	2543	UKR	6	½	2491	6,0	11	6,26	-3	2491	2527
5	5	GM	Muzychuk Anna	2560	SLO	6	½	2490	6,0	11	6,51	-5	2490	2526
6	9	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2550	GEO	5½	1	2491	5,5	11	6,37	-9	2491	2491
7	1	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2489	BUL	5½	0	2496	5,5	11	5,37	1	2496	2496
8	3	GM	Zhao Xue	2552	CHN	5	½	2490	5,0	11	6,38	-14	2490	2454
9	2	GM	Ushenina Anna	2501	UKR	5	½	2495	5,0	11	5,57	-6	2495	2459
10	11	WGM	Muminova Nafisa	2321	UZB	4	0	2511	4,0	11	2,84	17	2511	2409
11	7	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2496	RUS	3½	½	2496	3,5	11	5,47	-20	2496	2363
12	8	WGM	Batchimeg Tuvshintugs	2340	MGL	3½	½	2510	3,5	11	3,11	6	2510	2377

How sad that while Russia is bullying Ukraine, a sovereign independent nation, chessplayers from Russia and Ukraine, who have known each other and played each other many times at these elite events because they are some of the best female players in the world, had to face each other over the board with such international tensions exploding in the headlines day after day.  Many of them are mothers as well as star chessplayers; these women belong to an elite sorority, so to speak, and share many bonds and similarities.  Too bad that the dream of chess cannot be realized in a world still controlled by silly men, one whom has a penchant for riding around with bare breasts.  Yuch!

Official website -- lots of photographs and round by round reports. 

Palestinian Orthodox Christians and St. George

This is absolutely fascinating!  I've written about St. George here before.  (See, for instance, The Maiden, the Dragon, and St. George, a 2008 post).  But I don't recall reading about a Palestinian connection before. Indeed, I don't recall reading any actual biographical information about St. George prior to reading this article! Most westerners know the fellow as the knight on the white horse who slew the dragon to save the maiden.  Er, yeah, right. 

There are lots of images, photographs and even a recording in the full article, so please visit it at the BBC News Magazine website. 

April 2014 Last updated at 19:14 ET

Why St George is a Palestinian hero

By Yolande Knell BBC News

As England celebrates the day of its patron saint, many Palestinians are gearing up for their own forthcoming celebrations of the figure they also regard as a hero.

A familiar flag flaps in the wind above a Palestinian church in the West Bank village of al-Khadr.  The red cross on a white background has been associated with Saint George since the time of the Crusades.

It is the national flag of England and is also used as an emblem by other countries and cities that have adopted him as their own patron saint.

However, Palestinians have particular reason to display the symbol and revere the early Christian martyr. For them he is a local hero who opposed the persecution of his fellow Christians in the Holy Land.

"We believe he was a great martyr for his faith who defended the Christian faith and values," says Greek Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna.

"By making sacrifices for his faith he was able to defeat evil. We take St George as a patron for people living here - and as he was born in historic Palestine, we pray to him to remember us and this holy land."

St George was a Roman soldier during the Third Century AD, when the Emperor Diocletian was in power. It is said that he once lived in al-Khadr near Bethlehem, on land owned by his mother's family.  While the saint's father is usually traced back to Cappadocia, an area in modern Turkey, it is believed his mother was Palestinian from Lydda - now Lod, in Israel.

The saint is remembered for giving away his possessions and remaining true to his religion when he was imprisoned and tortured before he was finally executed.

There are many churches in the West Bank and Israel that bear the name of St George - at al-Khadr, Lod and in the Galilee, for example.

While the Western world marks St George's Day on 23 April, in the Palestinian areas it falls on 6 May, according to the older calendar used by the Eastern Churches.

A service is held for the saint at al-Khadr, bringing worshippers from the Bethlehem area and much further afield to light candles and say prayers. During the feast, special bread is baked that shows him in his typical pose as a dragon slayer.

St. George bread is upper right.  Note the presence of the five-pointed star (a goddess emblem)
 above St. George in the top image, left.

Book Review: "1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed"

Now this sounds to me like a good summer-out-on-the-deck-with-wine kind of read.  Buying it.

Before the Fall April 23, 2014
By Scott McLemee

Brian Cranston’s recitation of “Ozymandias” in last year’s memorable video clip for the final season of Breaking Bad may have elided some of the finer points of Shelley's poem. But it did the job it was meant to do -- evoking the swagger of a grandiose ego, as well as time’s shattering disregard for even the most awe-inspiring claim to fame, whether by an ancient emperor or meth kingpin of the American Southwest.

But time has, in a way, been generous to the figure Shelley calls Ozymandias, who was not a purely fictional character, like Walter White, but rather the pharaoh Ramses II, also called User-maat-re Setep-en-re. (The poet knew of him through a less exact, albeit more euphonious, transcription of the name.) He ruled about one generation before the period that Eric H. Cline, a professor of classics and archeology at George Washington University, recounts in 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed (Princeton University Press).

Today the average person is reasonably likely to know that Ramses was the name of an Egyptian ruler. But very few people will have the faintest idea that anything of interest happened in 1177 B.C. It wasn't one of the 5,000 “essential names, phrases, dates, and concepts” constituting the “shared knowledge of literate American culture” that E.D Hirsch identified in his best-seller Cultural Literacy (1988), nor did it make it onto the revised edition Hirsch issued in 2002. Just over 3,000 years ago, a series of catastrophic events demolished whole cities, destroying the commercial and diplomatic connections among distinct societies that had linked up to form an emerging world order. It seems like this would come up in conversation from time to time. I suspect it may do so more often in the future.

So what happened in 1177 B.C.? Well, if the account attributed to Ramses III is reliable, that was the date of a final, juggernaut-like offensive by what he called the Sea Peoples. By then, skirmishes between Egypt and the seafaring barbarians had been under way, off and on, for some 30 years. But 1177 was the climactic year when, in the pharaoh’s words, “They laid their hands upon the lands as far as the circuit of the earth, their hearts confident…. ” The six tribes of Sea Peoples came from what Ramses vaguely calls “the islands.” Cline indicates that one group, the Peleset, are "generally accepted” by contemporary scholars "as the Philistines, who are identified in the Bible as coming from Crete.” The origins of the other five remain in question. Their rampage did not literally take the Sea Peoples around “the circuit of the earth,” but it was an ambitious military campaign by any standard.

They attacked cities throughout the Mediterranean, in places now called Syria, Turkey, and Lebanon, among others. About one metropolis Ramses says the Sea Peoples “desolated” the population, Ramses says, “and its land was like that which has never come into being.”

Cline reproduces an inscription that shows the Sea Peoples invading Egypt by boat. You need a magnifying glass to see the details, but the battle scene is astounding even without one. Imagine D-Day depicted exclusively with two-dimensional figures. The images are flat, but they swarm with such density that the effect is claustrophobic. It evokes a sense of terrifying chaos, of mayhem pressing in on all sides, so thick that nobody can push through it. Some interpretations of the battle scene, Cline notes, contend that it shows an Egyptian ambush of the would-be occupiers.

Given that the Egyptians ultimately prevailed over the Sea Peoples, it seems plausible: they would have had reason to record and celebrate such a maneuver. Ramses himself boasts of leading combat so effectively that the Sea Peoples who weren't killed or enslaved went home wishing they’d never even heard of Egypt: “When they pronounce my name in their land, then they are burned up.”

Other societies were not so fortunate. One of them, the Hittite empire, at its peak covered much of Turkey and Syria. (If the name seems mildly familiar, that may be because the Hittites, like the Philistines, make a number of appearances in the Bible.) One zone under Hittite control was the harbor city of Ugariot, a mercantile center for the entire region. You name it, Ugarit had it, or at least someone there could order it for you: linen garments, alabaster jars, wine, wheat, olive oil, anything in metal…. In exchange for paying tribute, a vassal city like Ugarit enjoyed the protection of the Hittite armed forces. Four hundred years before the Sea Peoples came on the scene, the king of the Hittites could march troops into Mesopotamia, burn down the city, then march them back home — a thousand miles each way — without bothering to occupy the country, “thus,” writes Cline, “effectively conducting the longest drive-by shooting in history.”

But by the early 12th century, Ugarit had fallen. Archeologists have found, in Cline’s words, "that the city was burned, with a destruction level reaching two meters high in some places.” Buried in the ruins are “a number of hoards … [that] contained precious gold and bronze items, including figurines, weapons and tools, some of them inscribed.” They "appear to have been hidden just before the destruction took place,” but "their owners never returned to retrieve them.” Nor was Ugarit ever rebuilt, which raises the distinct possibility that there were no survivors.

Other Hittite populations survived the ordeal but declined in power, wealth, and security. One of the maps in The Year Civilization Collapsed marks the cities around the Mediterranean that were destroyed during the early decades of the 12th century B.C. — about 40 of them in all.

The overview of what happened in 1177 B.C. that we’ve just taken is streamlined and dramatic — and way too much so not to merit skepticism. It’s monocausal. The Sea Peoples storm the beaches, one city after another collapses, but Ramses III survives to tell the tale…. One value of making a serious study of history, as somebody once said, is that you learn how things don’t happen.

Exactly what did becomes a serious challenge to determine, after a millennium or three. Cline’s book is a detailed but accessible synthesis of the findings and hypotheses of researchers concerned with the societies that developed around the Mediterranean throughout the second millennium B.C., with a special focus on the late Bronze Age, which came to an end in the decades just before and after the high drama of 1177. The last 20 years or so have been an especially productive and exciting time in scholarship concerning that region and era, with important work being done in fields such as archeoseismology and Ugaritic studies. A number of landmark conferences have fostered exchanges across micro-specialist boundaries, and 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed offers students and the interested lay antiquarian a sense of the rich picture that is emerging from debates among the ruins.

Cline devotes more than half of the book to surveying the world that was lost in or around the year in his title — with particular emphasis on the exchanges of goods that brought the Egyptian and Hittite empires, and the Mycenean civilization over in what we now call Greece, into closer contact. Whole libraries of official documents show the kings exchanging goods and pleasantries, calling each “brother,” and marrying off their children to one another in the interest of diplomatic comity. When a ship conveying luxury items and correspondence from one sovereign to another pulled in to dock, it would also carry products for sale to people lower on the social scale. It then returned with whatever tokens of good will the second king was sending back to the first — and also, chances are, commercial goods from that king’s empire, for sale back home.

The author refers to this process as “globalization,” which seems a bit misleading given that the circuits of communication and exchange were regional, not worldwide. [Oh come now.  Back then the "known world" was extremely small, encompassing just a small portion of the world we know today.  It was trade, and it was "global" according to the known civilizations of the time.]  In any case, it had effects that can be traced in the layers of scattered archeological digs: commodities and artwork characteristic of one society catch on in another, and by the start of the 12th century a real cosmopolitanism is in effect. At the same time, the economic networks encouraged a market in foodstuffs as well as tin — the major precious resource of the day, something like petroleum became in the 20th century.

But evidence from the digs also shows two other developments during this period: a number of devastating earthquakes and droughts. Some of the cities that collapsed circa 1177 may have been destroyed by natural disaster, or so weakened that they succumbed far more quickly to the marauding Sea Peoples than they would have otherwise. For that matter, it is entirely possible that the Sea Peoples themselves were fleeing from such catastrophes. “In my opinion,” writes Cline, “… none of these individual factors would have been cataclysmic enough on their own to bring down even one of these civilizations, let alone all of them. However, they could have combined to produce a scenario in which the repercussions of each factor were magnified, in what some scholars have called a ‘multiplier effect.’ … The ensuing ‘systems collapse’ could have led to the disintegration of one society after another, in part because of the fragmentation of the global economy and the breakdown of the interconnections upon which each civilization was dependent."

Referring to 1177 B.C. will, at present, only get you blank looks, most of the time. But given how the 21st century is shaping up, it may yet become a common reference point -- and one of more than antiquarian relevance.

Early Coptic Portrait of Jesus?

Story at The Local.es

Spanish team finds hidden 'tomb of Jesus'

Published: 25 Apr 2014 12:05 GMT+02:00
Updated: 25 Apr 2014 12:05 GMT+02:00

 

Spanish Egyptologists have discovered what could be one of the oldest images of Jesus Christ, painted on the walls of a mysterious underground structure deep in an ancient Egyptian tomb.

 

A team of Catalan archaeologists have returned from the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus after uncovering a mystery underground structure in buried tombs which date from the 6th and 7th centuries.  It is reportedly decorated with Coptic images — or paintings by a group who number among the earliest Christians — and may contain one of the earliest-known representations of Jesus Christ.

The head of the expedition, Josep Padró, who has spent over 20 years excavating sites in the area, described the discovery to La Vanguardia newspaper as "exceptional".

It has caused such as stir that even Egypt's Minister of Antiquities, Mohamed Ibrahim, has become personally involved. He broke the news himself in a press release which described the contents of the tombs, which are believed to have belonged to a well-known writer and a family of priests.

The Egyptian ministry will take responsibility for developing the archaeological site, which was discovered by a joint team from the Catalan Egyptology Society and the University of Barcelona.

Previous digs in Oxyrynchus have unearthed temples dedicated to Osiris, the Egyptian god of the afterlife, but the exact nature of the latest discovery has left the experts baffled but excited.

Padró described the underground stone structure as "incredibly good, but we don't know what it is".

Over 45 tonnes of rock was moved to get at the hidden treasures, in a meticulous operation overseen by an architect and an engineer. Once inside, the archaeologists found "five or six coats of paint on the walls, the last of which was from the Coptic period of the first Christians."

Among the plant motifs and inscriptions was something special -- the "figure of a young man, with curly hair, dressed in a short tunic and with his hand raised as if giving a blessing," according to Padró.

"We could be dealing with a very early image of Jesus Christ," he added.

The figure is under protection while a team begins to translate the inscriptions surrounding it.

Archaeological work in the area is continuing as there has still not been time to excavate another unidentified structure connected to the tombs via a set of very worn steps.

"We don't know what we'll find there," said the Egyptologist.

Looted Statue of Goddess Demeter Recovered by Turkish Police

From greekreporter.com

Greek Goddess Statue Found At Illegal Excavation in Turkey
by Iro-Anna Mamakouka - Apr 17, 2014

A statue, believed to be the ancient Greek goddess Demeter, has been unearthed at an illegal excavation in Simav, western Turkey. The statue, weighing in at 610kg and standing 2.8 meters tall, was discovered by two Turks, Ramazan C. And Ismail G, 26 and 62 years old respectively, who are alleged to have been conducting illegal excavations in the wider area where the statue was found. The two men were taken into custody by the Turkish police and sent to court.

The head of the statue and the altar, missing during the raid, were later found in a house in the city centre.

In Greek mythology, Demeter, one of Zeus’ sisters, so the story goes, was the goddess of agriculture, nature, abundance and seasons, and mother of Persephone, wife of Hades.

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIX

Thank you to Tom Fogec, who sent me the following, highlighting all of the chess femmes and how they did!  This year there was a new playing venue, the Olympia Resort in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, April 12, 2014.  Four rounds in one day.  Too stressful for me, alas.

Chess Femmes in RED

Hales Corners Challenge XIX - OpenCross Table, Page 1

No. Name St Rate Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Score

1. Santarius, Erik (1)........... WI 2429 D15 W10 W28 W12 3.5
2. Velikanov, Alexander (2)...... WI 2343 W22 W40 D14 W13 3.5
3. Betaneli, Alex (3)............ WI 2316 W8 W7 D6 W14 3.5
4. Brown, Christopher (33)....... WI 1758 W46 W52 D5 W21 3.5
5. Smail, Benedict A (5)......... WI 2220 W16 W21 D4 D6 3.0
6. Becker, Allen J (9)........... WI 2119 W24 W23 D3 D5 3.0
7. Ulrich, Rachel J (13)......... WI 2070 W27 L3 W26 W23 3.0
8. Aranovich, Gary (17).......... WI 1971 L3 W41 W30 -X- 3.0
9. Shi, Tinglin (18)............. WI 1944 W11 L12 W41 W28 3.0
10. Joachim, Peter Jam (28)....... WI 1802 W36 L1 W40 W22 3.0
11. Cooper, Jeff (4).............. WI 2238 L9 D19 W36 W31 2.5
12. Parker, Anthony L (7)......... WI 2190 -H- W9 W34 L1 2.5
13. Harder, Brady R (8)........... WI 2120 D25 W35 W33 L2 2.5
14. Martin III, Richard (10)...... WI 2096 W17 W18 D2 L3 2.5
15. McNeil, David (15)............ MN 2028 D1 L28 W45 W34 2.5
16. Krause, Aaron P (19).......... WI 1943 L5 W42 W44 D19 2.5
17. Parmet, Daniel Edw (23)....... WI 1903 L14 D27 W47 W37 2.5
18. Desmoulin, Stephan (24)....... WI 1895 W52 L14 D37 W33 2.5
19. Wainscott, Chris (29)......... WI 1801 W43 D11 D31 D16 2.5
20. Williams, William (6)......... WI 2205 L23 D33 W48 D27 2.0
21. Mhaskar, Rohan (14)........... WI 2041 W32 L5 W29 L4 2.0
22. Cardenas, David R (16)........ WI 2002 L2 W30 W35 L10 2.0
23. Khadem, Masoud (20)........... IL 1938 W20 L6 W42 L7 2.0
24. Fricano, Paul (21)............ WI 1915 L6 W48 W43 -F- 2.0
25. Geder, John (22).............. WI 1912 D13 L26 D46 W39 2.0
26. Tan, Jonathan (25)............ IL 1871 L40 W25 L7 W44 2.0
27. Coons, James Jay (26)......... WI 1858 L7 D17 W51 D20 2.0
28. Chua, Zachary Z (34)......... WI 1755 W47 W15 L1 L9 2.0
29. Zhang, Edward (35)............ IL 1737 L48 W39 L21 W43 2.0
30. Bevans, Paul (36)............. WI 1729 W38 L22 L8 W46 2.0
31. Sagunsky, David L (37)........ WI 1725 D51 W45 D19 L11 2.0
32. Christensen, Wade (27)........ WI 1852 L21 D47 L39 W48 1.5
33. Grochowski, Andrew (30)....... WI 1790 W44 D20 L13 L18 1.5
34. Pokorski, Jeffrey (31)........ WI 1785 D45 W51 L12 L15 1.5
35. Franek, Martin Joh (32)....... IL 1759 W37 L13 L22 D38 1.5
36. Moore, Micheal A (40)......... WI 1705 L10 D46 L11 W51 1.5
37. MacLeish, Brian (44).......... WI 1655 L35 W53 D18 L17 1.5
38. Mohammed, Sarfaraz (49)....... WI 1538 L30 L43 W50 D35 1.5
39. Shefsky, Michael W (52)....... WI 1493 -H- L29 W32 L25 1.5
40. Rajendra, Avinash (12)........ WI 2070 W26 L2 L10 -F- 1.0
41. Wang, Ricky (39).............. IL 1711 W50 L8 L9 -F- 1.0
42. Dreuth, Adam W (38)........... WI 1711 W53 L16 L23 -U- 1.0
43. Hegelmeyer, John (41)......... WI 1684 L19 W38 L24 L29 1.0
44. Jensen, Alex D (42)........... WI 1676 L33 W50 L16 L26 1.0
45. Ulrich, Anne E (43)........... WI 1668 D34 L31 L15 D47 1.0
46. Huang, Alena (45)............. WI 1620 L4 D36 D25 L30 1.0
47. Lynk Sr, Rodney B (46)........ WI 1600 L28 D32 L17 D45 1.0
48. Bakalinsky, Jacob (47)........ WI 1584 W29 L24 L20 L32 1.0
49. Corcoran, Benjamin (48)....... WI 1562 -N- -N- W53 -U- 1.0
50. Murtaugh, William (51)........ WI 1510 L41 L44 L38 W53 1.0
51. Hegelmeyer, John W (50)....... WI 1526 D31 L34 L27 L36 0.5
52. McKinney, Christop (11)....... WI 2090 L18 L4 -U- -U- 0.0
53. Rasmussen, Kenneth (53)....... WI 1392 L42 L37 L49 L50 0.0

Hales Corners Challenge XIX - Reserve Cross Table

No. Name St Rate 1 2 3 4 Score
1. Najeeb, Hadi (4).............. WI 1492 W37 W8 W14 W7 4.0
2. Kulkarni, Pranav (2).......... WI 1552 W33 D6 W26 W15 3.5
3. Carerros, Charles (1)......... WI 1599 W19 L7 W36 W21 3.0
4. Monosov, Natanel A (6)........ WI 1478 W22 W21 D15 D6 3.0
5. Ulrich, Susanna G (7)......... WI 1461 L14 W38 W41 W24 3.0
6. Seghers, Reid Nath (9)........ WI 1426 W23 D2 W35 D4 3.0
7. Lawrence, Michael (10)........ WI 1402 W10 W3 W13 L1 3.0
8. Xu, Arthur Zihan (11)......... IL 1366 W24 L1 W40 W28 3.0
9. Wright, Gary M (12)........... WI 1328 W25 L13 W45 W26 3.0
10. Huiras, Nathan (23)........... WI 1199 L7 W32 W30 W18 3.0
11. Jace, Adam A (35)............. WI 917 L32 W31 W23 W20 3.0
12. Khassenov, Magzhan (40)....... WI 656 L38 W49 W34 W33 3.0
13. Johnson, Jay Richa (3)........ MN 1525 W20 W9 L7 D14 2.5
14. Molkentin, TJ (19)............ WI 1246 W5 W18 L1 D13 2.5
15. Gaddipati, Harsha (26)........ WI 1110 W30 W17 D4 L2 2.5
16. Gopal, Aditya (27)............ WI 1046 L43 W44 D33 W35 2.5
17. Karimikonda, Teja (5)......... WI 1487 L21 L15 W48 W36 2.0
18. Huang, Sabrina (8)............ WI 1435 W34 L14 W38 L10 2.0
19. Holmes, Russ (13)............. WI 1316 L3 L26 W49 W41 2.0
20. Michaels, James (15).......... WI 1300 L13 W41 W29 L11 2.0
21. Shi, Stephen (17)............. WI 1272 W17 L4 W27 L3 2.0
22. Schatz, Noah F (18)........... WI 1259 L4 W28 W42 -N- 2.0
23. DeLair, Ethan (21)............ WI 1221 L6 W29 L11 W45 2.0
24. Gomoll, Rachel (24)........... WI 1196 L8 W45 W43 L5 2.0
25. Yang, Steven Xob (25)......... WI 1157 L9 W46 L32 W42 2.0
26. White, Gavin Otto (31)........ WI 997 W46 W19 L2 L9 2.0
27. Gomoll, Jacob (32)............ WI 989 W48 L37 L21 W43 2.0
28. Stewart, Zachary W (34)....... WI 977 W47 L22 W37 L8 2.0
29. Iyer, Pranav (37)............. WI 850 W49 L23 L20 W40 2.0
30. Hogg, Neil (38)............... WI 830 L15 W47 L10 W38 2.0
31. Gaddipati, Haasa (44)......... WI 595 L41 L11 W44 W47 2.0
32. Klapper, Bret Alle (47)....... WI nnnn W11 L10 W25 -U- 2.0
33. Hogg, Alexander (14).......... WI 1307 L2 W40 D16 L12 1.5
34. Srivastava, Vivek (20)........ WI 1238 L18 D36 L12 W49 1.5
35. Neumann, Curt E (22).......... WI 1212 -H- W43 L6 L16 1.5
36. Bundy, David (45)............. WI 369 -B- D34 L3 L17 1.5
37. Seeber, Kody (16)............. WI 1277 L1 W27 L28 -U- 1.0
38. Jain, Kyle Deepak (28)........ WI 1016 W12 L5 L18 L30 1.0
39. Seghers, Mark Staf (29)....... WI 1007 -U- -U- -U- W48 1.0
40. Wanek, Ellen Ann (30)......... WI 1004 W44 L33 L8 L29 1.0
41. Anand, Devesh Kuma (33)....... WI 982 W31 L20 L5 L19 1.0
42. Hegelmeyer, Jason (36)........ WI 905 L45 W48 L22 L25 1.0
43. Rockley, James D (39)......... WI 813 W16 L35 L24 L27 1.0
44. Nielsen, Craig (41)........... WI 634 L40 L16 L31 W46 1.0
45. Ball, Salli (46).............. WI nnnn W42 L24 L9 L23 1.0
46. Przedwiecki, Alyssa (43)...... WI 608 L26 L25 D47 L44 0.5
47. Prasad, Anoushka (49)......... WI nnnn L28 L30 D46 L31 0.5
48. Anand, Divyesh Kum (42)....... WI 608 L27 L42 L17 L39 0.0
49. Nielsen, Tina (48)............ WI nnnn L29 L12 L19 L34 0.0

Prizes won by the female players:

OPEN SECTION:

Rachel Ulrich won $120

Anne Ulrich won $40

Alena Huang won $40

Rachel Ulrich also won the gift bag and free entry to HCC XX ($40)

RESERVE SECTION:

Susanna Ulrich won $60

Teja Karimikonda won $40

Sabrina Huang won $40

Rachel Gomoll won $40

Haasa Gaddipati won $40

Ellen Wanek won $20

Salli Ball won $20

Alyssa Przedwiecki won $10

Anoushka Prasad won $10

Susanna Ulrich also won the gift bag and free entry to HCC XXI ($30)

 

Congratulations to all of the chess femmes who participated.  I hope you'll all come back for Challenge XX!

FIDE Women's Grand Prix Khanty-Mansiysk 2014

Hola darlings!

I am in the middle of selling my house and shopping for a new place and it's been crazy crazy crazy around here.  All of this has happened within the past 3 weeks or so, out of the blue.  I didn't have my house up for sale, I received a private offer!  Now I'm simultaneously trying to get everything marshalled together for a private sale (no broker and closing department involved) and look for a new home for myself.  I haven't had much energy to do posting!

But - the Women's Grand Prix is back.  This spin around, the tournament takes place in Kamsky-Mansky in Siberia. Is the frozen tundra starting to thaw there, by any chance?  It ain't happening much around my neck of the woods in Wisconsin, geez!  April 9 - 21, 2014.  Here are the results from R7 held today and the current standings:

Round 7 on 2014/04/16 at 15:00
SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
4	WGM	Girya Olga	2450	1 – 0	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2527	12
5	GM	Muzychuk Anna	2560	1 – 0	GM	Zhao Xue	2552	3
6	GM	Hou Yifan	2618	1 – 0	GM	Ushenina Anna	2501	2
7	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2496	½ - ½	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2489	1
8	WGM	Batchimeg Tuvshintugs	2340	0 – 1	WGM	Muminova Nafisa	2321	11
9	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2550	½ - ½	GM	Lagno Kateryna	2543	10

Rank	SNo.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts	Res.
1	6	GM	Hou Yifan	2618	CHN	6	0
2	5	GM	Muzychuk Anna	2560	SLO	5	0
3	4	WGM	Girya Olga	2450	RUS	4½	0
4	1	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2489	BUL	3½	½
5	12	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2527	RUS	3½	½
6	10	GM	Lagno Kateryna	2543	UKR	3½	-1
7	11	WGM	Muminova Nafisa	2321	UZB	3½	-1
8	2	GM	Ushenina Anna	2501	UKR	3	½
9	3	GM	Zhao Xue	2552	CHN	3	½
10	9	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2550	GEO	3	-1
11	7	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2496	RUS	2½	0
12	8	WGM	Batchimeg Tuvshintugs	2340	MGL	1	0

Pairings for Round 8:

Round 8 on 2014/04/17 at 15:00
SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
12	GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2527	-	GM	Lagno Kateryna	2543	10
11	WGM	Muminova Nafisa	2321	-	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2550	9
1	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2489	-	WGM	Batchimeg Tuvshintugs	2340	8
2	GM	Ushenina Anna	2501	-	GM	Kosintseva Tatiana	2496	7
3	GM	Zhao Xue	2552	-	GM	Hou Yifan	2618	6
4	WGM	Girya Olga	2450	-	GM	Muzychuk Anna	2560	5

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIX - April 12, 2014!

Hola darlings!

I won't be there in person tomorrow, but I will be there in spirit, and in Goddesschess Prize Money, woo woo!  The latest email I received, there are 89 pre-registered players, 11 of which are you, my dear chess femmes. 

Can we break a record?  Let's go for it, ladies.  Top $800 in Goddesschess prize money winnings (paid out in Challenge XVIII) and we set a new record.  I know you can do it...

You know, sitting here tonight, surrounded by incipient chaos of house sale and trying to find a new place for myself to live, I can't help but think of all those countless dreams I've had over the years, but none more than now, recently (does it mean something?), that I somehow, miraculously, was born again as a chess prodigy who became the first female World Chess Champion and also the Queen of England more or less at the same time. Well, what can I say? The Prince of Wales ("Wills", that is) IS a hunk of a man.  I would definitely take that job on...

Of course, as dreams do, "I" jump from time to time, era to era, but chess is always there, and so is that Prince.  Hmmmm.... Maybe in my next life.  So, if you someday see a very imperial Queenish-figure holding a Staunton style Queen between her thumb and forefinger in an official portrait, with a half-cocked smile and dimples showing, that will be me, darlings.  Swear it!

But, for now, I have to be content with "Dream On" by Aerosmith. I think these lyrics are the best chess-related I've ever heard, whether Steven Tyler has ever played chess or not.  Just read them, and think about it:

"Dream On"

Every time that I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer [Will we make NM before 21, or 71...]
The past is gone [We supposedly forget about our prior losses --- but we NEVAH do...]
It went by like dusk to dawn [Hell, yeah]
Isn't that the way
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay [Yes, all chessplayers pay their dues...]

Yeah, I know nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody's sin
You got to lose to know how to win  [So true. Until you lose, how do you know how to win?]

Half my life's in books' written pages [Chess master books...]
Live and learn from fools and from sages [Yeah.  Some of them are crap, some of them are gems.]
You know it's true
All the things you do, come back to you [Oh yeah.  It's called ELO, baby!]

Sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tear
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away

Sing with me, sing it for the year
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tear
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away

Dream on, dream on, dream on, [I will always dream of myself as World Chess Champion...
Dream until your dream come true [and Queen of England, too...]
Dream on, dream on, dream on,
And dream until your dream come true
Dream on [7x]

Sing with me, sing it for the year
Sing for the laughter and sing it for the tear
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away

Sing with me, sing it for the year
Sing for the laughter and sing it for the tear
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away

Want to see a video of Aerosmith in their prime singing "Dream On":

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XIX!

Update:  As of last night, there are 79 pre-registered players, of which 11 are chess femmes:  3 in the Open and 8 in the Reserve. Woo woo! 

And as of earlier today, there are now 82 pre-registered players, 38 in the Open, and 44 in the Reserve!  Chess femmes in the Open are:  Rachel Ulrich (2070); Anne Ulrich (1668); and Alena Huang (1620).  In the Reserve:  Teja Karimikonda (1487); Susanna Ulrich (1461); Sabrina Huang (1435); Rachel Gomoll (1196); Ellen Wanek (1004) (she is my chess buddy and my chess nemesis at chess.com); Alyssa Przedwiecki (608); Anoushka Prasad (no rating).  I know I'm missing, I'm just too tired to go through the list again, sorry!

I do have gift bags, I just haven't had the time lately to put them together (and I don't have the actual bags, ahem.  I forgot, once again, to pick them up today.) I have forgotten (gasp!) to get them together in the midst of getting the sale of this house ready and trying to find a new place of my own to buy, and inspections, and all other kinds of stuff that is just boring but frustrating and exhausting. I'm pretty close to just calling a halt to the entire process and calling the deal OFF! THAT is how bad it has gotten the past few weeks. My health (not always so good) is suffering, as is my peace of mind (most important of all). Arrrrgggghhhh!

So, alas, I won't be attending Challenge XIX, but I will be there in spirit. And I've GOT to get those gift bags for the chess femmes who win out in each section ready! I'll be following the action, and reporting as I can.