2010 Pan American Collegiate Chess Championships

The "final four" of this event will compete in Spring, 2011 for the President's Cup.  I'm blatantly biased and cheering for SPICE/Texas Tech's Knight Raiders.

Here are the standings after R2 - R3 is currently in progress:

Pan-American Team Champs 2010 — Team                         Wall Chart, Page 1

Name/ID                            Rate   Rnd 1     Rnd 2     Rnd 3

—————————————————————————-

1. U Texas Brownsville-A             |2612 |W15,4.0  | B8,4.0  | W4,0.0  |

|     |   1.0   |   2.0   |         |

—————————————————————————-

2. U of Maryland, Baltimore A        |2585 |B16,4.0  | W9,4.0  | B6,0.0  |

|     |   1.0   |   2.0   |         |

—————————————————————————-

3. U of Texas, Dallas A              |2552 |W17,4.0  |B10,4.0  | W5,0.0  |

|     |   1.0   |   2.0   |         |

—————————————————————————-

4. Texas Tech U-A                    |2487 |B18,4.0  |W12,4.0  | B1,0.0  |

|     |   1.0   |   2.0   |         |

—————————————————————————-

5. U of Maryland, Baltimore B        |2294 |W19,4.0  |B13,4.0  | B3,0.0  |

|     |   1.0   |   2.0   |         |

—————————————————————————-

6. U of Texas, Dallas B              |2284 |B20,4.0  |W14,3.0  | W2,0.0  |

|     |   1.0   |   2.0   |         |

—————————————————————————-

7. U Texas Brownsville-B             |2247 |W21,4.0  |B28,4.0  | W8,0.0  |

|     |   1.0   |   2.0   |         |

—————————————————————————-

Individual results (for Texas Tech-A only):

Texas Tech U-A

———————————————————————-

15. Kuljasevic, Davori                |2572 | P 76  | P 49  | —   |

13218291               Board 1 |     |  1.0  |  2.0  |  2.0  |

———————————————————————-

16. Diamant, Andre                    |2486 | P 77  | P 50  | —   |

14255502               Board 2 |     |  1.0  |  2.0  |  2.0  |

———————————————————————-

17. Bykhovsky, Anatoly                |2497 | P 78  | P 51  | —   |

14508330               Board 3 |     |  1.0  |  2.0  |  2.0  |

———————————————————————-

18. Sipos, Istvan                     |2395 | P 79  | P 52  | —   |

14486674               Board 4 |     |  1.0  |  2.0  |  2.0  |

———————————————————————-

 

Texas Tech B is currently in 13th place:

 

13. Texas Tech U-B                    |1995 |B26,3.5  | W5,0.0  |B20,0.0  |

|     |   1.0   |   1.0   |         |

 

Texas Tech C is currently in 21st place:

 

21. Texas Tech U-C                    |1774 | B7,0.0  |W26,3.5  |B14,0.0  |

|     |   0.0   |   1.0   |         |

 

There are 28 teams competing. 

 

I had to laugh upon reading an article earlier today from a Texas newspaper that talked about how cold and snowy it was here and how that particular team was packing heavy coats, etc!  Right now we're actually enjoying what we Wisconsinites consider rather balmy temperatures and hardly any snow on the ground at all - just a few inches in Milwaukee (although, to be fair, up north did get a lot of snow a few weeks ago and once it snows there, it stays until spring).  Better yet, instead of the usual overcast gloom we often have to suffer through during the long winter months, the clouds have cleared away by mid-morning the past few days and it has been SUNNY outside.  For people who don't live here, you don't know what a blessing this is!  Yesterday it's true it only got up to 28 degrees F and there was a wind out of the southwest so it felt colder and raw outside.  Today it nearly got up to 32 degrees F and the wind was not as strong, though still out of the southwest.  That's important because that wind is bringing warmer temperatures and moisture from the Pacific.  We may have 40's and rain by Friday.  Perhaps so many teams playing here from Texas brought the better weather from the southwest with them :)

 



Texas Tech Knight Raiders Group



Good luck to the Knight Raiders!  I hope all the teams, their coaches and supporting personnel have a wonderful time in my hometown.  The Crowne Point is a fine hotel, I think the players will be very comfortable there, and I hope they are able to take an extra day or two to explore Milwaukee a little. We've got first class cultural entertainment, fine ethnic restaurants, and the bar scene on Water Street downtown is jumping at night :)

Talking Heads

I'd seen this story last week and a few days ago, 'Sis sent me a heads-up (har!) on it too, so I thought, make a post... I can't find the exact story any longer, but here is a link to a story from Reuters of the same date (although shorter).

Embalmed head of France's King Henri IV found
Fri, Dec 17 12:30 PM EST
By Stefano Ambrogi

LONDON (Reuters) - A team of scientists say they have positively identified an embalmed head, presumed lost in the chaos of the French Revolution, as that of King Henri IV of France who was assassinated in 1610.

The head was apparently lost after revolutionaries desecrated the graves of French kings in the royal basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris in 1793.

Few remains of those bodies have ever been found and positively identified since.  But a team of experts using advanced scientific techniques say they have conclusively identified the head, passed down over the centuries by private collectors, as that of the monarch.

The multi-disciplinary team, led by forensic pathologist Philippe Charlier, announced the discovery in the British Medical Journal.  Charlier said features consistent with those of the king's face were found including "a dark mushroom-like lesion" near the right nostril, a healed facial stab wound and a pierced right earlobe.

The king is known to have sported an earring, along with others from the Valois court.  Head hairs and remnants of a mustache and beard, colored red and white, on the mummified head fit with the known characteristics of the king's hair at the time of his death. Many features matched those in portraits of the king, the team said.

Charlier said three "cutting wounds" were also visible, corresponding to the separation of the head from the body by a revolutionary in 1793.  Radiocarbon dating also gave a date of between 1450 and 1650, "nicely bracketing the year of his death," the report said.

In addition, a digital facial reconstruction of the skull was fully consistent with all known representations of the king and the plaster mold of his face made just after his death.

Henri IV was one of the most popular French kings, known as "the good King Henry" and as "the green gallant," because of his attractiveness to women.  In 1598, nine years after ascending the throne, he enacted the Edict of Nantes which guaranteed religious liberties to Protestants and brought to a close over 30 years of fighting between French Protestants and Catholics.  He was assassinated in Paris at the age of 57 by Catholic fanatic Francois Ravaillac.

Jacques Perot, director of the Societe Henri IV in France, said the head will be buried next year in the Basilica of Saint-Denis.

"It will be a beautiful ceremony," he told Reuters. [Yeah, I'll bet.]

(Additional reporting by Maria-Victoria Buffery)
(Editing by Steve Addison)


Okay, so to the talking heads thing.  You cannot imagine my shock many years ago when I first became acquainted with the concept that ancient (and not so ancient) cultures actually revered the skulls of dead people and kept them in their houses and/or places of worship, sometimes to "consult" as an oracle.  For whatever reason, belief was predominant that the skulls could be consulted and actually provided answers - some were reputed to speak, so I am given to believe.  Hmmm....  Alas, poor Yorrick, indeed!

Of course, we have currently "alive" talking heads -- at least, I presume they are alive, but you know - they may be zombies. I actually call them dildo-heads, because they are just hired pricks when it comes down to it - oops - no one under 17 years of age should read that comment. They are the "pundits" and "politicians" who appear without fail every Sunday on round after round of "informational" shows on network television, such as "Meet the Press."  I watched such shows for many years and finally gave them up when I connected my migraine headaches and "stomach" problems to said shows. When I stopped watching the shows, the medical problems disappeared. 

What I find absolutely intriguing is the possibility that the embalmed head of King Henri may have been kept all the years since his tomb was first desecrated as an "oracular" head.  Why the hell else would anyone in this so-called "Age of Enlightenment" keep such a thing - like, totally yechy!!!  Might the head of King Henri IV have been passed down from generation to generation, and then from collector to collector, out of some never-articulated and shudderingly half-suppressed belief in the supernatural oracular power of his mummified head?  Did the late actor Vicent Price, later-day King of Cheap Horror Motion Pictures, ever play King Henri IV of France?  Methinks they bear a resemblance to each other...



President Gerald Ford.
After having fallen on his head
one too many times, he began
to exhibit supernatural powers and
in time, became an original
American Talking Head.

 Sooooo, who was the first talking head in history?  No, not Chet Huntley/David Brinley, who for many years as a young child I thought were one-and-the-same person...  It may have been a Celtic god that we now know by the name of Bran, as in Bran Flakes.  Yeah, the dude was a "corn god," which is simply a generic term for a god of vegetation, generally the kind of vegetation that humans eat, like wheat, corn, rice, and other grains lesser and greater...  He was also a "Brain" - ahem - probably the brain was eaten upon Bran's death in a ritual in which the consumers hoped that the consumee would convey to them some worthwhile essence of wisdom, or something, other than nausea or spongiform encephalopathy.  In any event, Bran's skull was reputedly preserved for millennia after he died, perhaps forced to commit honorable suicide after his ratings dropped.  It was this brainless skull that was a higly-regarded Oracle.  I suspect that the actual practice dates back several thousand years before the Celts worked their way to "Brandom" after they settled in the British Isles.  A version of the Talking Head is yet alive today in the British Prime Minister's office - yes - author J.K. Rowling "outed" the practice in her popular series Harry Potter and... . It is said that there is a portrait of some ancient worthy-or-other with a pipeline to the wizards at Hogwart's School of Wizardry.  Yes, of course the Prime Minister's Office and all British Officialdom other than the Queen herself have denied - hmmm, what if it's not a joke...

And I don't want you to get sidetracked, but lecturer Mary Beard, who is always fascinating, wrote what I thought was a wonderfully cheeky review of Jerry Toner's POPULAR CULTURE IN ANCIENT ROME .  People who poo-pooh the reading of book reviews miss tons of valuable information.  For instance, it was through reading this review that I learned of the Oracles of Astrampsychus. Not a talking head, but a sort of "talking" book, like an adolescent's version of the I Ching.  Hey - I'm not laughing.  I still read my "fortune" everyday in the newspaper, as do millions of other people all around the world.  If they didn't, such "fortunes" would not exist...

GM Maurice Ashley

I enjoyed listening to his commentary and analysis along with IM Jen Shahade during some games of the 2010 U.S. Women's Chess Championship sponsored by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, who put on first class events for the U.S. and U.S. Women's Chess Championships.  Maybe we'll hear Ashley again in 2011.  He definitely brought a vibrancy and unique tenor to the commentary that took me a bit getting used to but in short order I listened most intently to what he and Jen were saying.

Here is a nice profile of Ashley posted on Christmas Day:

Maurice Ashley
The Weekly Challenger
Originally posted 12/25/2010

Maurice Ashley is a chess grandmaster. He is the first and as of 2009 only African-American grandmaster. In the October 2006 rating lists, he had a FIDE rating of 2465, and a USCF rating of 2520 at standard chess, and 2536 at quick chess. Ashley is associated with Chesswise. In 2005 he wrote the book Chess for Success, relating about his experiences and the positive aspects of chess. He was the main organiser for the HB global chess event, with the biggest cash prize in history. FIDE awarded him the grandmaster title in 1999. Ashley and Englishman James Plaskett are the only two Grandmasters to have made it to the studio stage of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, each in his respective country.

In 1993, Ashley was married to Michele Johnson, a then teacher at the Bilingual Center of P.S. 189. June 5, 1994 the couple gave birth to Nia-Ashanti Ashley, who is currently a professional actor, writer and currently attends Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School. Maurice and Michele have remained happily married since then. In 2002 they gave birth to Jayden Ashley. The family is one of high achievers, which is displayed in Nia's budding career and Michele's principal position as of 2005. Maurice relates much of his success to his supportive wife and wonderful family.

Ashley graduated from the College of the City of New York (CCNY), and represented the school in intercollegiate team competition. Always promoting chess among youth, Ashley coached the Raging Rooks of Harlem, and the Dark Knights (also from Harlem), both of which have won national championships under his guidance. In September 1999, he opened the Harlem Chess Center which has attracted such celebrities as Larry Johnson and Wynton Marsalis. Ashley was named 2003 Grandmaster of the Year by the U.S. Chess Federation. He makes appearances all over the country speaking to young people and adults about chess and its benefits.

In 2003 Maurice Ashley wrote an essay, The End of the Draw Offer?, which raised discussion about ways to avoid quick agreed draws in chess tournaments.

In 2007 Ashley returned to his birth country of Jamaica and became the first GM to ever participate in a tournament in that country. The tourney, a six round Swiss named the Frederick Cameron Open, was held at the Jamaica Conference center on the 15 and 16 of December 2007. After sweeping a field consisting of several of Jamaica's top players and Barbadian FIDE master Philip Corbin, he fell victim to a potential double attack in the final round to Jamaican National Master Jomo Pitterson. He placed second on five points behind Pitterson (5.5).

In 2008, Ashley was featured in an interview for the CNN documentary “Black in America.”

At Goddesschess:  The First Black Grandmaster, from Ebony Magazine, July, 1999

46th American Open

November 25 - 28, 2010
LAX Radisson Hotel

Good to see GM Josh Friedel, one of several recently-minted American GMs within the past four-five years, win this event.  Of particular interest to me was the presence of two chess femmes, Tatev Abrahamyan, who was the top-finishing female in 18th place overall (of 41 players) with 4.0/6, and former U.S. Women's Chess Champion WGM Anjelina Belakovskaia, who finished overall in 29th place with 3.0/6. 

I know Abrahamyan plays in many events on the west coast, although the publicity she receives is normally limited to her play at the U.S. Women's Chess Championship over the past several years (she has won two separate Goddesschess Fighting Chess Awards for her uncompromising play at the Championships), but Belakovskaia had long since retired from chess -- so I was shocked to see her name on the player list, and pleased as hell to see her competing in this event!  Way to go!  Are you coming back?  Will you be playing in more events?  Please say yes! 

Belakovskaia is one of several strong foreign chessplayers who came to the United States in the early 90's with the collapse of the Iron Curtain.  She won the U.S. Women's Chess Champion title three times - in 1995, 1996 and 1999, and played on several U.S. Women's Chess Olympiad Teams.  You can catch a very brief glimpse of her in the film "Searching for Bobby Fischer" as one of a crowd in one of the "chess hustler" scenes in Washington Square.  Biography at Wikipedia.

I've been an admirer of Belakovskaia since I first read about her in 2001.  During the short-lived tenure of our chess-spoof online newspaper "The International Chessoid" Belakovskaia served as a model for an intrepid female chessplaying character in a serial story that, unfortunately, was never finished when The Chessoid went offline (and no, will not be resurrected -- it was great fun but far too much work).

Today, Belakovskaia, a mother of three, runs a successful real estate brokerage out west.  Will we see her in more chess events?  I sure hope so! 

Anjelina Belakovskaia
Chessbase, November 18, 2004:  Anjelina Has a Home for You 
Anjelina at Facebook
Anjelina's Chess for Parents

Chess Femme News!

From The New York Times
Chess
At Title Event, Asian Women Pursue World Domination
By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN
Published: December 25, 2010
The Women’s World Chess Championship has provided more evidence of a shift in the balance of power in the women’s game to Asia from Eastern Europe.

When the tournament began early this month in southern Turkey, 24 of the 64 players in the field were from Eastern Europe, which has long dominated women’s chess. By the quarterfinals, only one of the Eastern Europeans, Kateryna Lahno of Ukraine, was left in the competition.

Four of the quarterfinalists were from China, and two were from India. The last quarterfinalist, Almira Skripchenko, is French, although she was born in Moldova.

Lahno and Skripchenko were eliminated in the quarterfinals, and the semifinalists were three Chinese players and Humpy Koneru of India. . . .

2010 Arab Women's Chess Classic
December 22 - 30, 2010
Organized by the Royal Jordan Chess Federation
 7 Rounds - here are the standings after R6

Rank after Round 6

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	WIM	Mezioud Amina	ALG	2029	4,5	1,5	15,0	15,75
2	WCM	Latreche Khadidja	ALG	1855	4,5	0,5	13,5	15,00
3	WGM	Mona Khaled	EGY	2093	4,5	0,0	12,5	12,75
4	WFM	Jalloul Maya M	LIB	1879	4,0	0,0	16,0	15,25
5	WIM	Mouradian Knarik	LIB	2218	3,5	0,0	14,0	9,75
6	WFM	Alattar Ghayda M	JOR	1900	3,5	0,0	12,0	8,75
7		Nouali Djouher	ALG	0	3,0	0,0	12,0	7,50
8	WIM	Algildah Nibal	SYR	1920	3,0	0,0	12,0	7,00
9	WFM	Al-Khelaifi Salama	QAT	1761	3,0	0,0	10,0	6,25
10		Al Khateeb Nagham	SYR	0	3,0	0,0	10,0	6,00
11		Dahdal Lougain	JOR	1868	2,5	0,0	14,5	6,75
12		Al-Khelaifi Kholoud	QAT	1493	2,5	0,0	14,0	5,75
13	WFM	Ghazala Zena Basil	IRQ	1791	2,0	0,5	10,0	2,75
14		Boshra Alshaeby	JOR	1807	2,0	0,5	9,5	3,00
15		Jaradat Shadia Z	PLE	0	1,5	0,0	9,5	3,00
16		Salem Amna	UAE	1705	1,0	0,0	9,5	1,75

Annotation:
Tie Break1: The results of the players in the same point group#results against
Tie Break2: Buchholz Tie-Breaks (variabel with parameter)
Tie Break3: Sonneborn-Berger-Tie-Break variable

Ruan Lufei Nearly Did It - With No Support from the Chinese Government

From The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
By Bob Bauder
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, December 25, 2010

Ruan Lufei, from official 2010 WWCC website

Lufei Ruan lost the woman's world chess championship Friday, but acquaintances in Pittsburgh say she gained international recognition for herself and the city with her remarkable climb to the tournament final.

"The whole chess world is stunned right now," said Alexander Shabalov, 47, a four-time U.S. chess champion from Squirrel Hill. "Basically, she jumped way over her head. She was pretty much a few moves away from becoming a world champion, which is every chess player's dream. I'm sure it's just a heartbreaker for her."

Ruan, 23, a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, lost the title in a tie-breaker to chess prodigy Hou Yifan, 16. Both played for the Chinese team in the tournament held in Hatay, Turkey.

In an e-mail, Ruan said she was happy to have performed well but exhausted after playing for nearly a month with one day's rest.

"I think there are three reasons why she beat me," Ruan said. "Firstly, she is really a good player, and unlike me, she plays chess every day. Secondly, I played tie-break in every round, so I have played for 20 days with only one day rest. Finally, she has two coaches here, but I'm fighting alone. My coach is in China."

Kevin Mo, 15, a chess master from Franklin Park, said Ruan mainly competed against professional players. He found it remarkable that she beat all but one. Mo lost a game to Ruan last month and said he followed her every move in the tournament through the Internet.

"For her to balance studying and playing in the tournament, and for her to get this far is quite impressive," said the 10th-grader at North Allegheny High School. "It's good for chess in Pittsburgh. We now have a world championship contender here in Pittsburgh."


Indeed, Ruan's run at the Championship is an incredible accomplishment and worthy of the greatest recognition and admiration.  Need I point out the incredible irony that this Chinese player (and don't we all love to hate China these days?) did so by utilizing a combination of mental toughness, courage, and true grit that we Americans admire so much and tout as our particular national perogative?

She nearly did it! She didn't have a coach, she didn't have financial support from the Chinese government or Chinese chess establishment, she was the neglected "other" of the Chinese chess team, presumably passed over at 23 as "too old" to amount to anything and headed toward a business career in any event -- and SHE - NEARLY - DID - IT!

You go, girl!  Good for you!  I take my hat off to you.  I would love to shake your hand in the hope that some of your "magic dust" would perhaps rub off on me :)  I don't know what your plans are once you earn your degree, but I hope you will stay here and go to work for a quintessential American - the Oracle of Omaha (and I don't mean Oral Roberts).

More Memories of Christmases Past

I was able to boot up the old desk top earlier this afternoon and email myself some older photos off my hard-drive from Christmases past - still can't get a stable webpage established though, DRAT.  And I could not find my flash drive either so I could not begin to transfer files from the old desk top to the newest Acer laptop.  Now, I wonder, did the old desk top somehow arrange for that flash drive to disappear???...

2008 Christmas tree

I experimented in 2008 with putting the tree in the corner of the living room nearer the fireplace rather than front-and-center in the big living room window.  What was I thinking?  It was okay, but lacked dramatic impact.  But, as that year Mr. Don and I travelled on Christmas Eve Day to Las Vegas for a whirlwind visit with 'Sis and Michelle, we did not have much time with the tree.

We lit the fire one evening and got giddy on liquored-up egg nog and spent over an hour telling each other silly stories in various made-up "foreign" accents, each building on the last, using our writers' imaginations to the max.  Okay, so we're nuts!  It was funny! 


Isis at work in her 50's style kitchen :)

'Sis cooked for us 2008 Christmas Day - I remember home made lasagna but there was lots of other food too -   ate way too much.  The day started out fine, sunny and bright.  It was windy but nowhere near freezing cold (not like what we'd left behind in Milwaukee, a ton of snow and sub-freezing temperatures).  We spent some time out doors, in fact, enjoying the winter garden and the vistas of the golf course that backs onto 'Sis's back yard.  But while we watched Christmas movies and chatted away (and ate and ate and ate...), the weather turned.  During the afternoon it poured buckets of rain and the winds whipped the rains against the house, pounding and pounding.
 
Here is 'Sis in the kitchen at the Las Vegas homestead.  The kitchen is a perfect 1950's era gem - and it still has the original built-in oven (not shown in this photo), which I used to make some "easy beef burgundy" when I visited 'Sis and Michelle in April, 2010.


Me, Caesar's Palace, Christmas Eve, 2008.

 There's me!  Not seen are the birds (sparrows and birds of paradise) I was throwing crackers and assorted nut treats to, on the extensive grounds of Caesar's Palace, Christmas Eve Day, 2008.  The fountains were going and it was beautiful.  This photo was taken around dusk.  Later on we walked down to the Sahara and back (anyone who has done it knows it is quite a hike from where we were staying, at the Imperial Palace) and we stopped at the 50% off kiosk near the Riviera and the Peppermill Restaurant (where we have enjoyed quite hearty breakfasts at reasonable prices) and got tickets for a Christmas Evening showing of  "Phantom."  As you can see, it was warm enough to go without gloves, hat and boots, a real treat for me!  I wish I didn't look so much like a stuffed sausage in my winter coat with layers on underneath.  Oh well.







2007 Christmas tree

 I was quite pleased with how the 2007 tree turned out.  I took several photos of it, this is probably the clearest one :) 

You'll be able to tell by comparing the photos over the years that I moved the curio cabinet (I had it in my first house, purchased in 1986) out of that corner after Christmas 2007.  I rearranged my various collections on the shelves after relocating it next to the wall that fronts the staircase.

I'm still puzzling over what to use as a tree topper, though.  Those who follow this blog know how I pondered over the question a few weeks ago :)  Oh well. This tree had a bare top, as did all of them up until 2009, when I put together two of the large golden pointsettia picks and I thought that worked well, but then that left large "holes" in the body of the tree.

So, I need to get a new tree (not gonna happen, I'm too attached to this one and it's not that old!) or I need to get more ornaments (a distinct possibility, given the more than 50% off sales that will take place tomorrow and, since the weather is good, I'll probably head out to the local mall for a little shopping) and/or some more large floral picks from which to construct a tree-topper.  I don't want an angel, Santa or a star. Well, maybe a star, if it was a really special star.  A Goddess would be cool, but I haven't found any Goddess tree toppers.  This year, though it really can't be seen, I tossed up a rope of pearls, and gold beads, and a golden ribbon, and stashed lots of small size ornaments all around.  Live, it works really well.  In photos, meh - doesn't really show up. 



Christmas 2006

 I don't have any photos of my 2006 tree, but I do have this -- I fed Mr. Don much wine, and Godiva chocolates non-stop, and we played chess (nearly always drawn games, and win/loss records equal as far as I recall).  The chess set was a gift from a former colleague who is a wonderful person. I'd worked with him for some 12 years and we had developed one of those really special relationships where we didn't even have to talk to each other to know what we were thinking; all we had to do was look at each other and we just knew. We were great colleagues and friends - I had his back and he had mine - but our personal lives we kept pretty much private from each other.  It wasn't until our later years that we began to open up to each other a little bit and we actually talked about many things other than our current cases.  In 1998 especially we spent long hours together working on many work-out deals, many times rushing Fedex packages to the airport before the 9:30 p.m. cut-off for delivery the next day.  Email in those days was not yet being used as a standard delivery method for legal documents as it is now...  His going away gift was precious to me because I knew he went through the trouble of finding a very nice gift for me to say "good bye" when the time came, this man who, really, knew nothing about chess, only that it was important to me. 

It is a replica of one of the Lewis chess sets.  He gave me a lovely handcrafted wooden board too, but for our games Mr. Don and I used a board that Sis hand-made in 2006.  It was one of the first she made, it has a special monogram on it for Goddesschess and holds special memories. 

This isn't an actual photo of a game in progress  (but it could be, Mr. Don and I really don't know what the hell we're doing on the chess board), but the circumstances, surroundings and items are all as stated above.  I would like to get him to Milwaukee to play in one of the Hales Corners Challenges, bwwwwwhhhhaaaaaaa (she laughed evilly....)

Season's Greetings from Computer Labs for Kids

From my good buddy, Shira Evans, who recently got engaged to a great guy, whom I've currently got the better of in two online chess games :)  This is a video of Shira's Computer Labs for Kids most recent project in East Los Angeles:



Please consider making a donation to Computer Labs for Kids to help with the good work that Shira is doing, one child at a time.  Thanks - and enjoy the video. 

Memories of Today and Recent Christmases Past

'Sis surprised me with a call at 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. her time, which is very early for her!  Merry Christmas, 'Sis and Michelle.  Mr. Don and I have already nattered back and forth via email - what a wonderful invention.

Christmas 2009 with gifts stewn about.  One of my
work stations is in the background - my trusty Toshiba laptop.

They received the gifts I sent.  The memory photo album (10 years worth of memories that took me months, off and on, to put together, and it still wasn't finished as much as I would have liked at the end, but I had to get it to the Fedex office to ship out with a day or two to spare in case the weather delayed delivery -- I wanted to make sure it was there before Christmas Eve, if possible) is a big hit.  'Sis said Michelle has abducted it, and pulled out their photographs and will be adding to the blank spaces I left for just such a thing to happen.  The plans for a Milwaukee Christmas get-together did not come about,  but we have hatched a new plan... Can't wait to see the album when we visit Las Vegas in the spring - Mr. Don hasn't seen it so it will be a treat for him, too.

Christmas 2008 at Mom's house, with Mr. Don
and Penny the Dog.

The special "Tower of Chocolates" that I ordered for them from Wine Country Gifts (they have the loveliest items put together in a special way and guarantee delivery by Christmas) is a big hit.  It's sitting under the tree, out of its delivery box but otherwise unopened.  It will be opened this evening when 'Sis returns from work -- Las Vegas doesn't shut down for Christmas and 'Sis will be dealing poker today. 

I am about to dig into a good book for a couple of hours, and then continue work on the Family Tree -- so much for that plan to have it done by Christmas!  But it's close, very close. 

Mom's 2008 Tree.

Mitchell Park Domes, Milwaukee, WI, Christmas, 2008.
It was brutally cold that day - way below zero, but the
Sun was out and the Domes were crowded with hearty Wisconsinites.

Another photo from the Christmas, 2008 display

at the Mitchell Park Domes - a little blurry but very colorful!

Hundreds of pointsettias - it was so beautiful.

I've got more photos on the old desk top that is experiencing problems.  Will try and get it to boot up and post more photos.  But first, I'm going to bake some special recipe Newton brownies :)

Chess Femme News!

Happy Holidays to everyone.

Record Set for World’s Youngest Chess Champion
By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN
Published: December 24, 2010
Hou Yifan, a 16-year-old chess player from China, became the youngest world chess champion on Friday, toppling a record held since 1978. . . . 

Ms. Hou said that she received training and financial support from the Chinese government. She studies chess four to five hours a day, and also attends high school. She said that she sometimes fell behind in her work, but her teachers understood and tried to help her out.

[Last paragraph - note.  It's not a surprise that the Chinese government supports at least some of its promising chessplayers - they want to make a statement about the superiority of their "system" just like the Russians wanted to under their Communist leaders back in it's heyday.  People who underestimate the amount of and impact of this support are foolish.]

From The Assam Tribune
Mahasweta, Rituraj, Dipu bag school chess titles
Sports reporter GUWAHATI, Dec 24 – Mahasweta Kumar of Collegiate Higher Secondary School, Mangaldai clinched the title in the Queen Group of the All Assam School Chess which concluded at the Assam Jatiya Vidyalaya here today. In the Knight Group, Rituraj Borgohain of St Xavier’s School, Duliajan became winner while in the Pawn Group, Dipu Pradhan of St Peter School, Nazira won the crown.

The championship was organised by Guwahati Chess Academy where 142 players from 30 schools from all over the State took part.

Girls:  (Queen Group) Tina Choudhury, St Mary’s Convent (3½ pts), Pranati Acharjee, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Narangi (2½ pts).

(Knight Group) Ankita Hazarika, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kahanapara (5 pts), Natasha Dutta, Disneyland School, Guwahati (4½ pts).

(Pawn Group) Twinkle Patgiri, Do Bosco School, Tinsukia (4½ pts), Bidisha Sarma, Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Rajgarh (4½ pts).

From Panarmenian.net
Lilit Mkrtchyan, Tigran Petrosyan win tournament dedicated to 50th anniversary of Henrik Kasparian chess school
December 25, 2010 - 17:42 AMT 13:42 GMT

From The Telegraph - Calcutta
Arpita is the first casualty
December 25, 2010
A STAFF REPORTER
Calcutta: Former Asian U-8 runner-up Arpita Mukherjee was the first casualty amongst the seeds, as she was upset by unrated Shaswat Chakraborty in the first round of the Mayor’s Cup Fide Rating Chess Tournament on Friday. Opting for the unambitious Colle System, Arpita lost a pawn early in the game and finally blundered a piece, which cost her the game.  . . .

Chessbase.com
2010 Women's World Championship – Hou Yifan is world champion!
24.12.2010 – Santa Claus could not have given her a better present. After being pushed into an unexpected tie-break, young Hou Yifan pulled herself together and won the 4-game rapid match with a convincing 3-1 score. The hitherto youngest finalist in history is now the youngest world champion ever, breaking Maia Chiburdanidze's 32-year-old record. Here is the final report.

Christmas Tree 2010

Merry Christmas from Milwaukee

It's probably fitting that right now I've got Christmas in America on the radio by Mannheim Steamroller, as they put on TWO shows here, one last evening and one today.  Good ol' Milwaukee.  We still turn out a full house every New Year's Eve for the Harlem Globetrotters too :)

I had a festive lunch Wednesday at Karl Ratzsch's, one of the few surviving original German restaurants in this city with such Germanic roots.  The Christmas decorations are so beautiful.  The bar was packed!  As we were leaving after lunch I suggested (only half-jokingly) to my companions that we adjourn to the bar because it sure seemed lively -- alas, we went back to the office.  Damn!

I tried my hand at some photos earlier today of the living room - will try again shortly with lighted candles and lights all aglow as the sun goes down, and see if those turn out more to my liking. 

Since we have passed the Solstice (yippee!) the day is lasting longer now - a few minutes each day which I, as crazy as it seems, already notice!  The worst is over.  The darkness is giving way to the light, once again, in the eternal battle.  March is traditionally when most people really start to notice - maybe that's why St. Patrick's Day has become so popular?  Well, at least around here, it it!  Milwaukeeans don't need an excuse to drink beer to excess at any time of the year.

From my hearth to your hearth, blessings and best wishes for this holiday season and the new year to come.

Yes, it sure is good to be Queen of one's own domain...

Ancient Discovered on Yemen Island of Socotra

Hmm...wonder if they played chess there back in the old days... (just wondering about the name 'socotra' and ancient names for chess such as 'scaches')...  Touristy article that focuses more on the unique flora on the island than the discovery of the ancient ruins.

Ancient city unearthed in Socotra Island
[24/December/2010]
SANA'A, Dec. 24 (Saba) - Russian archaeological team has unearthed an ancient city in Socotra Island, the state-run 26sep.net reported on Friday.

Often touted as “red rock opium,” the resin is often sold as a narcotic, although its effects are mild at best when smoked. Image Source: Stefan Geens (cc)

After four-year archaeological excavations, the Russian team managed to discover an ancient city called "Khajlah" and located near Hidibu city, the main city in the island.

The city is dated back to the second century AD, according to the team's expectation.

The team said that the remains of the exposed ancient houses, roads, alleys and squares indicated that the city had been an administrative, religious and cultural area for the entire island.

In a related context, the Tourist office in the island said that about 2,590 tourists visited Socotra last November.

Socotra is an archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean. The largest island, also called Socotra, is about 95% of the landmass of the archipelago.

The island is very isolated and through the process of speciation, a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. It has been described as the most alien-looking place on Earth.

Botanical field surveys led by the Centre for Middle Eastern Plants - part of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh - indicate that 307 out of the 825 (37%) plant species on Socotra are endemic i.e. they are found nowhere else on Earth.

One of the most striking of Socotra's plants is the dragon's blood tree (Dracaena cinnabari), which is a strange-looking, umbrella-shaped tree. Its red sap was thought to be the dragon's blood of the ancients, sought after as a medicine and a dye.

AF/AF
Saba

An interesting article on "dragon's blood" at Divine Caroline :) 

And the New Women's World Chess Champion Is...

GM Hou Yifan of China.  From The Week in Chess:

Women's World Chess Championships 2010 (Final)

Mark Crowther (Fri Dec 24 14:06:00 2010)

The Women's World Chess Championships 2010 took place in Hatay, Turkey 2nd-24th December 2010. Losing finalist from 2008 Hou Yifan beat fellow countrywoman Ruan Lufei 3-1 in a rapid play-off in the final of this knockout tournament to take the title. The final itself was an error strewn nervy affair, Hou had already failed to hold a level position in game four of the normal time-rate games to win the match. Hou had by far the better of it in all the rapid playoff games too but she still had to play all 4 and hold herself together to take the title. She succeeds Alexandra Kosteniuk who was defeated in Round 3 and beat top seed Humpy Koneru in the semi-final and becomes the youngest women's champion at the age of 16. She vastly out-rated 23 year-old Ruan Lufei and the expectation of victory probably led to her nervy play, but in the end she showed herself to be clearly the better of the two. The play-off on 24th December saw four rapid games (25 minutes + 5 seconds per move). At least we were spared blitz (a pair of 5m + 10spm blitz games followed by (if needed) a final 5 minute to 4 minute sudden death game with 3 seconds per move after move 60 with black receiving draw odds.)

Additional coverage from The Week in Chess.

Susan Polgar's chess blog has been following the action since Day 1 - here are just a few of the most recent posts (she presented comprehensive coverage each day):

December 24, 2010 The New Chess Queen!
December 24, 2010 One Game Left for the Title and She Did It!
December 24, 2010 The Final Countdown

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's blog, some recent posts:

December 24, 2010 Congratulations to Hou Yifan for winning Women's World Chess Championship 2010
December 24, 2010 Women's World Chess Championship 2010 final - 4-game Match drawn, Hou, Lufei in playoff on Friday

Official website.

More current coverage at:

Chessdom
Chessvibes

In the coming days there will probably be many news articles and features on the Championship and Hou Yifan.  She is not the first Chinese champion but she is the youngest to win this title, which is still important in the eyes of millions of chess fans (female and male), despite FIDE's best efforts to degrade it over the years.  May Hou Yifan wear it proudly and do it justice.  She has a great tradition and the examples of many fine female champions to follow. 

2010 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Championships

Another big chess event coming to Milwaukee.  The Wisconsin Chess Academy has sponsored and organized the event under the auspices of the USCF.  Here is the bare-bones info:

2010 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Championships
Milwaukee, WI at the Crowne Point Hotel (Airport)
December 27 - 30, 2010!!!

In addition to the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Championships, the following events will be hosted:

-- Pan American Blitz Championship
-- Pan American Open
-- Pan American Scholastic

More information can be found at the collegechess.org website

and at Official 2010 Pan American Announcement

and at the Wisconsin Chess Academy website. 

Schedule:

• The first round of play will be on December 27, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. Milwaukee time (we're on Daylight Savings Time)
• Rounds 2 and 3 will be held on December 28, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
• Round 4 and 5 will be held on Decemer 29, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
• The final round wil be held on December 30, 2010 at 11:00 a.m.
• Closing Ceremony on December 30, 2010 at 4:00 p.m.

Eight separate teams fielded by Texas colleges alone will be competing with twenty other teams in the Intercollegiate Championships!  Texas Tech has three teams:  "A" -- average rating 2526; "B" -- average rating 1951; and "C" -- average rating 1775.  Susan Polgar will be here with the Texas Tech contingent.   Here is a list of the teams and players (as of 12/23/10) from the Wisconsin Chess Academy website.  Will UMBC repeat as champion?  The competition for the "final four" will be fierce!

For an interesting history of the Intercollegiate Championships, including a list of winners from 1946 through 2009, see Wikipedia. 

Must Be Santa...Bob Dylan Style :)

From Mr. Don - I love it!  He sent it to me at the office to play to "cheer things up" a bit.  No way!  This is for our special friends only :)  Enjoy!

And Then There Were Three...

From 'Sis. Thanks, 'Sis! There are now three "sub-species" of Homo Sapiens that are known to have interbred with each other.  Stay tuned.  Some day the scientists will actually figure it all out and get it RIGHT...

From The New York Times
Siberian Fossils Were Neanderthals’ Eastern Cousins, DNA Reveals
By CARL ZIMMER
Published: December 22, 2010
An international team of scientists has identified a previously shadowy human group known as the Denisovans as cousins to Neanderthals who lived in Asia from roughly 400,000 to 50,000 years ago and interbred with the ancestors of today’s inhabitants of New Guinea.

An international team of scientists has identified a previously shadowy human group known as the Denisovans as cousins to Neanderthals who lived in Asia from roughly 400,000 to 50,000 years ago and interbred with the ancestors of today’s inhabitants of New Guinea.

All the Denisovans have left behind are a broken finger bone and a wisdom tooth in a Siberian cave. But the scientists have succeeded in extracting the entire genome of the Denisovans from these scant remains. An analysis of this ancient DNA, published on Wednesday in Nature, reveals that the genomes of people from New Guinea contain 4.8 percent Denisovan DNA.

An earlier, incomplete analysis of Denisovan DNA had placed the group as more distant from both Neanderthals and humans. On the basis of the new findings, the scientists propose that the ancestors of Neanderthals and Denisovans emerged from Africa half a million years ago. The Neanderthals spread westward, settling in the Near East and Europe. The Denisovans headed east. Some 50,000 years ago, they interbred with humans expanding from Africa along the coast of South Asia, bequeathing some of their DNA to them.

“It’s an incredibly exciting finding,” said Carlos Bustamante, a Stanford University geneticist who was not involved in the research.

The research was led by Svante Paabo, a geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Liepzig, Germany. Dr. Paabo and his colleagues have pioneered methods for rescuing fragments of ancient DNA from fossils and stitching them together. In May, for example, they published a complete Neanderthal genome.

The stocky, barrel-chested Neanderthals left a fossil record stretching from about 240,000 to 30,000 years ago in Europe, the Near East and Russia. Analyzing the Neanderthal genome, Dr. Paabo and his colleagues concluded that humans and Neanderthals descended from common ancestors that lived 600,000 years ago.

But the scientists also found that 2.5 percent of the Neanderthal genome is more similar to the DNA of living Europeans and Asians than to African DNA. From this evidence they concluded that Neanderthals interbred with humans soon after they emerged from Africa roughly 50,000 years ago. [That's what they think they know - now.]

Dr. Paabo’s success with European Neanderthal fossils inspired him and his colleagues to look farther afield. They began to work with Anatoli Derevianko of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who explores Siberian caves in search of fossils of hominins (species more closely related to living humans than to chimpanzees, our closest living relatives).

Last year, Dr. Derevianko and his colleagues sent Dr. Paabo a nondescript fragment of a finger bone from a cave called Denisova. Dr. Derevianko thought that the fossil, which is at least 50,000 years old, might have belonged to one of the earliest humans to live in Siberia.

Dr. Paabo and his colleagues isolated a small bundle of DNA from the bone’s mitochondria, the energy-generating structures within our cells. Dr. Paabo and his colleagues were surprised to discover that the Denisova DNA was markedly different from that of either humans or Neanderthals. “It was a great shock to us that it was distinct from those groups,” Dr. Paabo said in an interview.

Dr. Paabo and his colleagues immediately set about to collect all the DNA in the Denisova finger bone. Once they had sequenced its genome, they sent the data to researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass., to compare with other species.

The Massachusetts scientists concluded that the finger bone belonged to a hominin branch that split from the ancestors of Neanderthals roughly 400,000 years ago. Dr. Paabo and his colleagues have named this lineage the Denisovans.

Next, the researchers looked for evidence of interbreeding. Nick Patterson, a Broad Institute geneticist, compared the Denisovan genome to the complete genomes of five people, from South Africa, Nigeria, China, France and Papua New Guinea. To his astonishment, a sizable chunk of the Denisova genome resembled parts of the New Guinea DNA. [They need to do more cross-matching, but I suppose lack of funding is a big issue...]

“The correct reaction when you get a surprising result is, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ ” said Dr. Patterson. To see if the result was an error, he and his colleagues sequenced the genomes of seven more people, including another individual from New Guinea and one from the neighboring island of Bougainville. But even in the new analysis, the Denisovan DNA still turned up in the New Guinea and Bougainville genomes.

If the Denisovans did indeed have a range spreading from Siberia to South Asia, they must have been a remarkably successful kind of human. [I don't understand the surprise.  We KNOW that people built rafts or canoes or some type of ocean-worthy craft and spread to the islands from southeast Asia at least 50,000 years ago.]  And yet, despite having the entire genome of a Denisovan, Dr. Paabo cannot say much yet about what they were like. “By sequencing my complete genome, there’s very little you could predict about what I look like or how I behave,” he said.

One solid clue to what the Denisovans looked like emerged in January. Dr. Paabo and his team had flown to Novosibirsk to share their initial results with Dr. Derevianko. Dr. Derevianko then presented them with a wisdom tooth from Denisova.

Bence Viola, a paleoanthropologist in the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, who was at the meeting, was flummoxed. “I looked at it and said, ‘Ah, O.K., this is not a modern human, and it’s definitely not a Neanderthal,”’ said Dr. Viola. “It was just so clear.”

The tooth had oddly bulging sides, for one thing, and for another, its large roots flared out to the sides. Back in Germany, Dr. Paabo and his colleagues managed to extract some mitochondrial DNA from the tooth. It proved to be a nearly perfect match to that of the Denisova finger bone. [But not a perfect match - so not from the same person, but closely related?  A bone and a tooth from two relatives who died in the same cave?  We need more information!  Unless all the articles I've read about mitochondrial DNA have been lying, this is only inherited through a mother.  Is potential cross-contamination an issue?]

That match offers some hope that if researchers can find the same kind of tooth on a fossil skull, or perhaps even a complete skeleton, they’ll be able to see what these ghostly cousins and ancestors looked like in real life.

Dr. Bustamante also thinks that other cases of interbreeding are yet to be discovered. “There’s a lot of possibility out there,” he said. “But the only way to get at them is to sequence more of these ancient genomes.” [Or re-analyze and understand better what we already think we know!  What will we think we know 30 years from now, for instance?]

Aphrodite Image Upsets Some - Diplomats!

Oh for goddess' sake - this political correctness stuff is getting ridiculous.  You can be sure that Muslims and anyone else who might be "offended" by a passport that contains an image of a priceless work of art aren't concerned, in their turn, about offending westerners with their views, practices and beliefs.

From Reuters as reported at Yahoo News
Goddess of Love emerges into foaming Cypriot row
– Thu Dec 23, 6:13 am ET


This lovely Aphrodite is called the
Aphrodite of Rhodes and is housed
in the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes.
She is depicted as wringing the sea water
out of her hair on the beach after her
birth from the foam of the waves.

 NICOSIA (Reuters Life!) – She may be the ancient Greek Goddess of Love, but a picture of a nude Aphrodite on the new passport of Cyprus has set more than hearts racing.

Cypriot diplomats are furious with the interior ministry for failing to consult with the foreign ministry before issuing passports with a depiction of a naked immortal that might offend conservative foreign cultures.

"They are worried that civilians and diplomats could get into trouble, particularly traveling to very conservative Islamic countries," the authoritative Phileleftheros daily newspaper wrote on Thursday.

The interior ministry said it was too late to change them, the newspaper said.

Local legend says Aphrodite (also known as Venus to the ancient Romans) emerged from the sea on a crest of foam just off the Mediterranean island.

The image on the new biometric passports is modeled on a Greek marble statue of a completely naked Aphrodite in the Cyprus Museum located in the capital Nicosia.

(Writing by Michele Kambas, editing by Paul Casciato)

Abuses in China's Official Population Control Policy

Gee, ya think?

From The New York Times [Excerpted]
Abuses Cited in Enforcing China Policy of One Child
By ANDREW JACOBS
Published: December 21, 2010

BEIJING — Thirty years after it introduced some of the world’s most sweeping population-control measures, the Chinese government continues to use a variety of coercive family planning tactics, from financial penalties for households that violate the restrictions to the forced sterilization of women who have already had one child, according to a report issued by a human rights group.

The report, published Tuesday by Chinese Human Rights Defenders, documents breadwinners who lose their jobs after the birth of a second child, campaigns that reward citizens for reporting on the reproductive secrets of their neighbors and expectant mothers dragged into operating rooms for late-term abortions.

Not uncommon, according to the report, are the experiences of women like Li Hongmei, 24, a factory employee from Anhui Province who was at home recovering from the birth of her daughter when a dozen men employed by the local government carried her off to a hospital for a tubal ligation. “I promised I would have the surgery when I got better but they didn’t care,” Ms. Li said in a telephone interview. “I screamed and tried to fight them off but it was no use.”

Although most of the abuses documented in the report are not new, its authors are seeking to highlight the darker side of birth-control restrictions at a time when the public debate has largely focused on whether China’s family-planning policy has been too successful for its own good. This year as the nation marked the 30th anniversary of the so-called one-child policy, officials have been praising such measures for preventing 400 million births. A smaller population, they argue, has helped fuel China’s astounding economic growth by reducing the demands on food production, education and medical care.

Some demographers, however, argue that plummeting fertility rates and a rapidly aging population are reasons enough to ease the rules. Sociologists fret about the surfeit of unmarried men — the result of selective abortions that favor sons — and the demands on only children forced to care for elderly parents.

As the report makes clear, China’s family-planning policies are unevenly applied and replete with exceptions. The rich simply pay the fines levied on those who ignore the restrictions, and some middle-class women have gotten around the rules by traveling overseas to give birth to a second child. Millions of couples refuse to register their newborns with the authorities, although that approach leaves such children ineligible for an array of social benefits, including a free education.

The policy is also not as all encompassing as many believe. Parents who themselves were raised in single-child families are allowed to have a second baby, as are many rural residents if their first is a girl. Ethnic minorities in some places, like Tibet and Xinjiang, can have as many as four children.

The worst abuses, the report says, take place in small towns and in rural areas, where a point system rewards or punishes local officials based on their ability to meet quotas. In many places, the revenues earned through fines on scofflaws, known as “social maintenance fees,” feed an entrenched bureaucracy.

In Jiangsu Province, parents who give birth to an “out of quota” child can be fined four times the average annual per capita income of the area. Other fines are imposed on women who miss regular gynecological exams or fail to undergo surgery for an intrauterine device. In one city in Hunan Province, the authorities collected $1.8 million in fines between July and September, according to government figures.

He Yafu, an independent demographer who has studied family-planning regulations for two decades, said one of the biggest obstacles to changes in the policy are county and township governments. “It’s become a huge vehicle for officials to collect money,” he said. “In some localities, the budget relies almost entirely on such fines.”

The report cites a number of recent cases that have wiggled through the media controls that normally filter out stories about family planning excesses. Last April, more than 1,300 people in Puning city, in Guangdong Province, were held hostage in government buildings in an effort to force women who had had a second child to undergo sterilization. The detainees, it turned out, were mostly elderly people whose daughters had left town to evade family planning restrictions. The campaign was so effective, according to a government Web site, that 3,000 sterilizations had been carried out by the fall.

Zhang Jing contributed research.

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - Final Between Hou and Ruan

Game 4 - Ruan wins.  Summary from official website:

Ruan Lufei won the fourth game of the final match and used her last chance to equalize the score! Playing with white pieces she chose an active continuation called Keres attack in Sicilian defense.

Tomorrow the last tie-break will be played at 12 a.m. It will consist of the 4 rapid games. 2 blitz games will follow if the score will be still equal. If it’s not enough to determine a World Champion the match will be decided in Armageddon. During the World Championship Ruan Lufei had already played in five tie-breaks while Hou Yifan had participated in only one (in the match with Zhu Chen).
Short (very short) interview with Ruan Lufei at official website:

“I have an opportunity which I got for free”

Anastasia Karlovich- Congratulations with your victory today. Please tell how did you manage to win? Did you feel any pressure during the game?

Lufei Ruan- Before the last game I thought I don’t have much chance and I thought she would win or maybe it would be a draw. I thought I only need to play, just to play it. If I have chance I’ll take it if I don’t have chance than just a joy of the game is ok. Anyway I’m satisfied with my result here now…  I’m satisfied even if I’m on the second place.

A.K- What about tomorrow tie-breaks. You won all previous matches in tie-breaks, so what is your feeling before the last one?

L.R- Hou Yifan is a very good rapid player, so she has good chances. I think she should have won the match today, so I still have options tomorrow. I have an opportunity which I get for free and I just want to play.

Neither snow, nor heat, nor wind, nor rain...

Can keep chessplayers from playing -



LAGUNA BEACH, CA - Two men take advantage of a break in the rain to play chess under umbrellas along the beach in downtown Laguna Beach. The downtown area was closed by up to 4 feet of storm runoff, which receded but left streets awash in mud. AP Photo/Denis Poroy.

This photo is from Laguna Beach, California, part of California that has been and continues to be pummeted by fierce rain and wind storms.  The same thing has happened from time immemorial, but people are still allowed to build houses on stilts over-looking ocean views, and every year those houses get swept away in landslides and mudslides when the rains come.  But chessplayers near the beach - hey, all is cool.  A typhoon could blow in and wouldn't disturb a fierce game in progress...

Philippines WFM Wins Bronze Medal

From Philstar.com
Pinay chesser wins bronze in Asian chess in Malaysia
(The Philippine Star) Updated December 23, 2010 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Woman Fide Master (WFM) Rulp Ylem Jose bagged a bronze medal in the 2010 Grand Asian Chess Championship (GACC) at the University of Malaya (UM) Second College in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday.

Jose, a member of the reigning UAAP champion Far Eastern U chess team under Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales, drew with WFM Jeslin Tay of Singapore in the ninth and final round to finish third with seven points.

The gold medal went to WGM Vera Nolsina (8pts) of Russia while the silver was won by WIM Ekaterina Kharashuta (7.5 points), also of Russia.

Four FEU players – WFM Jedara Docena, Lovelyn Medina, Jenny Rose Palomo and Rona Reigner Senora – made it to the top 10 in this annual event which attracted 43 players from six nations including Russia, Singapore, Iran, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The event, open to undergraduates from all over the globe, was held in cooperation with the Rakan Muda under the auspices of Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF).

National Chess Federation of the Philippines president-chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay lauded the Filipino chessers for the honor and glory they brought to the country.

“The success of the Filipino chess players in the international competition would somehow inspire Filipino youths to venture into this sport,” said Pichay, also head of the Local Waterworks and Utilities Authority.

In the men’s competitions, which drew 93 participants, IM Darban Morteza (8 points) took the gold and Nasri Amin (7.5) of Iran the silver, while GM Pavel Maletin of Russia won the bronze medal after a superior tiebreak over fellow seven-pointer and countryman FM Yvan Dzhumagaliev. . . . The FEU chess team’s Malaysian stint was supported by FEU president Anton Montinola, FEU athletic director Mark Molina and Pichay.

Ruan Lufei Attends American College

Imagine that.

From The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
CMU student aims to be chess queen
By Craig Smith
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, December 22, 2010

A Carnegie Mellon University doctoral student is hoping to return to Pittsburgh as the women's world chess champion -- if she can play David to her opponent's Goliath.

Lufei Ruan, 23, a student at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business who is playing for China, beat Xue Zhao, also of China, to reach the finals at the world championships in Hatay, Turkey, on Saturday. She's playing another Chinese player, Hou Yifan, 16, for the title this week.

Their first match Monday ended in a draw, which some observers count as a good sign for Ruan. But Yifan struck back Tuesday and led in the four-game match.

"Her nerves are very good," Alexander Shabalov, a four-time U.S. chess champion who lives in Squirrel Hill, said of Ruan, who defeated defending champion Alexandra Kosteniuk on her way to the finals. Ruan declined to be interviewed.

Strong nerves are needed in the high-stakes game, said Carnegie Mellon doctoral student Iryna Zenyuk, 24, a women's international master from Ukraine.

According to World Chess Federation rankings, Yifan is No. 3 in the world with 2,591 points; Ruan is rated No. 21 with 2,480 points.

"I would say Ruan is probably considered the underdog," said chessmaster Jerry Meyers, scholastic director of the Pittsburgh Chess Club in Squirrel Hill. "(Yifan) is young, but she's amazed a lot of people."

"She really has done the Cinderella story," chessmaster Bruce Leverett of Mt. Lebanon said about Ruan. "Yifan is one of the top prodigies in the world in either sex."

Although Pittsburgh counts other chess champions among its residents, Leverett said it's rare to have this kind of talent in the city. Hans Berliner came to Pittsburgh, for example, after winning his correspondence world championship.

"It doesn't happen. ... She's the second-strongest player (behind Shabalov) in Pittsburgh now," Leverett said of Ruan.

Ruan leads the Carnegie Mellon team that plays in the Pittsburgh league, Zenyuk said.

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - Final Between Hou and Ruan

Game 3 today - a draw.  Game 4 tomorrow.  Ruan needs a win to force rapid and, if necessary, blitz games to determine the title.  A draw tomorrow gives the title to Hou.

Here is the summary from the offical website:

The third game of the match was drawn, therefore Hou Yifan lost her chance to finish the match today. For the second time in the match Ruan Lufei, playing Black, chose Caro-Kann. She managed to win a pawn but could not implement it into more in the ending with the opposite color bishops and rooks. Then Black decided to transform the position into the ending with 3 pawns and a bishop against a pawn and a rook of White. Despite an advantage she didn`t succeed to win those ending and could not equalize the score in the match.  Tomorrow Ruan Lufei plays with white pieces. She needs to gain a full point in order to balance a score and let the match to be decided in tie-breaks.

2010 Women's World Chess Championship - Final Between Hou and Ruan

First game - draw.

Second game, Hou won with the black pieces.

Summary from the official website:  Hou Yifan won the second game of the final. Playing with black pieces, she defeated her compatriot Ruan Lufei. After the opening Ruan Lufei got comfortable position and could create some problems for the opponent. Instead she decided to enter the ending which was better for the Black. Hou Yifan got two extra pawns and didn’t give any chance for her opponent in the rook ending.  Tomorrow Hou Yifan has white pieces. The match will be finished in her favor If she wins the third game of the final.