Oh no, it's snowing again...

It's begun - the snow - but current forecast calls for a mere 1-3" tonight, an additional inch tomorrow with possibly another inch accumulating after 6 PM tomorrow night. The big story is strong winds and plunging temperatures that have not hit - yet - but are in the forecast through noon on Monday. Great, just great. That means I get to walk to the bus stop Monday morning in -40F winds with blowing frozen snow slapping me in the face the entire 3/4 mile.

I thought I'd look for some long underwear - can't get it delivered in time for Monday morning's trek, of course, but it would be a wise wardrobe addition for January, February, March and April, which is roughly the span of winter in Wisconsin in addition to November and December. Sigh. I found these red and white striped very cute long johns - but don't dare wear them unless you weigh less than 100 pounds and are at least 5'10" tall. Obviously not made for anything remotely resembling a REAL American woman like yours truly, LOL!

Blast from the Past: Kramnik the Lucky Loser

Chess News by Jude Acers from PlayJava.com March 27, 2000. London, England. World top five chess grandmaster V. Anand of India has shocked the chess world today by rejecting a two million dollar ($2,000,000) -16 game match with world number one rated superstar G. Kasparov. Mr. Anand reportedly demanded $300,000 from the fund being held in escrow in advance , withdrew when the cash did not arrive. Mr. Malcolm Pein (The Daily Telegraph) reports that V. Kramnik of Russia will be offered the challenger's role with launch date April 5, 2000 for all arrangements....the startling developments today complete the near miracle luck of Mr. Kramnik, now guaranteed $665,000 loser's purse and the Kasparov match in one of the apparently great rip-offs of all time --.Mr. Kramnik was badly beaten, losing two and drawing 8, winning NONE versus superstar A. Shirov for a Kasparov match two years ago...Readers will recall that Mr. Kramnik WAS PAID A REPORTED 200,000 FOR LOSING, Mr. Shirov left with huge bills, received nothing for winning when world number one Kasparov disappeared with collapse of the "guaranteed 3 million dollar" Kasparov-led match arrangements. Mr. Shirov, ALREADY deprived of one million dollars PLUS a match with Kasparov earned one thousand times over, must now only watch in agony as fate robs him of everything anew. Mr. Shirov, probably a de-facto world chess champion after defeating all of the top three available chess players in MONACO last week ( including Anand, Kramnik, Karpov etc. with a tremendous first place score: 14.5/22 in the Melody Amber half blindfold play/half rapid event, is so far quite the most unlucky chess grandmaster in history...

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With the FIDE-imposed rule changes regarding the Grand Prix and the creation of a new eight-player tournament to determine a challenger to Anand for the world title, Kramnik will have yet another kick at the can without having earned it. Most everyone who has commented on the matter assumes that the Russians will come through with a bid for the event and nominate Kramnik as their man to play.

What's the old saying - the more things change, the more they stay the same...

2008 National 'A' Women's Chess Championship of India

The Indian press is giving enthusiastic coverage to the National 'A' Women's Chess Championship this year - the best yet, I'd say. Perhaps the fantastic year that Indian chess stars have had, including the successful defending of his world chess champion title by GM Vishy Anand, has fired the press up as never before, and interest is at an all-time high in chess across the country. I love seeing this kind of enthusiasm for the game I love, particularly for a chess femme event. Here is a sampling of article that cropped up in a news search a few minutes ago: Kruttika defeats Bhakti Hindu, India - 1 hour ago NEW DELHI: Kruttika Nadig took the long route to victory against former National junior champion Bhakti Kulkarni in the third round of the Parsvnath 35th ... Amrutha holds Soumya in Parsvnath National Women Chess Bombay News, India - 5 hours ago Maharashtra's Amrutha Mokal held overnight leader Soumya Swaminathan to a creditable draw on the top table in the third round of ongoing Parsvnath 35th ... Amrutha holds Soumya in Parsvnath National Women Chess SINDH TODAY, Pakistan - 6 hours ago New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) Maharashtra’s Amrutha Mokal held overnight leader Soumya Swaminathan to a creditable draw on the top table in the third round of ... Amrutha holds Soumya in Parsvnath National Women Chess Thaindian.com, Thailand - 7 hours ago New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) Maharashtra’s Amrutha Mokal held overnight leader Soumya Swaminathan to a creditable draw on the top table in the third round of ... Tania, Amrutha held at National Women championship Indiatimes, India - 8 hours ago 20 Dec 2008, 1833 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Defending champion Tania Sachdev was once again held to a draw, while overnight leader Soumya Swaminathan also ... Soumya stuns Tania Hindu, India - 22 hours ago NEW DELHI: Soumya Swaminathan surprised defending champion Tania Sachdev with her clean calculation under time-pressure to emerge as the leader after two ... Here's the first article from The Hindu. The writer enthusiastically conveyed the excitement and tension of Round 3, which was keenly fought by all of the chess femmes. Sport - Chess Kruttika defeats Bhakti Kamesh Srinivasan (File photo: Kuttika Nadig) NEW DELHI: Kruttika Nadig took the long route to victory against former National junior champion Bhakti Kulkarni in the third round of the Parsvnath 35th National ‘A’ women’s chess championship at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture here on Saturday. With the leader Soumya Swaminathan being held to a draw by a gutsy Amrutha Mokal, the 20-year-old Kruttika had reasons to be satisfied with her position, half point behind. “It was a very funny game,” observed Kruttika. Complicated position After the Slav Defence had led to a complicated position, Kruttika conceded that she tried ‘all kinds of tricks’, to find a breakthrough. Eventually, she had two bishops against a rook, but combined her queen with the bishops to wreak havoc and swallowed the rook as well. Kruttika could have sealed the match with a bishop move on the 62nd turn, but drove the enemy king all over the board before executing the checkmate in 73 moves. “I sacrificed to gain tempo, but she made some mistakes and lost,” said Kruttika, even as she agreed that she did not play the best moves, owing to time trouble. Three-time Asian junior champion Mary Ann Gomes, grappling with a bout of cold, bolstered her sagging morale with a 37-move victory over last year’s runner-up Kiran Manisha Mohanty. “It was a very tough game. She had an attack, but once it failed, my pieces became active. I gained material advantage too. “I should not have let the match drift for so long. There should have been a better option,” said Mary. She took her tally to 1.5 points with the victory in 37 moves. Swati Ghate was also happy to get back to winning ways after an error in the second round when she had to endure the ignominy of being check-mated following a hasty king move. The 28-year-old sacrificed to gain momentum, but did not have to work hard on her strategy for long as her opponent blundered the queen and lost her way. “I could have played a better course, but there is a long way ahead,” said Swati. Time trouble Soumya played as well as she could, but found dark horse Amrutha a tough nut to crack, despite the latter facing her usual enemy, time trouble. At one stage, Soumya took so much time to plan her course, nearly 20 minutes for a move, that there was hardly any difference in the clock of the two. “She played very well. There was nothing much I could do,” said the 19-year-old Soumya who had upset defending champion Tania Sachdev in the second round. The 22-year-old Tania revealed her craft in holding WGM Eesha Karavade to a draw in 53 moves, despite being a pawn less in a knight against bishop end-game. Pon N. Krithika continued to impress with her understanding of Ruy Lopez, as she snatched half a point from WGM Nisha Mohota in a 36-move encounter. The results (third round): Soumya Swaminathan (2.5) drew with Amrutha Mokal (1.5); Eesha Karavade (1.5) drew with Tania Sachdev (1.5); Kiran Manisha Mohanty (1) lost to Mary Ann Gomes (1.5); Pon N. Krithika (1.5) drew with Nisha Mohota (1); Bhakti Kulkarni (0.5) lost to Kruttika Nadig (2); Swati Ghate (2) bt Padmini Rout (1). Fourth round pairings: Amrutha-Padmini; Kruttika-Swati; Nisha-Bhakti; Mary-Krithika; Tania-Kiran; Soumya-Eesha.

It's DONE! (for now...)

The driveway is finished! I got back from the store at 1:40 PM and shoveled for another hour and 10 minutes and it's finished! This go-round I didn't even crack a sweat.

I stocked up on nuts for the squirrels and goodies for me and a meaty pot roast with fixings that I will make in the slow cooker Monday nigh, store overnight in the fridge (the inner crock pot removes from the heating element and has a glass dome cover) and finish up Tuesday night in anticipation of dondelion's arrival. Nothing better than having a good home-cooked meal and a tall glass of wine and warm rolls waiting for one after a long hard day of traveling. What can I say - I spoil the man rotten :)

Saturday Morning and No Heart Attack!

Hola darlings! I've survived the storm - now another one is on the way. New bulges on the arms - I tell you, I WILL have Popeye arms in another week or two if this keeps up. This new storm will be a doozy, not so much because of the amount of snow that is expected (maximum a mere 7") but because of strong winds and plunging temperatures that will push sustained windchills to 35 to 40 below zero F starting later tonight, and all day tomorrow. Blowing and drifting snow is expected to cause major travel hazards locally and white-out conditions. So, I've got a lot more to do today before the storm hits - it's already noon! I got behind the time when Isis called from Las Vegas - where more snow is forecast! We chatted for a good hour at least. I slept in today, did not get up until 7:30 AM, eek! I've been shoveling. Got out at 9 AM and put in a good hour this morning in addition to the initial 40 minutes yesterday and then an hour and 15 minutes later yesterday, moving the heaviest of the snow -- clearing out the base of the driveway where the plow piled up chunks of ice and hard snow to 4 feet deep. Here's what my driveway looks like at present:

You can now barely see the mail and newspaper boxes from the front stoop now (compare to photos taken 24 hours ago) The fresh layer of snow that accumulated over the past 24 hours is also clearly visible - ha, the weather dude said "no accumulation" expected from lake effect snow, which I ALWAYS get.

The driveway is now much narrower since the last shovel-out and is also "crooked" - lol! There are also decided curves in the cleared area although my driveway is a straight shot from the road. Well, it was hard to judge where to plunge the shovel into the snow banks to start shoveling yesterday when the snow was still blowing in my face. Once I get the rest of the bulk shoveled away (starting where the shovel is buried) closest to the house and garage door (probably another hour's worth of steady hard work), I will whittle away on the sides of the snow banks to widen out the driveway area and attempt to straighten out the curves. I don't need to do this, of course, since there is no car parked in the garage that I need to drive in and out. But it's damn good exercise, both aerobic and muscle-wise. Since I'm not walking anymore during lunch-hours I need to get in what exercise I can, when I can. I still want to get down to the weight I was in November, 2003, the last time delion and I visited Las Vegas. The scale keeps fluctuating - I either have to lose 5 lbs. or 3 lbs., depending on what time of the day it is. Can I do it? Assuming we can get out of Milwaukee on 12/24, I've only got a few more days to lose those last pounds! Eek! The left shoulder is aching again - I'm very mindful of not wanting to tear my rotator cuff, so I try to get equal time in on the right shoulder, but despite my best efforts there is just no comparison.

But first I've got to hike down to the supermarket and get a few things, some wine (for moi) and nuts (for the critters), and start stocking in food for dondelion's visit, assuming he can get here. Weather is very iffy in both Montreal and Milwaukee for his Tuesday flight, we're crossing out fingers. I won't be stirring outdoors at all tomorrow other than to shovel off the deck for the critters, the weather is supposed to be that bad. The forecasters are already warning about the mini-blizzard conditions, which is bad enough. It's the 35 to 40 below zero F temperatures that most bother me. My hands freeze up in nothing flat despite investing this season in supposedly super-duper thermal gloves. Ha! Fraud! Well - at least they have a waterproof outer coating which comes in handling when shoveling because with the winds whipping around I get lots of blowback - mostly in the face but on the hands and jacket too. Arghhh! Okay - time to get a move on. Have much cleaning and then doing Goddesschess stuff to do before I'll be back here blogging. Right now, time to put the boots back on and bundle back up and head to the Pick 'n Save. I do not look forward to battling the mad crowds there, which there are sure to be! Heave Ho, Jan. Time to brave the elements once again...

Furry Friends

The squirrels are out in force this morning - no doubt they can anticipate the new storm blowing in that may dump another 7" of snow here starting later on this afternoon, yech! Here are three different visitors all within a minute of each other: (1) on a thin branch (nice view of my neighbors' shed and backyard :)) (2) Ninja squirrel - demonstrating her stealth and wary mode (3) and (4) are the same cheeky little gal - she's covered in snow because she loves to dig deep in the snow. I missed a great shot of just her tail sticking up out of a deep hole, lol! I whistled my presence at the patio door and she came up out of the hole and made a beeline for me. She's checking me out with the camera - not sure what the heck it is, but she grabbed a nut anyway and then paused long enough at the top of the edge of the snow for me to grab the final shot. You can see the fresh snow that fell after I shoveled the deck yesterday morning and all of the critters' paw prints all over the place - as well as their pathways from the trees up to the partially excavated deck.

King Tut's Father Identified

At least, Zahi Hawass says so :) King Tut's Father ID'd in Stone Inscription Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News Dec. 17, 2008 -- An inscribed limestone block might have solved one of history's greatest mysteries -- who fathered the boy pharaoh King Tut. "We can now say that Tutankhamun was the child of Akhenaten," Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Discovery News. The finding offers evidence against another leading theory that King Tut was sired by the minor king Smenkhkare. Hawass discovered the missing part of a broken limestone block a few months ago in a storeroom at el Ashmunein, a village on the west bank of the Nile some 150 miles south of Cairo. Once reassembled, the slab has become "an accurate piece of evidence that proves Tut lived in el Amarna with Akhenaten and he married his wife, Ankhesenamun," while living in el Amarna, Hawass said. The text also suggests that the young Tutankhamun married his father's daughter -- his half sister. "The block shows the young Tutankhamun and his wife, Ankhesenamun, seated together. The text identifies Tutankhamun as the 'king's son of his body, Tutankhaten,' and his wife as the 'king's daughter of his body, Ankhesenaten,'" Hawass said. "We know that the only king to whom the text could refer as the father of both children is Akhenaten, himself. We know from other sources that Ankhesenamun was the daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Now, because of this block, we can say that Tutankhamun was the child of Akhenaten as well," Hawass said. Found among other sandstone slabs in the storeroom of El Ashmunein's archaeological site, the block was used in the construction of the temple of Thoth during the reign of Ramesses II, who ruled around 1279-1213 B.C. But the block wasn't freshly cut by the workers of the temple. Instead, it was recycled and brought there from el Amarna, along with some other thousand blocks, originally used to build the Amarna temples. Now known as el Amarna, the city was once called Akhetaten after the "heretic" pharaoh Akhenaten (1353-1336 B.C.) had established the capital of his kingdom, introducing a monotheistic religion that overthrew the pantheon of the gods to worship the sun god Aton. When Akhenaten died, a state decree was issued to purposefully destroy Amarna and its building materials were distributed for use elsewhere. According to Hawass, the block comes from the temple of Aton in Amarna and the forms of the inscribed names clearly date it to the reign of Akhenaten. The best-known pharaoh of ancient Egypt, King Tut has been puzzling scientists ever since his mummy- and treasure-packed tomb was discovered in 1922 the Valley of the Kings by British archaeologist Howard Carter. Only a few facts about his life are known. While he lived in el Amarna, his name was Tutankhaton ("honoring Aton" -- the sun god). When he ascended the throne in 1333 B.C., at the age of nine, and moved to Thebes, he changed his name to Tutankamun ("honoring Amun" -- a traditional cult). As the last male in the family, his death in 1325 B.C. at age 19 ended the 18th dynasty -- probably the greatest of the Egyptian royal families -- and gave way to military rulers. Mapping out the lineage of the Egyptian pharaohs is one of Hawass's latest challenges. King Tut has been either credited to be the son of Akhenaten or the offspring of Amenhotep III, who was Akhenaten's father. Doubts also remain about King Tut's mother. Scholars have long debated whether he is the son of Kiya, Akhenaten's minor wife, or Queen Nefertiti, Akhenaten's other wife. Egyptian researchers are currently carrying out DNA testing on two mummified fetuses found in King Tut's tomb, believed to be his offspring. "If the fetus DNA matches King Tut's DNA and Ankhesenamun's DNA, then we would know that they shared the same mother," Hawass said. According to Swiss anatomist and paleopathologist Frank Ruhli, head of the Swiss Mummy Project at the University of Zurich, Hawass' finding is very important. "It supports one of my favorite theories about King Tut's parentage. DNA of proven relatives would help if it matches with the one of King Tut," Ruhli told Discovery News.

2008 National 'A' Women's Chess Championship of India

Story from The Times of India: Soumya upsets Tania to jump into sole lead 20 Dec 2008, 0055 hrs IST, TNN NEW DELHI: Soumya Swaminathan jumped into sole lead with 2 points after upsetting defending champion and top seed Tania Sachdev in the second round of the 35th National Women’s A Chess Championship on Friday. The day saw a lot of surprises as the four decisive results went in favour of underdogs. Amrutha Mokal got the better off WGM Swati Ghate in 35 moves. In another surprise result, N Krithika overcame second seed Kruttika Nadig in just 30 moves. Another WGM, Nisha Mohota also suffered a setback as she lost to Kiran Manisha Mohanty of Orissa. Padmini Rout and Eesha Karavade signed the peace treaty against Bhakti Kulkarni and Mary Ann Gomes respectively in the other matches.

Blizzard Aftermath

So, about 12:15 PM I pulled the boots back on, bundled up, and headed out to the deck to shovel. I did about half of it before running out of steam. Then I tramped lots of snow through the house to go out the front door and tackle a pathway to the road. I was outdoors altogether about 40 minutes and made some headway, as you can see from the photos (bel0w). I came in to warm up and take an hour's break. I came upstairs with the memory card and sat down at my desktop. LOL! I kid you not, while I was sitting here shortly after 1:00 PM downloading the photos this email from Travelocity appeared: Jan, you need a break. Here's the bad news: you look tired. [Gee, I wonder why>] But here's the good news: we can fix that! You might not know it, but you've still got time to book a vacation before the end of the year. Whether you want to head home over the holidays or spend them lying on a tropical beach, we've got some great deals just for you. Head over to Travelocity.com and you'll find the following: Low fares, a variety of destinations, and thousands of customer-reviewed hotels Our convenient FareWatcher Plussm tool, which lets you watch up to 10 destinations and tells you when the fares drop Our cutting-edge ExperienceFindersm planning tool Our industry-leading Guarantee, which ensures that we'll look out for you all trip long—even before you go Plus, we'll help you out with a great holiday offer [travel coupon]. dondelion and I do have a get-away planned - to the relative warmth of sunny Las Vegas which only received 3.6" of snow on Tuesday, if he can actually get here from Montreal on the 23rd and if we can actually get out of here Christmas Eve morning! Photos: Deck - about half-shoveled, I shoveled off the part that only had a foot of snow first. The second half has about a foot and a half to two feet of snow, I think I'll wait until it melts in the spring... Front - stoop is now somewhat cleared and I have the start of a pathway not quite half-way down the drive. The goal is the mail box and paper box that you can see behind my shovel in the far distance... It's now 1:41 PM. I think I need a nap...

Blizzard Aftermath

It's officially over - for now. My area got 13" of snow. But the winds have not abated, so I'm getting a lot of blow-off from my neighbors and my drifts are getting bigger and bigger, arggghhh! Roads are being cleared - not mine yet, so I won't even bother to start shoveling the front driveway until the plows have been through again. I'll start on the deck. The bluejays showed up about 30 minutes ago, I threw some peanuts out for them and "called" them in my croaky "jay" voice and they came right away, diving for the peanuts in the snow on the deck. I am now doing research on snowblowers, I've got to get one, I just can't do another season of shoveling this kind of snow. I hate the thought of another smelly, big heavy gas-guzzling machine that I won't be able to handle. Where are the kids who go around house to house looking for shoveling work for $$$ when you need them? I've lived here nearly 20 years now and I've YET to have a kid come by and ask if I need help shoveling out! Back to consumer reviews of snowblowers.

Christmas Tree

This year's version of my Yule Tree. I know, I know, it looks fully loaded, but it doesn't have the gold beads or the burgundy crystal snowflakes this year!

View from My Desk Downstairs

Living room decorated for Christmas. This is a view from my desk.

View from My Front Window

Right after I took this shot someone dressed in black and yellow cross-country ski gear (complete with goggles) glided past the house - the flash was recharging on my camera so I could not get the shot! It's now 10:38 AM and I hear snowblowers going all over the neighborhood, but it's still snowing. I'll wait until it stops before attempting to shovel a path for myself. The small part of the deck that I shoveled out earlier this morning is covered now with at least an inch of fresh snow, so it has slowed down, no longer snowing 2" an hour.

Blizzard! Views from the Front Porch

Photos from my front door, taken about 10:00 AM. You can barely make out the tracks I made earlier in the morning going to the road to fetch the paper, about 8:30 AM.

Intrepid Squirrels During Milwaukee Blizzard

Another camoflauged squirrel - he's hanging upside down on the right side of the trunk, just above the middle of the frame. It's not clear but he's eating one of the hazelnuts I tossed around the base of the tree. The picture looks greyed out - that's the heavy snow falling/blowing.

Intrepid Squirrels During Milwaukee Blizzard

One of my squirrels had fetched a nut from the base of the Chinese Elm and climbed up to a safe limb to enjoy the start of his breakfast. You can't tell from the photo, but it's snowing hard and blowing. This little guy is protected from the wind out of the northeast by the tree trunk.

Intrepid Squirrels During Milwaukee Blizzard

He's well camoflauged, but he's there - one of the squirrels that had gathered around the base of the big Chinese Elm out back, on the tree trunk on the left near the top of the frame. The snow in that part of my backyard isn't as deep as on the deck (see prior post photos) - you can see tracks from the honeysuckle bush in the background leading to the tree, and nearly filled-in tracks in really deep snow from the top of the retaining wall headed toward the deck!

Blizzard!

Right on time, the snow started around midnight. "Officially" we have about 9 inches at the moment, with more at the lakefront and downtown because of strong northeast winds off the lake. It's supposed to mostly taper off by noon, but there could be lake effect snow (I'm within five miles of downtown so I get it) until 3 PM. Winds are gusting up to 35 mph but are to "calm" to 20 mph as the front moves to the east. I'm taking a few pictures, figuring they're the best way to convey what I'm dealing with here at the moment. I didn't sleep well last night, I finally gave it up at 5:15 and went downstairs to look out the front door. At the time, there was a large drift where the driveway curves to head toward the road from my front porch, but the porch itself had only about 5 inches of snow; later, about 8:30 AM when I ventured out to get see if Sue, my intrepid newspaper deliverer, had made it through, I had to shove the storm door hard to open it through more than a foot of snow that had piled up since 5:15 AM. I had my tall boots on (they come up to my knees), and they weren't tall enough to keep the snow out. I managed to get to the mailbox and paper box at the road. Am totally plowed in, and the plow has only been through once. The road is already covered again with snow, so he'll be through again. There is probably a 18 to 24" of snow in my driveway, drifts are higher. (Photo: This is as much of my deck out back that I managed to shovel. Tell me, do you think this is a "mere" 8" of snow??? That little speck in the middle of the shoveled area is a hazelnut that fell out of my pocket as I was shoveling. You can see some of the tracks of the squirrels who had ventured from the big tree, looking for food). I dialed the office employee hotline after I put coffee on at 5:15 AM to hear the official announcement - our Milwaukee and Waukesha offices are closed today. Milwaukee County government offices are closed; Milwaukee City government offices are closed; all schools are closed. Last I heard, buses were still running, but many are getting stuck in high drifts. Plows and salters have been out all night but they cannot keep up with the snow that continues to fall, let alone the blowing and drifting. Entrance and exit ramps to the expressways are clogged shut. White-out conditions exist in many open areas. (You can hardly see him, but if you look to the left of the big tree below the top of the retaining wall, you can see what looks like a grey lump. It's a squirrel emerging from deep snow, where he had been digging for something to eat). I had my coffee, turned off the lights and settled down in my recliner with a toasty down throw. When I awoke from my doze about 8:20 AM I checked the patio to see - to my absolute astonishment - squirrel tracks in the deep snow! So, after I fetched my newspaper I attempted to shovel the deck. I didn't get very far. There were several squirrels gathered at the base of the big Chinese Elm, the base of which is sheltered by an old railroad tie retaining wall so the snow wasn't too deep there, so I threw several hand-fulls of hazelnuts there for them, and watched them scampering up and down the tree, fetching and eating the nuts. The older squirrel who has that "dropsy" disease was there - it is amazing to me he is still alive; it's been a tough winter, colder and more snow than normal, although this is the second year in a row we've had these bad snows. It was months ago I pointed out this squirrel to dondelion because he kept falling over whenever he stopped moving. Presently, the forecast for tomorrow is another 6 inches of snow starting tomorrow night into Sunday, and more on Tuesday. Three guesses what I'll be doing all weekend...

Thursday is Ladies' Chess Night!

Story from The Brooklyn Paper December 18, 2008 Pawns in the game of love By Sarah Portlock Ladies night: Christian Whitted of the New York Chess and Game Shop in Park Slope offers free chess for people without Y chromosomes on Thursdays. So if you’re name is Bobbie Fischer, this place is for you. Finally, a place where you can check out potential mates while also check-mating them. In the great Reese’s tradition of putting together two seemingly mismatched things, a new chess and gaming emporium on Flatbush Avenue has turned Thursdays into Ladies’ Night, where everyone from Bobby Fischer brainiacs to Bobbie Fischer rook-ies can get free chess games all night long. The fun is at the new New York Chess and Game Shop, at 192 Flatbush Ave., near Dean Street. Owner and chess master Christian Whitted, who teaches at York College in Queens, said women always ask him where they can play outside of class. So he built out the space for them, and for budding neighborhood chess fans alike. “We want to create a hub in the community,” Whitted said. “This is like theater of the mind — we will entertain you as well as keep you informed.” The spot opened earlier this fall, and boasts 25 tables on two floors where gamers can play chess, checkers, backgammon, Scrabble, Monopoly or cards. There’s also a coffee counter in the corner, and boards and other chess memorabilia for sale. And you can have all that gaming for cheap — customers rent the tables for $3 per person per hour, or challenge the resident masters. Those games are $3 for a three-minute game, $5 for a five-minute game, or $7 for a 10-minute or untimed game. But how far will that $5 get you? Not that far. “I can beat an average player in 30 seconds,” Whitted said, confidently. The shop makes it money on its semi-private tutoring sessions, which are $90 for five 90-minute classes, and comes with a free chess set. The most fun is, of course, on Thursdays. “Ladies’ Day is always good,” Whitted added. New York Chess and Game Shop [192 Flatbush Ave., near Dean Street in Prospect Heights, (718) 398-3727]. Hours: Daily, 11 am–11 pm. For info, visit http://www.newyorkchessandgameshop.com/. ©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

2008 National 'A' Women's Chess Championship of India

From Indopia.in Tania off to a flier in National Women's 'A' chess Published: December 18,2008 New Delhi, Defending champion Tania Sachdev of Air India got off to a flying start defeating Amrutha Mokal of Maharashtra in the first round of the Parsvnath 35th National Women schess championship here today. Second seed Kruttika Nadig and fourth seed Soumya Swaminathan also scored fine victories over Kiran Manisha Mohanty and Asian Junior champion Mary Ann Gomes respectively. Third seed Eesha Karavade was lucky to escape with a draw against Nisha Mohota in the opener. In the other games of the day, Swati Ghate played imaginatively to beat Bhakti Kulkarni while youngest participant and under-14 girls world champion Padmini Rout played out a draw with Pon N Krithika. The 12-player, 11-round event saw some fascinating games in the first round and Tania was quite impressive in her mauling of Amrutha who was outplayed after a bad opening. Playing the white side of Queen Indian defense, International Master Tania controlled the game early. Amrutha fell under time pressure and gave up in just 28 moves. Playing with black pieces, Soumya Swaminathan accounted for in-form Mary in a Sicilian Najdorf game. Launching a side variation in English attack, Soumya benefited from a strategic error in the middle game from Mary and won after 33 moves. Mohanty tried a recently popular variation in the Sicilian Najdorf against Kruttika Nadig but her plans were foiled by the latter in a fine display of counter attacking chess. Kruttika won in 37 moves. Round One Results: Tania Sachdev beat Amrutha Mokal; Bhakti Kulkarni lst to Swati Ghate; Soumya Swaminatha beat Mary Ann Gomes; Kiran Manisha Mohanty lost to Kruttika Nadig; Pon N Krithika drew with Padmini Rout; Eesha Karavade drew with Nisha Mohota.