Objections to Indian "Festival of Lights" in The Netherlands

Controversy Over Dutch Support For Hindu Goddess Monday, October 5, 2009 (1:20 pm) By BosNewsLife News Center AMSTELVEEN, NETHERLANDS (BosNewsLife)-- Citizens in the Dutch town of Amstelveen have condemned plans by local authorities to support a controversial Hindu festival that would involve praying to a Hindu goddess from India, in the heart of the town. The nearby Dutch capital Amsterdam and Amstelveen-based KPMG, one of the world's largest professional services providers, also finance the October 10 festival on Amstelveen's 'Stadsplein' (Town Square). Local officials said the 'India Diwali Festival', or 'Festival of Lights', is part of a policy to accommodate the Indian community in Amstelveen, a European gateway for international companies due to its location near Schiphol Airport and key highways. Goddess Lakshmi is a key attraction during the festival, which symbolizes the victory over evil, according to organizers. Young visitors can receive Hindu make-up and dresses, and also paint their own small clay lamp, while the event will also feature Hindu tattoos, music, dancing, and hundreds of small lights, reported the influential Amstelveen-based news website amstelveen.blog.nl. CHRISTIANS SHOCKED Several Amstelveen citizens, including Christians, have expressed shock about the event and demanded that the local Christian party ChristianUnie (ChristianUnion) protests the planned festival in the local council. "This seems idolatry. Why is the ChristenUnie not asking questions about [this]," wrote Hans van der Liet in a reaction on amstelveen.blog.nl. "It is strange that the municipality sponsors [these] religious activities. When can my Roman Catholic parish pick up a bag of money?" Questions have been raised whether financially troubled Amstelveen, which lost 15 million euro ($22 million) due to investments in Iceland's collapsed banking sector, should spend money on the Hindu event at a time of budget cuts elsewhere. The ChristenUnie's Amstelveen representative, Jacqueline Koops – Scheele, did not reply to BosNewsLife's requests for clarification whether her party would protest the event. The founder of Christian online news agency BosNewsLife Stefan J. Bos, who lived in Amstelveen before moving to Budapest, Hungary, said authorities were overlooking "credible reports that minority Christians in India have no right to openly pray to their God. "INDIAN CHRISTIANS "While Amstelveen wants to honour a Hindu goddess, Indian Christians are jailed, tortured, and even murdered for honoring their God and Lord Jesus Christ," said Bos, who also participated in the expanding forum discussions on the Amstelveen news Website. Organizers defended the festival saying Indians are "one of the fastest growing communities in the region" and that they wanted to encourage non-Indians "to learn about the culture of their neighbors. "That prompted someone to write that Amstelveen is using the festival as another way "to attract Indians with their big wallets." Other writers disagreed, describing the festival as "harmless"and a "cultural event. "The controversy in the strategic town comes amid concerns among some Christian and political leaders in the Netherlands about what they regard as the growing influence of Muslims, Hindus and other groups in the predominantly Catholic and Protestant nation. HEADSCARF TAX Far-right politicians have criticized what they view as the attack on the Netherlands' Christian-Jewish traditions. Last month the controversial politician Geert Wilders of the Freedom Party (PVV) proposed in parliament to tax the Muslim headscarf. Any Muslim woman who wants to wear a headscarf - which he described as a 'head-rag' - would have to apply for a licence, and pay one thousand euros (about $1,500) for the privilege. Wilders said the money raised would go toward women's emancipation programmes. However other politicians questioned the plan, saying it would also impact for instance nuns and elderly ladies wearing a headscarf for weather reasons. (With reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos). Copyright 2008 BosNewsLife. All rights reserved.

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Unofficial standings after R6 - just my rough adding up points: Clear first: Zatonskih - 5.5 Clear second: Baginsakite - 4.5 On 3.5: Melekhina, Krush, Foisor On 2.5: Goletiani, Tsagaan Zenyuk: 2.0 Yun Fan: 1.5 Abrahamyan: 1.0 All games were decisive today - no draws. Yun Fan takes the point from Abrahamyan! My head is spinning. I was listening to the live commentary by Jen Shahade and Ben Finegold but also dashing in and out doing yard work, cooking, doing laundry and miscellaneous cleaning - and then the live commentary stopped at 5:00 p.m. Damn! Earlier today the commentators mentioned that norms were up for grabs: 6.0 for a WGM and 6.5 for an IM. Norm watch: Baginskaite needs 2.0 out of 3 for an IM norm; Foisor would need to go 3.0 out of 3 to get an IM norm. Melekhina needs to go 2.5 out of 3 to score a WGM norm. I've got lots of other things to do this evening, so I'm signing off for now. Round 7 tomorrow at noon CST. Here are the R 7 match-ups: Krush vs Foisor Baginskaite vs Tsagaan Abrahamyan vs Zenyuk Melekhina vs Fan Goletiani vs Zatonskih Updated 8:36 p.m. -- official standings: # Name USCF FIDE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Score 1 Anna Zatonskih 2492 2462 ½ 1 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 5½ 2 Camilla Baginskaite 2356 2317 ½ - ½ - - ½ 1 1 1 4½ 3 Irina Krush 2490 2458 0 - ½ - 1 1 ½ ½ - 3½ 4 Alisa Melekhina 2253 2220 0 ½ ½ 1 - ½ - - 1 3½ 5 Sabina Foisor 2379 2320 - - - 0 0 1 1 1 ½ 3½ 6 Battsetseg Tsagaan 2265 2258 0 - 0 - 1 0 ½ 1 - 2½ 7 Rusudan Goletiani 2437 2391 - ½ 0 ½ 0 1 - - ½ 2½ 8 Iryna Zenyuk 2271 2285 0 0 ½ - 0 ½ - 1 - 2 9 Yun Fan 2134 1935 - 0 ½ - 0 0 - 0 1 1½ 10 Tatev Abrahamyan 2342 2275 0 0 - 0 ½ - ½ - 0 1

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Zatonskih - Melekhina: 1-0 Zenyuk - Baginskaite: 0-1 Yun Fan - Abrahamyan: 1-0 [White "Zatonskih, Anna"][Black "Melekhina, Alisa"][Result "1-0"][WhiteELO "2492"][WhiteTitle "IM"][BlackELO "2253"][BlackTitle "WIM"][Source "MonRoi"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 d6 6.Nf3 Bd7 7.O-O Qc8 8.Re1 Bh3 9.Bh1 Bg4 10.Bg5 Re8 11.Qd2 c6 12.Rad1 Nbd7 13.Bh6 Bh8 14.Ng5 Nf8 15.Bg2 Ne6 16.f3 Nxg5 17.Bxg5 Bh3 18.Bxh3 Qxh3 19.e4 Nh5 20.Qf2 Bf6 21.Be3 b6 22.f4 c5 23.e5 cxd4 24.Bxd4 dxe5 25.fxe5 Bh8 26.Nd5 Rac8 27.b3 Qe6 28.Bb2 Ng7 29.Rf1 h5 30.Nf4 Qf5 31.Qe2 Ne6 32.Nd5 Qg4 33.Qg2 h4 34.gxh4 Qxh4 35.Rd3 Bg7 36.Rh3 Qg5 37.Rg3 Qh5 38.Rh3 Qg5 39.Rg3 Qh5 40.Qf2 g5 41.a4 Rcd8 42.Qf5 Qg6 43.Qg4 Kh7 44.h4 Bh6 45.Qf3 Rf8 46.h5 Qc2 47.Rg2 g4 48.Qxg4 Rg8 49.Rxf7 Kh8 50.Rxc2 Rxg4 51.Rg2 Rxg2 52.Kxg2 Nf4 53.Nxf4 Rd2 54.Kf3 Rxb2 55.Ng6 Kg8 56.Rxe7 Rxb3 57.Ke4 Rb4 58.Rc7 Rxa4 59.e6 Ra1 60.Rc8 Kg7 61.e7 Re1 62.Kd5 Kf7 63.Rf8 1-0 [Event "2009 US Womens Championship"][Site "St Louis"][Date "2009.10.10"][Round "6"][White "Zenyuk, Iryna"][Black "Baginskaite, Camilla"][Result "0-1"][WhiteELO "2271"][WhiteTitle "WIM"][BlackELO "2356"][BlackTitle "WGM"][Source "MonRoi"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 O-O 8.Rc1 dxc4 9.Bxc4 c5 10.O-O cxd4 11.exd4 Nc6 12.a3 Bxc3 13.bxc3 e5 14.d5 Rd8 15.Ba2 Bg4 16.Re1 Ne7 17.c4 Ng6 18.Bb1 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 Qxf3 20.gxf3 Nh4 21.Rc3 f6 22.c5 Rac8 23.Be4 Kf8 24.Rd1 f5 25.Bc2 b6 26.c6 Ke7 27.Kf1 Rd6 28.Ke2 Kd8 29.Re3 Ng6 30.Bxf5 Nf4 31.Ke1 Ng2 32.Ke2 Nf4 33.Ke1 Ng2 34.Kf1 Nxe3 35.fxe3 Rcxc6 36.Ke2 Rc3 37.e4 g6 38.Be6 Rxa3 39.Rc1 Rxe6 40.dxe6 Ke7 41.Rg1 g5 42.h4 gxh4 43.Rg7 Kxe6 44.Rg6 Kd7 45.Rxh6 b5 46.Rxh4 b4 47.f4 exf4 48.Rxf4 a5 49.Kd2 Rh3 50.Rf5 a4 51.Ra5 a3 52.Kc1 Kc6 53.Kb1 Kb6 54.Ra8 Kb5 55.e5 Kc4 56.e6 Kb3 57.Kc1 Re3 0-1 [White "Fan, Yun"][Black "Abrahamyan, Tatev"][Result "1-0"][WhiteELO "2134"][WhiteTitle ""][BlackELO "2342"][BlackTitle "WFM"][Source "MonRoi"]1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.c4 O-O 5.Nc3 d6 6.O-O Nc6 7.d3 h6 8.Bd2 e5 9.Rb1 a5 10.a3 Be6 11.e4 Nd7 12.b4 axb4 13.axb4 Kh7 14.Ne1 Nd4 15.Nc2 c6 16.Ne2 Ra2 17.Ncxd4 exd4 18.Nc1 Ra3 19.Nb3 Qa8 20.Bc1 Ra7 21.Bb2 c5 22.b5 Nb6 23.f4 f5 24.e5 Na4 25.exd6 Qd8 26.Qc2 Qxd6 27.Rfe1 Bf7 28.Nd2 Nc3 29.Ra1 Rxa1 30.Rxa1 Qe7 31.Nf3 Re8 32.Re1 Qc7 33.Rxe8 Bxe8 34.Qd2 Qa5 35.h3 Bd7 36.Kh2 Qb4 37.Ne5 Bc8 38.Nf7 b6 39.Ne5 Qb3 40.Bc1 g5 41.Nf7 gxf4 42.gxf4 Na2 43.Nd6 Qc3 44.Qxa2 Qxc1 45.Nxc8 Qxf4 46.Kg1 Qe3 47.Qf2 Qxd3 48.Nd6 Kg6 49.Bf1 Qb1 50.Qg3 Kh7 51.Nxf5 1-0

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Round 6 Results (in progress): Foisor - Goletiani: 1-0 Tsagaan - Krush: 0-1 Still playing: Zatonskih - Melekhina; Zenyuk - Baginskaite; Yun Fan - Abrahamyan [White "Foisor, Sabina"][Black "Goletiani, Rusudan"][Result "1-0"][WhiteELO "2379"][WhiteTitle "WGM"][BlackELO "2437"][BlackTitle "IM"][Source "MonRoi"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 O-O 6.Nf3 Na6 7.g3 Nxc5 8.Bg2 b6 9.Bd2 Bb7 10.O-O Rc8 11.Rfd1 a6 12.Rac1 Bxc3 13.Bxc3 b5 14.Ng5 g6 15.Bxb7 Nxb7 16.Ne4 Ne8 17.cxb5 axb5 18.Qd3 d6 19.Qxb5 Qe7 20.Bd2 Ra8 21.Bh6 f5 22.Bxf8 Kxf8 23.Ng5 Nc5 24.Rxc5 dxc5 25.Qc6 Ra7 26.Nxe6 Kf7 27.Nf4 Nf6 28.a3 Rb7 29.Nd5 Nxd5 30.Qxd5 Kg7 31.Rd2 Ra7 32.e3 Kh6 33.h4 Ra4 34.Qd7 Qe4 35.Qd8 Ra7 36.Qf8 Kh5 37.Qxc5 Ra6 38.Qd5 Qg4 39.Kg2 h6 40.Qf3 Ra4 41.Qxg4 fxg4 42.Rd5 g5 43.hxg5 hxg5 44.Rd4 Ra8 45.a4 Ra7 46.b3 Ra8 47.Rd5 Ra7 48.a5 Ra8 49.b4 Ra7 50.e4 Ra8 51.e5 Ra6 52.f3 Rc6 53.Rc5 1-0 [White "Tsagaan, Battsetseg"][Black "Krush, Irina"][Result "0-1"][WhiteELO "2265"][WhiteTitle "WIM"][BlackELO "2490"][BlackTitle "IM"][Source "MonRoi"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Nb3 Bb4 7.Bd3 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Bd2 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Bd6 11.Qh5 Nc6 12.Rd1 Be6 13.Bg5 Qc7 14.O-O Ne7 15.c4 Ba3 16.c5 Ng6 17.Bxg6 fxg6 18.Qf3 Bf7 19.Qh3 O-O 20.Rd7 Qc8 21.Be7 Be8 22.Rd3 Qxh3 23.Rxh3 Rf7 24.Bd6 b6 25.Re1 Rd8 26.Rd3 Bb5 27.Rdd1 Rfd7 28.Rb1 Bb4 29.Rxe5 bxc5 30.h4 Rxd6 31.Nxc5 Rd1 32.Rxd1 Rxd1 33.Kh2 Rc1 34.a4 Bf1 35.Rd5 Rxc2 36.Rd8 Kf7 37.Ne4 a5 38.Rd7 Kf8 39.Ng5 Bc4 40.Nxh7 Ke8 41.Rxg7 Bd6 42.Kh3 Be6 43.g4 Rxf2 0-1

Indus Script Dravidian - Says Expert

Here we go again - another round has been fired in the never-ending war of "Aryans," Indus, and "Dravidians." Article from thehindu.com Indus script linguistically Dravidian: expert S. Ganesan October 10, 2009 The Indus script is Dravidian linguistically and culturally closer to the old Tamil polity than what has been recognised so far, eminent epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan has said. He shared some of his recent and still-not-fully-published findings relating to the interpretation of the Indus script, in an endowment lecture on ‘Vestiges of Indus Civilisation in Old Tamil’ at the 16th annual session of the Tamil Nadu History Congress, which opened here on Friday. Mr. Mahadevan said that though the claim could be met with incredulity, the evidence he had gathered over four decades of intensive study of the sources — the Indus texts and old Tamil anthologies — had led him to the conclusion. Mr. Mahadevan, who specialises in the Indus script and Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, said there was also substantial archaeological evidence to support the view that Indus Civilisation was pre-Aryan. The Indus Civilisation was urban, while the Vedic culture was rural and pastoral. The Indus seals, he said, do not depict the horse and the chariot with ‘spooked wheels,’ which were the defining pieces of the Aryan-speaking societies. “The Indus religion as revealed by the pictorial depiction on seals included worship of a buffalo-horned male god, mother-goddesses, the pipal tree and the serpent, and possibly the phallic symbol. Such modes of worship present in Hinduism are known to have been derived from the aboriginal population and are totally alien to the religion of the Rig Veda.” There was also substantial linguistic evidence “favouring Dravidian authorship of the Indus Civilisation,” he said, citing Brahui, a Dravidian language still spoken in the Indus region, Dravidian loan words in the Rig Veda, the substratum influence of Dravidian on Indo-Aryan as shown by the presence of retroflex consonants in the Rig Veda and major modifications in the Prakrit dialects moving them closer to the Dravidian than the Indo-European family of languages. Computer analysis of Indus texts has also revealed that the language had suffixes only as in Dravidian and no prefixes as in Indo-Aryan or infixes as in Munda. Clarifying that he was employing the terms, ‘Aryan’ and ‘Dravidian,’ only in linguistic sense, he said speakers of the Aryan languages indistinguishably merged with Dravidian and Munda-speaking people millennia ago, creating a composite Indian society. [Well, their DNA can still be traced out, as recently evidenced - see my September 27, 2009 post.] Priestly functionary Referring to the ‘BEARER’ ideograms in the Indus script, he said the frequent Harappan title, ‘Bearer,’ originally meant a priestly functionary ceremonially carrying, on a yoke, food offerings to the deity. The corresponding Dravidian expression, ‘poray’ (bearer) was translated in the Rig Veda as Bharata (bearer). [I am not aware that ANY lexicon has been established and generally accepted by linguists for the Indus symbols - did I miss something?] The symbols inscribed on a Neolithic axe found at Sembiyan Kandiyur near Mayiladuthurai in 2006, a most significant discovery connecting Indus Civilisation with Tamil Nadu, corresponded to the signs of the Indus script. Symbols found on megalithic pottery and potsherds from Sanur and Mangudi in Tamil Nadu also resembled the signs of the Indus script.

China Institute Film Series: Sinomatheque

We had the pleasure of visiting the China Institute when we were in New York in May. The Institute does a fantastic job of bringing exclusive and leading-edge cultural exhibits to the United States direct from the People's Republic of China.

Super, Girls!, with director JIAN Yi Saturday, October 24, 2009 An open discussion with director, JIAN Yi, will follow the screening. SUPER, GIRLS! (73 min., JIAN Yi, 2007, Mandarin w/English subtitles), 4:30 - 6:00 PM
 

'Mainstream' life is fairly underrepresented in independent Chinese documentaries as filmmakers tend to focus more on the society's underprivileged groups. Yet 'mainstream' life in fast changing societies like China's can be as different as Red Guards in 1960s, poets in 1980s, businessmen in 1990s and the 'Super-girls' in 2000s. What are the values of the family's-only-child generation?  How do they release their tremendous extra energy and money and embrace a globalized culture?

 

China should not be just the playground for banks and corporations. China's new generation of independent filmmakers look into the present-day mainstream culture and document and scrutinize this crazy and confusing time of the nation's history." -Jian Yi JIAN Yi (Chinese: 简艺; pinyin: jiǎn yì) is a Chinese independent filmmaker, visual artist, and writer.

 

He received an MA in International Peace Studies from University of Notre Dame in 1998 and an MA in International Journalism from Beijing Broadcasting Institute in 1999. He is the founder & director of ARTiSIMPLE Studio which was founded in January 2005 and has pioneered the art of collaborative community and citizen projects.  He launched the IFCHINA pilot project in Ji'an of Jiangxi, China in 2008-09 with Douglas Xiao and Eva Song.

 

Jian Yi is a Starr Foundation Fellowship grantee ('07-'08) under the New York-based Asian Cultural Council, a Fellow ('08-'10) of the India-China Fellowship at the New School in New York City and a Visiting Fellow ('07) at CRASSH of Cambridge University. Jian Yi is one of the Yale World Fellows appointed by Yale University in the year 2009. He is one of the three Chinese national finalists selected by the British Council for its 2007 International Young Film Entrepreneur of the Year award. He has worked as a filmmaker and senior art consultant for a number of European Union projects in China. In 2005-06, he partnered with premier documentary filmmaker

 

Wu Wenguang to launch the China Villager Documentary Project. Jian's photos on China's village governance toured the nation's seven provinces as well as the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels and the European Parliament in Strasburg.

 

ADMISSION: $8 for non-members and $5 for members. Popcorn and refreshments will be served.

 

Seating is LIMITED. Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis.

 

Please visit www.chinainstitute.org/edu/sinomatheque for tickets.

 

For further information, please contact sinomatheque@chinainstitute.org, or 212-744-8181 x150.

 

China Institute advances a deeper understanding of China through programs in education, culture, business and art in the belief that cross-cultural understanding strengthens our global community. dGenerate Films is committed to bringing visionary cinema and uncensored content from China's truly independent filmmakers to the U.S. For more information, please visit www.dgeneratefilms.com.

China Institute 125 East 65th Street New York, New York 10065

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

The action for R6 starts at noon tomorrow, CST. Check out these videos from the Internet Chess Club/Chess FM blog in the meantime: player interviews Opening Day activities, including video of IM Anna Zatonskih's blindfold simul

Photo: By Betsy Dynako, 2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championships, IM Anna Zatonskih (left) and IM Irina Krush (right)

2009 Women's Grand Prix Nanjing

Final standings: 1. Xu Yuhua g CHN 2485 8 2619 2. Dzagnidze, Nana g GEO 2535 7½ 2572 3. Zhao Xue g CHN 2542 7 2540 4. Sebag, Marie g FRA 2519 6½ 2505 5. Mkrtchian, Lilit m ARM 2468 6½ 2510 6. Ju Wenjun CHN 2443 6½ 2512 7. Shen Yang wg CHN 2453 6 2482 8. Munguntuul, Batkhuyag wg MGL 2418 5½ 2450 9. Kovanova, Baira wg RUS 2408 5 2415 10. Zhu Chen g QAT 2488 4½ 2378 11. Fierro Baquero, Martha L m ECU 2386 2 2191 12. Yildiz, Betul Cemre wm TUR 2224 1 2084 WIM Betul Yildiz scored her only point in a last round win against IM Martha Fierro.

Cleaning the Sacred Ganges River

One billion plus people living in India, the vast majority of whom are Hindu, want to float their bodies (cremated or otherwise) away down the sacred river upon leaving this earthly coil. So what do you think happens with all of those bodies and other, er, remains? That doesn't include local-point pollution and raw sewerage being dumped into the sacred river by the millions of tons each day, probably. Why would ANYONE want to bathe in the sacred Ganges, let alone drink its waters? Frankly, I'm surprised the estimated price tag is that cheap! Story at Telegraph.co.uk: India plans £2bn clean-up of the Ganges India's most sacred and polluted river is to be cleaned up with a £2 billion plan to divert thousands of tonnes of human ashes, dead bodies and waste into sewage plants. By Dean Nelson in New Delhi Published: 6:08PM BST 06 Oct 2009 The news will be a breath of fresh air to India's 830 million Hindus, each of whom must bathe in holy waters of the Ganges at least once in their lifetime. According to Hindu scripture, the river was created from the hair of the god Shiva to purify the earth and wash away its sins. Today the government is banking on new sewerage treatment plants to purify the "cleansing river" which is slowly dying under the weight of billions of litres of excrement, chemical waste, ashes and the bloated bodies of dead humans and animals. The stench from the treacle-like Ganges – or Ganga – has become a talking point among tourists who visit the holy city of Varanasi to marvel at the devotion of Hindus who drink its black water. It is a source of embarrassment to ministers who would like to see one of the country's greatest attractions returned to its former glory. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh unveiled "Mission Clean Ganga" to create new water treatment plants, reduce human and chemical pollution and bring sewage levels down towards bathing standard by 2020. The government has applied for a £1.5 billion World Bank loan to finance the project but has pledged central and state government funding to underwrite the work. Treatment plants in northern Indian cities which line the Ganges, like Kanpur, Lucknow and Allahabad, currently have the capacity to clean 220 million gallons per day of the 660 million gallons of sewage per day the towns flush into the river. However, experts said they do not believe the plan will succeed because it does not include the funds needed to move the sewage to the new treatment plants, or pay for the 24-hour electricity supply they need. RK Srinivasan, of the Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Science, said similar action plans had wasted hundreds of millions of pounds on failed projects to revive the Ganges' tributary, the Yamuna River. He said while Delhi has 30 sewerage plants, only half the city is served by sewerage pipes, and 50 per cent of the city's raw sewage flows straight into the river. For the Ganges, only 15 per cent of sewerage is treated before flowing into the river. Unpaid electricity bills mean many treatment plants sit idle, he said, while the sewage content of the rivers is concentrated because fresh water further upstream is diverted into the cities for drinking. "People defecate in the river because although there are toilets – 85 per cent in cities and 26 per cent in rural areas have access to toilets – they are not in use because there is no maintenance and there is a lack of water," he said. "The government should focus on managing the water, let fresh water flow in the river. Then the Ganga's sewage would be diluted," he said. [Yeah, right - and all those people upriver, what are they supposed to use for drinking water instead?] No pun intended - what a big stinking mess. It's not a joke. We can't live without potable water, PERIOD.

+20,000 Year Old Cave Paintings Discovered in Spain

Cave paintings more than 20,000 years old found in Deba (Gipuzkoa) Staff - 10/08/2009 eitb.com The paintings, found in Deba's Astigarraga cave, have been described by experts as the Basque Country's most important finding since the discovery of the Altxerri cave in Aia and Ekain in Deba. [Will the Basques try to claim it was Basques who drew them??? Only kidding:)] A group of archaeologists working in the Astigarraga cave in Deba have uncovered the oldest cave paintings discovered in Gipuzkoa to date. Dating back between 20,000 and 22,000 years, the markings represent a group of 16 "paired fragments" in red. Doctor of History and expert in cave paintings, Marcos García Díez, speaking during a conference with press, stressed that this was one of the most important discoveries made in the Basque Country since the discovery of the Altxerri cave in Aia and Ekain in Deba, and highlighted the archeological "potential" of the site. The Astigarraga cave, which was first discovered in 1967, contains other paintings such as one of a mass of black paint covered with concretions of lime, possibly intended to represent an equine animal; or another, of several engraved lines going in various directions which seemingly stand for an anthropomorph (or human-like creature). "Little visual impact" García Díez insisted that, although the images, discovered in August, do not have "much visual impact", their importance lies in the fact that the "paired fragments" - "very rare in cave art" - are binding proof that they were painted in the Upper Paleolithic age and, more specifically, during the Solutrean era, of which they are typical. [Hmmmm, does this means it's just a bunch of erratic lines scratched into the cave walls? Where are the photographs?] In his judgement (sic), these "paired fragments" can be explained by means of Ethnography, or the study of human societies, which would reveal that many primitive groups of the age still used their fingers to paint with during rituals in which they attempted to contact supernatural and transcendent forces. The director of the dig, José Antonio Mujika, who began studying Astigarraga in 2005, also indicated that inside the cave they had found bones placed in crevices and a small throwing dart hidden among stones.

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Official standings after R5: # Name USCF FIDE Score 1 Anna Zatonskih 2492 2462 4½ 2 Camilla Baginskaite 2356 2317 3½ 3 Alisa Melekhina 2253 2220 3½ 4 Irina Krush 2490 2458 2½ 5 Rusudan Goletiani 2437 2391 2½ 6 Sabina Foisor 2379 2320 2½ 7 Battsetseg Tsagaan 2265 2258 2½ 8 Iryna Zenyuk 2271 2285 2 9 Tatev Abrahamyan 2342 2275 1 10 Yun Fan 2134 1935 ½ Okay, I figure people who are much more knowledgeable about these things than I will say that players 4th place thorugh 7th place don't have much of a chance to catch the leaders with only 4 games left. But darlings, I won't take that to the bank! REST DAY FRIDAY. The action resumes Saturday and I'm thinking that Monroi, the ICC/Chess FM and uschesschamps.com will have their hands full keeping up with demand of viewership. At least - I sure hope so! The match-up in R6 that everyone is already anticipating is Zatonskih - Melekhina. GM Susan Polgar has her work cut out for her, trying to decide who's going to win the Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award! Honestly, has there been a game yet where any players have just mailed it in? I haven't seen one. Whew!

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

A continuation from the earlier post - still haven't eaten supper! 8:16 p.m. -- just tuned into Baginskaite - Yun Fan and saw it turn into a 1-0, another win for Baginskaite but a hard-fought game by Fan. [Event "2009 US Womens Championship"][Site "St Louis"][Date "2009.10.08"][Round "5"][White "Baginskaite, Camilla"][Black "Fan, Yun"][Result "1-0"][WhiteELO "2356"][WhiteTitle "WGM"][BlackELO "2134"][BlackTitle ""][Source "MonRoi"] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 O-O 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 b6 8.Qb3 Bb7 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Rd1 Re8 12.Bd3 c6 13.O-O Nd7 14.Rfe1 Nf8 15.e4 Ne6 16.e5 Be7 17.Bf5 Bf8 18.g3 Bc8 19.Qc2 Ng5 20.Nxg5 Bxf5 21.Qxf5 Qxg5 22.Qxg5 hxg5 23.f4 gxf4 24.gxf4 g6 25.Kf2 Bh6 26.Kf3 Re6 27.b4 a6 28.Na4 Rb8 29.Rg1 Kh7 30.Rdf1 Bf8 31.a3 a5 32.Rb1 axb4 33.axb4 f6 34.Rgc1 fxe5 35.fxe5 Bh6 36.Rf1 Re7 37.Rb3 Ra7 38.Nc3 Bd2 39.Ke2 Bg5 40.b5 c5 41.dxc5 bxc5 42.Nxd5 Ra2 43.Kd3 Rxh2 44.b6 Rh4 45.Kc3 Rd4 46.Nf6 Kg7 47.Rb2 Rf4 48.Rxf4 Bxf4 49.Nd7 Rb7 50.e6 Bd6 51.Kc4 g5 52.Kd5 Bf4 53.Kc6 Rb8 54.Nxb8 Bxb8 55.e7 1-0 Just looked at Abrahamyan - Zatonskih: 0-1! Zatonskih is now in first place with 4.5/5! Wow! [Event "2009 US Womens Championship"][Site "St Louis"][Date "2009.10.08"][Round "5"][White "Abrahamyan, Tatev"][Black "Zatonskih, Anna"][Result "0-1"][WhiteELO "2342"][WhiteTitle "WFM"][BlackELO "2492"][BlackTitle "IM"][Source "MonRoi"] 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb3 Bd6 6.Nc3 dxe4 7.Ng5 O-O 8.Ncxe4 Nxe4 9.Nxe4 Bf5 10.Ng3 Qd7 11.Nxf5 Qxf5 12.O-O Nd7 13.Be3 Nc5 14.Bxc5 Bxc5 15.Qe2 Rad8 16.Rae1 Rfe8 17.Qe4 Qf6 18.c3 Re7 19.Kh1 g6 20.Rd1 Kg7 21.g3 Bd6 22.Kg2 Bc7 23.Rfe1 Rde8 24.Re3 Bb6 25.Rf3 Qg5 26.h4 Qh5 27.Re1 f5 28.Qc4 Kh8 29.d4 e4 30.Rfe3 Qh6 31.Bc2 Qg7 32.f3 exf3 33.Kxf3 Rxe3 34.Rxe3 Rxe3 35.Kxe3 Qe7 36.Kf2 f4 37.gxf4 Qxh4 38.Kf3 Qh3 39.Ke2 Qg2 40.Kd1 Qg1 41.Ke2 Qg4 42.Ke1 Qxf4 43.Qe6 Kg7 44.Qe7 Qf7 45.Qe5 Qf6 46.Qe4 Bc7 47.Bd3 Qf4 48.Qe7 Qf7 49.Qe2 Qxa2 50.c4 Qa5 51.Kd1 Qg5 52.Kc2 Qf6 53.Qe8 Bd8 54.Qd7 Qe7 55.Qg4 Qf7 56.Kb1 Bf6 57.Qf4 Qd7 0-1 And at 8:21 p.m. before my eyes - THE HEADBANGER GAME OF THE DAY goes to Tsagaan - Foisor: 1-0! Incredible game. Neither chess femme was giving an inch! [Event "2009 US Womens Championship"][Site "St Louis"][Date "2009.10.08"][Round "5"][White "Tsagaan, Battsetseg"][Black "Foisor, Sabina"][Result "1-0"][WhiteELO "2265"][WhiteTitle "WIM"][BlackELO "2379"][BlackTitle "WGM"][Source "MonRoi"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bg7 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 Qa5 8.O-O O-O 9.Bb3 d6 10.h3 Bd7 11.Re1 Rac8 12.Nd5 Rfe8 13.Bd2 Qd8 14.Nf3 e6 15.Nxf6 Bxf6 16.c3 Qc7 17.Bg5 Bxg5 18.Nxg5 h6 19.Nf3 Red8 20.Qd2 Kg7 21.Rad1 Be8 22.Re3 Ne7 23.Rd3 Bc6 24.Rxd6 Rxd6 25.Qxd6 Qxd6 26.Rxd6 Bxe4 27.Ne5 Rc7 28.f3 Bd5 29.c4 Bc6 30.Kf2 h5 31.g4 hxg4 32.hxg4 g5 33.Bc2 Kf6 34.Nxc6 Nxc6 35.Be4 Ke5 36.Rd1 Ne7 37.b3 f5 38.gxf5 exf5 39.Bb1 Ke6 40.Ke3 a6 41.Rd8 Ng6 42.a3 Rh7 43.Bd3 Rh3 44.c5 Nh4 45.Bc4 Ke7 46.Rb8 Nxf3 47.Rxb7 Kd8 48.Bxa6 g4 49.Kf4 Nd4 50.Bc4 Kc8 51.Rg7 Nxb3 52.Be6 Kb8 53.c6 Rc3 54.Rb7 Ka8 55.Rxb3 Rc5 56.Bxf5 Ka7 57.Bd7 Rc4 58.Kg3 Ka6 59.Rd3 Kb6 60.Rd5 Rc3 61.Kxg4 Rxa3 62.Rb5 Kc7 63.Rb7 Kd6 64.Kf5 Ra1 65.Rb4 Kc7 66.Rc4 Rf1 67.Ke5 Re1 68.Kd5 Rg1 69.Rc2 Rg5 70.Kc4 Rh5 71.Kb4 Rh4 72.Kb5 Rh5 73.Rc5 Rh1 74.Bf5 Rh8 75.Be4 Re8 76.Bd5 Rb8 77.Kc4 Rb1 78.Ra5 Kd6 79.Be4 Rc1 80.Kd4 Rd1 81.Ke3 Re1 82.Kf4 Rf1 83.Bf3 Rc1 84.Rd5 Kc7 85.Rd7 Kb6 86.Rb7 Kc5 87.Ke5 Re1 88.Be4 Rg1 89.c7 Rg8 90.Rb8 1-0 Well, it's been an incredible day at the office -- for me and for these players! How many times have I seen quick draws and la-la play in games just before a day off in a long tournament? Well - not in THIS tournament. Okay - now I'm going to hunt around for the standings, or try and figure them out myself - or check at Susan Polgar's blog because she always has the fastest information online! RESULTS R5: Battsetseg Tsagaan 1-0 Sabina-Francesca Foisor Irina Krush ½-½ Iryna Zenyuk Camilla Baginskaite 1-0 Yun Fan Tatev Abrahamyan 0-1 Anna Zatonskih Alisa Melekhina ½-½ Rusudan Goletiani Okay - waiting for official standings to be calculated, here is my rough guess (Zatonskih is clear first, so I had no problem there): Zatonskih: 4.5 Melekhina: 3.5 Baginsakite: 3.5 Tsagaan: 2.5 Foisor: 2.5 Goletiani: 2.5 Krush: 2.5 Zenyuk: 2.0 Abrahamyan: 1.0 Yun Fan: 0.5 L00k at the jam-up at 2.5. Wow! I'm exhausted already - not even playing, just watching!

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Holy Goddess! I just checked into the http://www.uschesschamps.com/ website to see what was going on with the games, expecting that some of them would be concluded by now (6:37 p.m. CST) and lo and behold, NONE of them are finished yet. Wow! Is everyone fighting fighting fighting? Live commentary from GM-elect Ben Finegold and Macauley Peterson (hope I spelled his name correctly) just took a break - so I'm going to dip in and look at the positions. NOT that I understand anything, mind you. LOL! Okay - I'm back - after roughly a 2 minute look at the Irina v. Iryna game, I think black is better - but don't ask me why! Okay - the live commentary is back (6:41 p.m.) - Macauley just commented that this is the first time that all five games went past time control. Whew! I just looked at the Melekhina-Goletiani game, which I was trying to pay attention to at the office. Let me tell you darlings, it's impossible to work and look at a chess board trying to figure out what the heck is going on at the same time! But I tried it anyway, and had my headphones on since 2:00 p.m. Everyone who walked into my office assumed I was on a conference call as I tried to block the computer screen with my body, LOL! Anyway, I like Melekhina's position. Baginskaite - Fan Yun -- no idea who is better - not even who is giving the appearance of looking better. 6:47 p.m. - Abrahamyan - Zatonskih -- Zatonskih is up a pawn, but her pieces look funny to me, they're sort of divided on either side of the board. 6:49 p.m. - Tsagaan - Foisor -- don't have a clue! From the discussion I heard between Shahade and Finegold earlier today about how Tsagaan seems to get into time trouble a lot, I thought she wouldn't make time control. Lo and behold! Here she is! So, folks, don't expect any enlightening commentary from moi. I'll continue to follow the action and report back as soon as there are some resolutions. Updated: 6:52 p.m. -- Irina and Iryna have drawn there game. [Event "2009 US Womens Championship"][Site "St Louis"][Date "2009.10.08"][Round "5"][White "Krush, Irina"][Black "Zenyuk, Iryna"][Result "1/2-1/2"][WhiteELO "2490"][WhiteTitle "IM"][BlackELO "2271"][BlackTitle "WIM"][Source "MonRoi"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c3 Bg7 4.Bf4 O-O 5.Nbd2 d5 6.e3 Bf5 7.h3 Nbd7 8.Be2 c5 9.O-O Qb6 10.Qc1 Rac8 11.Ne5 Rfd8 12.Re1 Ne8 13.Nxd7 Rxd7 14.Nb3 c4 15.Nd2 Nd6 16.Bg3 Qc6 17.Bf3 Ne4 18.Nxe4 dxe4 19.Be2 b5 20.Qc2 Be6 21.a4 Rb7 22.axb5 Qxb5 23.b4 cxb3 24.Bxb5 bxc2 25.Ba6 Rb1 26.Bxc8 Ba2 27.Raxb1 cxb1Q 28.Rxb1 Bxb1 29.c4 e5 30.d5 Ba2 31.Ba6 f6 32.d6 Kf7 33.c5 Bf8 34.f4 exf3 35.gxf3 Ke6 36.Be1 Kd5 37.Bb4 Kc6 38.Kf2 Be6 39.h4 f5 40.Ba3 h6 41.Bd3 Bg7 42.Bc2 Kb5 43.Bd3 Kc6 44.Bc2 Kb5 45.Bd3 Kc6 1/2-1/2 Updated 7:29 p.m. -- Melekhina - Goletiani draw! [Event "2009 US Womens Championship"][Site "St Louis"][Date "2009.10.08"][Round "5"][White "Melekhina, Alisa"][Black "Goletiani, Rusudan"][Result "1/2-1/2"][WhiteELO "2253"][WhiteTitle "WIM"][BlackELO "2437"][BlackTitle "IM"][Source "MonRoi"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.Nc3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Bd7 9.Bd3 Bc6 10.Bf4 dxe5 11.Bxe5 Nd7 12.O-O Rc8 13.Re1 Qa5 14.Re3 Ba4 15.Bc2 Bxc2 16.Qxc2 Nb6 17.Qb3 Qd5 18.Nd2 f6 19.Bg3 Kf7 20.Rae1 Rc6 21.c4 Qxd4 22.c5 Bxc5 23.Rxe6 Qd5 24.Rxc6 bxc6 25.Rc1 Nd7 26.Ne4 Qxb3 27.axb3 Re8 28.Nxc5 Nxc5 29.f3 Nxb3 30.Rxc6 a5 31.Ra6 Re2 32.Ra7 Ke6 33.Rxg7 a4 34.Ra7 Ra2 35.Ra6 Kd5 36.Bd6 Nc1 37.h4 Nd3 38.Bf8 Ne1 39.Rxf6 Nxg2 40.h5 Ne3 41.Rf7 a3 42.Rxh7 Rg2 43.Kh1 a2 44.Ra7 Rf2 45.Bg7 Nf5 46.Kg1 1/2-1/2 7:33 p.m. - Live coverage commentary on uschesschamps.com has signed off after 5.5 hours. Earlier there was a live review of the Krush-Zenyuk game by the two ladies themselves joining the uschesschamps folks and it was lively commentary, very enjoyable! I think the uschesschamps people are doing a great job. So - back to watching the other games still in progress. 7:45 p.m. update -- it does not look like the other three games are going to be ending any time soon! I'm going to do some other stuff here (like eat!) and come back in 30 minutes or so. Ta, darlings!

2009 Women's Grand Prix Nanjing

Standings after R10 - 1 more round to go! 1. Xu Yuhua g CHN 2485 7½ 2629 2. Dzagnidze, Nana g GEO 2535 7 2578 3. Zhao Xue g CHN 2542 6½ 2539 4. Sebag, Marie g FRA 2519 6 2508 5. Mkrtchian, Lilit m ARM 2468 6 2513 6. Munguntuul, Batkhuyag wg MGL 2418 5½ 2486 7. Shen Yang wg CHN 2453 5½ 2486 8. Ju Wenjun CHN 2443 5½ 2486 9. Kovanova, Baira wg RUS 2408 4½ 2414 10. Zhu Chen g QAT 2488 4 2369 11. Fierro Baquero, Martha L m ECU 2386 2 2235 12. Yildiz, Betul Cemre wm TUR 2224 0

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Internet coverage and articles - obviously some of these folks are not UP on things! LOL! Los Angeles Chronicle: NO. 1 BEATS NO. 2 IN U.S. WOMEN'S CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP Newswire Services October 08, 2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship Underway October 6, 9:18 AM The Examiner Steve Goldberg I could go on, but I don't want to bore you all to death. You can find more current news at the USCF website, presented in original articles like this one (instead of copies of press releases from USCF that a lot of general circulation newspapers use). Jen Shahade has been doing yeoman's work giving live commentary at chess fm as well as writing coverage articles for the USCF website, although they are a day behind, they are good reads. For the most current news, check at Susan Polgar's blog (I do not believe they EVER sleep), and of course, at this blog, where I try my best to give you the results and games updated as the games finish. Current standings after R4: # Name USCF FIDE Score 1 Anna Zatonskih 2492 2462 3½ 2 Alisa Melekhina 2253 2220 3 3 Sabina Foisor 2379 2320 2½ 4 Camilla Baginskaite 2356 2317 2½ 5 Irina Krush 2490 2458 2 6 Rusudan Goletiani 2437 2391 2 7 Iryna Zenyuk 2271 2285 1½ 8 Battsetseg Tsagaan 2265 2258 1½ 9 Tatev Abrahamyan 2342 2275 1 10 Yun Fan 2134 1935 ½ Today's results: Results R4: Foisor vs Melekhina: 0-1! Goletiani vs Abrahamyan: 1/2 Zatonskih vs Baginskaite: 1/2 Fan vs Krush: 1/2! Zenyuk vs Tsagaan: 1/2 Do I for a single instant believe that Irina Krush will remain in 5th place? Nope. I think she'll move up in the rankings. Where she will finish - I won't hazard a guess. I think there are just too many wild cards floating about this championshp right now. Consider, for instance, Yun Fan. I think Yun Fan came into the game today really pissed off and she was determined to show that she belongs in the USWCC. And so, she did. And I think she's going to continue to be pissed off. Take a look at her games:

• In game one, she was white against Foisor, who outranks her by some 400 points. Still, Fan fought for game 1 for 74 moves before resigning.
• What did Yun Fan do in Game 2? She was white once again, and she lost to Zenyuk, who outranks her by some 350 points. It took Zenyuk 60 moves to win.
• In Game 3, Fan had the black pieces, playing against Tsaagan. It took Tsaagan 101 moves to defeat Fan, despite outranking her by a little over 200 points.
• And now today, in Game 4, Fan with white manages a draw against Krush, who outranks her by over 500 points, in 39 moves.

I'm sure no expert, but my overall impression from today's games was that the chess femmes who hadn't played up to their potential struck back today, and they struck back with a vengence, forcing draws against all odds.

Tomorrow is R 5, and Friday is a rest day, before the final 4 games start. Who's the dark horse? My gut tells me there is one here, and I don't know that we've seen her make her moves yet. But, darlings - don't take my skills as a Sybyl to the bank :)

Zahi Hawass Declares War

In the days before this blog was started, in the old old days when people still used message boards, I used to refer to Mr. Hawass by various terms, all using ASS as a primary metaphor, and none of which received wide circulation. Times change, but ASSES do not. I cannot help but think that Mr. Hawass' latest declared wars on museums who possess Egyptian antiquities that Mr. Hawass thinks the current government of Egypt should possess will fail, and fail badly. Ultimately, this attempted blackmail will fail because Mr. Hawass cannot guarantee the safety of these antiquities once he dies - or, actually, even during his lifetime. What happens to these priceless artifacts if fundamentalist Muslims take over Egypt? We all witnessed what happened in Afghanistan when the Taliban took over, didn't we. The same kind of destruction of irreplaceable and priceless archaeological ruins and artifiacts is now going on in Iran, at official government sanction -- the official destruction of pre-Islamic Persian antiquities. It is done in the name of "building dams" and "building highways" - or whatever, but the end result is destruction of Persia's cultural heritage. This is going on in the United States, too. Contractors putting in roads, bridges, repaving highways, etc., on a daily basis, are deliberately ignoring national and local laws designed to preserve ancient heritage sites and uncovered relics. Whatever the motive, the result is the same. Permanent, irreplaceable destruction of the history of the world. Unfortunately, the Lourve and at least certain factions of the government of the Republic of France have caved into this blackmail. I say - well, you can can guess what I'd say! I don't think it will be that difficult, darlings! Long term, this is a badly losing gambit played by Mr. Hawass. What a shame.

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

SHOCKS AND UPSETS! STAY TUNED! WHOA! Final game I'm reporting at 8:23 p.m. CST. Round 4: Pairings and Results/Games Foisor vs Melekhina: 0-1! Goletiani vs Abrahamyan: 1/2 Zatonskih vs Baginskaite: 1/2! Fan vs Krush: 1/2! Zenyuk vs Tsagaan: 1/2 [White "Foisor, Sabina"][Black "Melekhina, Alisa"][Result "0-1"][WhiteELO "2379"][WhiteTitle "WGM"][BlackELO "2253"][BlackTitle "WIM"][Source "MonRoi"]1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 Na6 8.O-O Ng4 9.Bg5 Qe8 10.c5 h6 11.Bh4 exd4 12.Nxd4 dxc5 13.Nb3 c4 14.Bxc4 Nb4 15.Bb5 Nc6 16.h3 Nf6 17.Re1 Nh5 18.Nd5 Qe5 19.Rc1 Re8 20.Rxc6 bxc6 21.Bxc6 Be6 22.Bxa8 Rxa8 23.Bd8 Bxh3 24.Nxc7 Bg4 25.Qd2 Rc8 26.Rc1 Qf4 27.Qd3 Be5 28.g3 Qf3 29.Qxf3 Bxf3 30.Rc5 Rxd8 31.Nd5 Bxe4 32.Ne3 Bxb2 33.Rc7 a6 34.Nc5 Bf3 35.Nxa6 Ra8 36.Nb4 Ba3 37.Nbc2 Bd6 38.Rd7 Bc5 39.Ne1 Bxe3 40.Nxf3 Bc5 41.Rc7 Bf8 42.Rc2 Bg7 43.Kg2 Nf6 44.Ne5 Nd5 45.Nd3 Ra3 46.Nc1 Rc3 47.Rd2 Nf4 48.gxf4 Rxc1 49.Rd8 Kh7 50.Rd7 f5 51.Ra7 h5 52.a4 Kh6 53.a5 Rc2 54.Rd7 Ra2 55.Rd5 Bc3 0-1 [White "Goletiani, Rusudan"][Black "Abrahamyan, Tatev"][Result "1/2-1/2"][WhiteELO "2437"][WhiteTitle "IM"][BlackELO "2342"][BlackTitle "WFM"][Source "MonRoi"]1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 O-O 5.O-O d6 6.Nc3 e5 7.d3 h6 8.Rb1 a5 9.a3 Nc6 10.Nd2 Be6 11.Nd5 Bxd5 12.cxd5 Ne7 13.Qb3 a4 14.Qa2 c6 15.dxc6 Nxc6 16.b3 Nd4 17.Re1 Rc8 18.e3 Rc2 19.Qa1 Ne6 20.Rb2 Qc7 21.Qb1 Rc3 22.bxa4 Nc5 23.Bf1 d5 24.d4 exd4 25.exd4 Nxa4 26.Rxb7 Qa5 27.Rb5 Qa7 28.Qb4 Ng4 29.Nb3 Rc2 30.Be2 Nxf2 31.Kxf2 Nc3 32.Rb7 Qa6 33.Bd2 Qf6 34.Kg2 Qe6 35.Qe7 Qf5 36.Rf1 Qe4 37.Qxe4 Nxe4 38.Rd1 Ra8 39.Bf3 Rxa3 40.Rb8 Kh7 41.Bxe4 dxe4 42.d5 Be5 43.Rb6 e3 44.d6 Bxd6 45.Rxd6 Rxb3 46.Kh3 exd2 47.R1xd2 Rbb2 48.Rxc2 Rxc2 49.g4 g5 50.Kg3 Rc3 51.Kg2 Kg7 52.Ra6 f6 53.Ra7 Kg6 54.Ra6 1/2-1/2 [White "Zatonskih, Anna"][Black "Baginskaite, Camilla"][Result "1/2-1/2"][WhiteELO "2492"][WhiteTitle "IM"][BlackELO "2356"][BlackTitle "WGM"][Source "MonRoi"]1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c5 6.O-O Nc6 7.Qa4 Bd7 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qd3 Rc8 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Nc3 Nb4 12.Qd1 Bc6 13.Qxd8 Kxd8 14.Bg5 Ke7 15.Rfd1 h6 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.Ne1 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 a6 19.a4 bxa4 20.Rxa4 Rb8 21.Na2 Nxa2 22.Rxa2 Rb6 23.Nd3 Bd4 24.Rc1 Rhb8 25.Rc7 Kf8 26.b4 Kg7 27.f4 f5 28.Kf3 Rd6 29.Rac2 Bb6 30.Rc8 Rxc8 31.Rxc8 Bd4 32.Rc7 Rb6 33.h3 h5 34.g4 hxg4 35.hxg4 fxg4 36.Kxg4 Rb5 37.Rd7 Bc3 38.Ra7 a5 39.bxa5 Rxa5 40.Rxa5 Bxa5 41.Kf3 1/2-1/2 [White "Fan, Yun"][Black "Krush, Irina"][Result "1/2-1/2"][WhiteELO "2134"][WhiteTitle ""][BlackELO "2490"][BlackTitle "IM"][Source "MonRoi"]1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 Qb6 8.Nb3 Be7 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.Qxd6 Bd7 11.Qc5 Bd4 12.Qxb6 Bxb6 13.Bb5 a6 14.Bxc6 Bxc6 15.a4 Ke7 16.Ke2 Rhc8 17.f3 Be8 18.g3 Rc4 19.Rhd1 g5 20.a5 Ba7 21.Rd3 h5 22.Nd2 Rd4 23.Rxd4 Bxd4 24.Ra3 h4 25.f4 hxg3 26.hxg3 g4 27.Nd1 Bb5 28.c4 Bc6 29.b4 Rh8 30.Ne3 Rh2 31.Kd3 Bxe3 32.Kxe3 f5 33.exf5 exf5 34.Rd3 Rg2 35.Kd4 Kd6 36.Kc3 Ke6 37.Kd4 Kd6 38.Kc3 Ke6 39.Kd4 Kd6 1/2-1/2 WhiteTitle "WIM"][BlackELO "2265"][BlackTitle "WIM"][Source "MonRoi"]1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nge2 O-O 6.Ng3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Be2 a6 9.O-O exd5 10.exd5 Ne8 11.Bf4 f5 12.Qd2 Nd7 13.Bg5 Bf6 14.Bxf6 Qxf6 15.f4 Nc7 16.Kh1 Rb8 17.a4 Re8 18.Rfe1 Qd4 19.Bd3 Nf8 20.Rxe8 Nxe8 21.Nge2 Qf2 22.Nd1 Qh4 23.Ng1 Bd7 24.Nf3 Qf6 25.Nc3 Nc7 26.h3 h6 27.Bf1 Re8 28.Rb1 a5 29.Bd3 Na6 30.Rg1 Nb4 31.Bb1 Qe7 32.Re1 Qf6 33.Rg1 Qe7 34.Qf2 Qf6 35.Nb5 Re7 36.Qd2 Rf7 37.Qc3 Nh7 38.Re1 Bxb5 39.axb5 Re7 40.Rf1 b6 41.Qd2 Qf7 42.g4 fxg4 43.hxg4 Nf6 44.Nh4 Ne4 45.Qh2 Qf6 46.Nf3 1/2-1/2 Standings after R4: # Name USCF FIDE Score 1 Anna Zatonskih 2492 2462 3½ 2 Alisa Melekhina 2253 2220 3 3 Sabina Foisor 2379 2320 2½ 4 Camilla Baginskaite 2356 2317 2½ 5 Irina Krush 2490 2458 2 6 Rusudan Goletiani 2437 2391 2 7 Iryna Zenyuk 2271 2285 1½ 8 Battsetseg Tsagaan 2265 2258 1½ 9 Tatev Abrahamyan 2342 2275 1 10 Yun Fan 2134 1935 ½ Ohmychessgoddess!

Random Round-up

The latest Random Round-up (for the week of October 5th) is now up and running at Goddesschess (in the left-hand column). It's usually updated every Sunday but Mr. Don has been busy putting together the tons of video he filmed at the 89th Montreal Open Chess Tournament into coherent tournament videos, so he got a late start this week. I think you'll enjoy it, though. It's got lots of information about chess and films. Gee, I wonder where he ever got the idea...

2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship

Standings after R3: # Name USCF FIDE Score 1 Anna Zatonskih 2492 2462 3 2 Sabina Foisor 2279 2320 2½ 3 Camilla Baginskaite 2356 2317 2 4 Alisa Melekhina 2253 2220 2 5 Irina Krush 2490 2458 1½ 6 Rusudan Goletiani 2437 2391 1½ 7 Iryna Zenyuk 2271 2285 1 8 Battsetseg Tsagaan 2265 2258 1 9 Tatev Abrahamyan 2342 2275 ½ 10 Yun Fan 2134 1935 0 Quite a bit of commentary about the Krush-Zatonskih game yesterday at various websites. I expect more will follow. As I played through the game last night and again today (during my lunch hour) while reading through USA's newly-minted GM Ben Finegold's commentary at uschesschamps.com, I could only admire how collectedly and economically Zatonskih played. I was able to listen to about 10 minutes of live commentary yesterday just before leaving the office at five and at that point in the game Zatonskih had moved her pawn to b5 on move 22 and Krush was having a long think while Jen Shahade and Finegold discussed various possible responsive moves, and audience members at Chess FM were suggesting the computer-aided Bd3. It was nail-biting -- what would Krush do? Time was ticking away though, and I did not want to sit in my office a second longer than I had too, so took off my headset, turned off the computer, and headed home. I wasn't able to check on the status of the game until after 7 p.m., and it had been long over by then. I am surprised that Tatev Abrahamyan is not higher in the rankings, managing only one draw in three games? I expected Melekhina to do well, and she has not disappointed. She has played a lot of games between last year and this year against higher-rated guys, and I think her ELO is deceptive of her current chess accumen. I'm also not surprised by where Foisor currently sits in the standings, after having followed her career for years while she played in Europe. It's early days yet. I'll try to plug in later this afternoon once the games start and see if I can catch some of the live commentary. Maybe there will be more nail-biting drama chess style!

FIDE Women's Grand Prix

Standings after R9: 1. Dzagnidze, Nana g GEO 2535 6½ 2596 2. Xu Yuhua g CHN 2485 6½ 2605 3. Sebag, Marie g FRA 2519 6 2549 4. Zhao Xue g CHN 2542 5 2515 5. Mkrtchian, Lilit m ARM 2468 5 2508 6. Munguntuul, Batkhuyag wg MGL 2418 5 2484 7. Shen Yang wg CHN 2453 4½ 2446 8. Ju Wenjun CHN 2443 4½ 2458 9. Kovanova, Baira wg RUS 2408 4 2435 10. Zhu Chen g QAT 2488 4 2397 11. Fierro Baquero, Martha L m ECU 2386 2 2259 12. Yildiz, Betul Cemre wm TUR 2224 0