Thursday, October 24, 2013

Ancient Egyptian Secret Tomb Revealed

Oooh, I love when this happens :)

Of all places, this article is from Faux News:

Ancient Egyptian secret tomb uncovered

Published October 22, 2013

FoxNews.com

Excavations at Abusir Archaeological Cemetery at Giza have revealed the tomb of Shepseskaf ‘ankh, Head of the Physicians of Upper and Lower Egypt who dates to the Fifth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. [Note: Fifth Dynasty dates approximately 2465 BCE - 2323 BCE].

The entrance to the tomb of one of Ancient Egypt's top royal physicians.
(Arab Republic of Egypt Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs)

The physician's final resting place is "huge" for its time, vice head of the Ancient Egyptian Sector Ali ALasfar described. The limestone tomb is approximately 69 by 45 feet long and 13 feet high.

A large false door inside the chapel where the tomb was found carries the names and titles of the owner. "Priest of Khnum" and "Priest of Magic," in addition to other titles are written on the eastern part of the tomb and show how the deceased physician was one of the most important royal physicians in Ancient Egypt.

This is the third tomb belonging to a physician to be discovered in Abusir Cemetery.

***********************************

Next up, Faux News reveals that Shepseskaf'ankh was burned at the stake, beheaded, and then quartered and drawn for practicing "magic" and "bowing down before false idols" instead of following the tenets of the Bible according to Michelle Bachmann. Yes, she was ALIVE back then, bwwwwaaaahhhhh! Pay no attention to the fact that so-called christianity, a blasphemous take on the teachings of Jesus Christ, did not come into existence until more than 2,300 years later.

For more information on the 5th Dynasty:

Egypt: History - Pharaonic Dynasty V (Fifth Dynasty) (from Tour Egypt, always an excellent resource)

Monday, October 21, 2013

To Those Who Find This Temple, Praise My Name...

A plea by Assyrian King Tukulti-Ninurta I made over 3,200 years ago, when this inscribed gold tablet was buried in the foundations of a temple dedicated to "a fertility goddess." I don't know why the article didn't identify her. At that time, in Assyria, it was probably a temple to Ishtar. I wonder what She thinks about this? I wonder what King Tukulti-Ninurta I (may he rest in peace) thinks about this?

Berlin museum seeks return of ancient gold tablet

Berlin antiquities museum wants Holocaust survivor's family to return ancient gold tablet

By Michael Virtanen, Associated PressOctober 16, 2013 6:51 AM

A Holocaust survivor's family urged New York's highest court Tuesday to let them keep an ancient gold tablet that their late father somehow obtained in Germany after World War II. Attorney Steven Schlesinger argued that the estate of Riven Flamenbaum has a legal claim, whether the native of Poland bought the relic from a Russian soldier or simply took it to compensate for losing his family at Auschwitz, the concentration camp where he spent several years.

The golden tablet from King Tukulti-Ninurta I's temple to the fertility goddess.
Maybe worth $10 million cash at auction, but priceless, in more ways than one.

"Under the Soviet rules at the time, there was permission t pillage and plunder," Schlesinger said. "My client could have taken it in retribution." The tablet was in the collection of the Vorderasiatisches Museum, a branch of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, before the war. The family argued that the museum's failure to reclaim the tablet for 60 years was an unreasonable delay, undercutting its claim. Schlesinger said Flamenbaum had been told by Christie's in 1954 that the small tablet was a fake and kept it at home. It's now in a safety deposit box on Long Island. Museum attorney Raymond Dowd said the absence of the 3,200-year-old relic was quickly noted by the museum, later reported by scholars and widely known. "There's no such thing as a right of pillage," Dowd said. "Reparation has nothing to do with this case." Who gets it is up to New York's Court of Appeals, where the seven judges grilled both lawyers Tuesday. A ruling is expected next month. The 9.5-gram tablet was excavated a century ago by German archaeologists from the Ishtar Temple in what is now northern Iraq. It went on display in Berlin in 1934, was put in storage as the war began and later disappeared. "It could fit in the palm of your hand," said Hannah Flamenbaum. "We played with it as children." Her father met her mother, another Holocaust survivor, at a relocation camp after the war. By his accounts he traded cigarettes or a salami for it. The couple came to the U.S., where her father went to work for a Manhattan liquor store and later bought the store, settling in Brooklyn, raising three children and later moving to Long Island, she said. "He never tried to sell it. ... This was sort of the legacy of his suffering in the camps," she said. "The thought was if we're allowed to retain it, put it on display in one of the museums, whether down here in Battery Park City in Manhattan or even in Israel. Use it as a way to talk about the Holocaust ... and my parents' story."

According to court documents, the tablet dates to 1243 to 1207 B.C., the reign of King Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria. Placed in the foundation of the temple of a fertility goddess, its 21 lines call on those who find the temple to honor the king's name. The tablet was excavated by German archaeologists from about 1908 to 1914 in what was then the Ottoman Empire, with Germany giving half the found antiquities to Istanbul, Raymond Dowd, the museum's lawyer, said. The modern state of Iraq has declined to claim it, he said. In 1945, the Berlin museum's premises were overrun, with many items taken by Russia, others by German troops and some pilfered by people who took shelter in the museum, Dowd said. The museum director was not in a position to say who took it, only that it disappeared. One recent estimate put its value at $10 million, Schlesinger said. Lower courts in New York were split on the decision, leading to the latest appeal.

Boy Dance Party -- Saturday Night Live October 12, 2013 (with Bruce Willis, Twerking His Little Ol' Booty)

What dudes do in secret. Love this!

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Oops! Etruscan Man Actually A Woman

Oh my, falling off my chair laughing as archaeologist Judith Weingarten (check out her fabulous blog Zenobia: Empress of the East) tugs the whiskers of the hoary old establishment for its original conclusions about the occupants of a certain intact tomb discovered in Tarquinia. A must read!

Here is Tia Ghose's story on the er, gender error, at Live Science:

Oops! Etruscan Warrior Prince Really a Princess
By Tia Ghose, Staff Writer

Last month, archaeologists announced a stunning find: a completely sealed tomb cut into the rock in Tuscany, Italy.

The untouched tomb held what looked like the body of an Etruscan prince holding a spear, along with the ashes of his wife. Several news outlets reported on the discovery of the 2,600-year-old warrior prince.

But the grave held one more surprise.

A bone analysis has revealed the warrior prince was actually a princess, as Judith Weingarten, an alumna of the British School at Athens noted on her blog, Zenobia: Empress of the East.

Etruscan tomb
Historians know relatively little about the Etruscan culture that flourished in what is now Italy until its absorption into the Roman civilization around 400 B.C. Unlike their better-known counterparts, the ancient Greeks and the Romans, the Etruscans left no historical documents, so their graves provide a unique insight into their culture.

The new tomb, unsealed by archaeologists in Tuscany, was found in the Etruscan necropolis of Tarquinia, a UNESCO World Heritage site where more than 6,000 graves have been cut into the rock.

"The underground chamber dates back to the beginning of the sixth century B.C. Inside, there are two funerary beds carved into the rock," Alessandro Mandolesi, the University of Turin archaeologist who excavated the site, wrote in an email.

When the team removed the sealed slab blocking the tomb, they saw two large platforms. On one platform lay a skeleton bearing a lance. On another lay a partially incinerated skeleton. The team also found several pieces of jewelry and a bronze-plated box, which may have belonged to a woman, according to the researchers.

"On the inner wall, still hanging from a nail, was an aryballos [a type of flask] oil-painted in the Greek-Corinthian style," Mandolesi said.

Initially, the lance suggested the skeleton on the biggest platform was a male warrior, possibly an Etruscan prince. The jewelry likely belonged to the second body, the warrior prince’s wife.

But bone analysis revealed the prince holding the lance was actually a 35- to 40-year-old woman, whereas the second skeleton belonged to a man.

Given that, what do archaeologists make of the spear?

"The spear, most likely, was placed as a symbol of union between the two deceased," Mandolesi told Viterbo News 24 on Sept. 26.

Weingarten doesn't believe the symbol of unity explanation. Instead, she thinks the spear shows the woman's high status.

Their explanation is "highly unlikely," Weingarten told LiveScience. "She was buried with it next to her, not him."

Gendered assumptions
The mix-up highlights just how easily both modern and old biases can color the interpretation of ancient graves.

In this instance, the lifestyles of the ancient Greeks and Romans may have skewed the view of the tomb. Whereas Greek women were cloistered away, Etruscan women, according to Greek historian Theopompus, were more carefree, working out, lounging nude, drinking freely, consorting with many men and raising children who did not know their fathers' identities. [Read what the old misogynist wrote about the Etruscans but be warned, it's rather graphic.]

Instead of using objects found in a grave to interpret the sites, archaeologists should first rely on bone analysis or other sophisticated techniques before rushing to conclusions, Weingarten said.

"Until very recently, and sadly still in some countries, sex determination is based on grave goods. And that, in turn, is based almost entirely on our preconceptions. A clear illustration is jewelry: We associate jewelry with women, but that is nonsense in much of the ancient world," Weingarten said. "Guys liked bling, too."

Above: From the Lourve Museum collection.

The "Sarcophagus of the Spouses"
c. 520-510 BC
Banditaccia necropolis, Cerveteri (Caere), central Italy
Cerveteri (Caere), southern Etruria

Polychrome terracotta, clay, slip, paint; modeling and molding
H. 1.11 m; L. 0.69 m; W. 1.94 m

Former Campana Collection, 1845; purchased by Napoleon III, 1861;Louvre, 1863

Cp 5194

Funerary banquet and ritual

This urn takes the form of a bed, upon which the deceased are resting in the position of banqueters. This theme was not an Etruscan invention, but originated in Asia Minor: the Etruscans, like the Greeks before them, had adopted the eastern custom of feasting in a reclining position, and the conventional method of representing it. Unlike in the Greek world, where banquets were reserved for men, the Etruscan woman, who held an important place in society, is represented by her husband's side, in the same proportions and in a similar pose. The couple are reclining on cushions in the form of wineskins, a reference to the sharing of wine, a ceremony that was part of funerary ritual. Tenderly clasped by her husband, the deceased woman is pouring a few drops of perfume into his hand, probably from an alabastron, as can be seen on a small urn displayed nearby (cinerary urn with the spouses on the lid, Louvre, CP 5193); in so doing, she is making the gesture of offering perfume, another essential component of funerary ritual. In her left hand she is holding a small, round object, possibly a pomegranate, a symbol of immortality.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

All Right Then, We'll Call It A Draw...

From Monty Python and the Holy Grail, King Arthur's battle against the Black Knight, courtesy of video at You Tube:

I am not comparing my opponent in R3 of the Hales Corners Chess Challenge this past Saturday to the Black Knight, but that game (and in the skittles room afterward) did have it's Monty Pythonesque moments. Here it is, in all of its not-so-raging glory:

Notice moves 7 and 8 -- those are where I recorded phantom moves on my part! As best a very patient Paul Kaye (after the game) and I could figure out, the move Qd2 did not happen. Mr. Kaye said to me, nobody would move the Q out that early. I said, well, I would. Ha, take that, Mr. Black Knight!   But --

We both had d5 on our scoresheets; he had it as my move, I had it as his, LOL! The first move on line 8 -- e5 -- also did not exist on Mr. Kaye's scoresheet -- but we did agree that the following move was N from f6 to d7 (that's my kinky notation).  This is the sequence of 7th moves that we agreed on:  d5 by me and Nd7 for him. Ignore line 8 on my scoresheet (above).

We agreed on all the rest of the moves. I offered a draw on move 30 and he accepted. Who knows, I may have given up a mate in 1 and not even realized it, har!

For a truly Monty Pythonesque sequence of events, I direct your kind attention to move 24. See my crossed out move - d6? Mind you, I had the white pieces in this game, but what I did was move a black pawn on d6 BACKWARD FROM ITS POSITION TO d5. It was actually quite a brilliant move, because it forked two pieces and I believe I had some attacking pieces lurking in the wings, just waiting. The only thing is, IT WAS NOT MY PIECE TO MOVE.

OOPS!

I suppose we should have called for a TD at that point when I'd realized what I had done. I didn't even think of that, actually. I'm so used to playing chess in a casual setting, mostly with Mr. Don when he was alive and we often did that sort of crazy thing in the heat of our games when we were trying to beat each other's brains out on the chessboard (sometimes I think he did it deliberately just to provoke me, but I sure didn't do it to provoke Mr. Kaye!) I looked up at Mr. Kaye and whispered something like, oh no, I moved your piece by mistake! So sorry, and I motioned with my finger what I had just done. Mea culpa.

He just looked relieved (I can't blame him) -- was he looking in absolute horror at the board at that point? Maybe. OH MY! I felt terrible!  Did he realize that I'd done a totally illegal move?  Maybe not, because he didn't stop the clock. Or maybe he was in shock. Or maybe he was being a gentleman. Or maybe he was terrified I was going to pull a big knife out of my purse if he'd said anything. By the way, ladies, did you all notice how nice looking he is? Oooh la la. If I were 40 35 30 years younger, I'd have -- well, never mind. He probably has a wife and 5 kids at home.

I motioned for him to hit his clock to stop his time running, and he did. It was only a few seconds, but still. I felt horrible! I looked over the board, this time trying to make sure I was focusing on the CORRECT COLOR PIECES and made a move (Be2). I hit my clock (again), and the game resumed.

OH MY!

The rest, as they say, is HERstory.

Now, darlings, I'm wondering if it would have made any difference in the game if the moves that I wrote down had actually happened? What if Mr. Kaye missed those moves because he was in catatonic shock or something? Or, what if neither of us had noticed that I had actually moved one of Mr. Kaye's pieces? Would I have continued playing with the black pieces, totally obliterating my own (white) pieces at that point? What if at some point a few moves later Mr. Kaye realized that somehow I had managed to turn the tables on him by assuming play with his (black) pieces -- what would he have done? Pulled out a big knife on me???

Um, wait a minute -- would I have actually checkmated the black king with black pieces???

Does this kind of thing happen to anyone else???

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Indonesian Open 2013

Hola darlings!

Several chess femmes are playing in this event with a field of 108 players. Here are the top female players at current (information from The Week in Chess):

8	37	Paehtz Elisabeth	GER	2440	5.0	0.0	22.0	19.0

11	30	Hoang Thanh Trang	HUN	2495	4.5	0.0	27.0	23.0

22	29	Stefanova Antoaneta	BUL	2496	4.5	0.0	25.0	21.0

38	71	Medina Warda Aulia	INA	2319	4.0	0.0	24.0	21.5

40	63	Saduakassova Dinara	KAZ	2335	4.0	0.0	24.0	21.0

Very nice prizes are at stake in the Open:

1st: 20.000 USD
2nd: 10.000 USD
3rd: 7.500 USD
4th: 6.000 USD
5th: 4.000 USD
6th: 3.000 USD
7th - 8th @ 2.000 USD: 4.000 USD
9th - 10th @ 1.500 USD : 3.000 USD
11th – 20th @ 1000 USD : 10.000 USD
21th – 30th @ 750 USD : 7.500 USD
31th – 40th @ 500 USD : 5.000 USD
Best Women
1st : 4.000 USD 2nd : 3.000 USD 3rd : 1.500 USD 4th : 1.000 USD 5th : 500 USD
Best Junior U-20 (Date of Birth 1 January 1993 and after)
1st : 2.000 USD 2nd : 1.500 USD 3rd : 1 200 USD 4th : 800 USD 5th : 500 USD
Best Local
1st : 1.500 USD 2nd : 1.000 USD 3rd : 700 USD 4th : 500 USD 5th : 300 USD

Note: The Prizes in case of the same points of two or more players will be shared based on tie-break according to the Hort System.

Will be reporting back at the conclusion of the event.

Several Indonesian player are participating in the simultaneous INA National Championships and several are in the hunt for norms, including:

Irine Kharisma Sukandar,WGM (INA) 4,5 points – IM Norm Needs 1 Point again at Round 9
Dewi Aa Citra,WFM (INA) 3 points – Gets WIM For 9 Round Needs 0,5 Point again at Round 9

63rd Russian Women Super Final Chess Championship

While I've been engrossed in preparations and then playing in the Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVIII and following news every few minutes wondering if my country was going to ACTUALLY jump off an economic cliff by gutting the Full Faith and Credit of the United States Government, a lot of chess was being played in Russia. One of my favorite chess femmes, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, 12th Women's World Chess Champion, came in second in this Russian Championship -- and I hope she's not too disappointed. She and Gunina outclassed the rest of the field against some pretty tough contenders. Congratulations to GM Valentina Gunina and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk for their fine performances. The information below is from The Week in Chess:

63rd ch-RUS w Nizhny Novgorod RUS (RUS), 5-14 x 2013															cat. VIII (2448)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Gunina, Valentina	g	RUS	2506	*	½	1	½	1	1	½	1	1	½	7	2661
2.	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	g	RUS	2495	½	*	1	½	½	0	1	1	1	1	6½	2608
3.	Pogonina, Natalija	wg	RUS	2485	0	0	*	½	½	1	1	1	½	1	5½	2523
4.	Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	m	RUS	2410	½	½	½	*	½	½	½	0	½	1	4½	2452
5.	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	wg	RUS	2436	0	½	½	½	*	½	½	½	1	½	4½	2449
6.	Kovanova, Baira	wg	RUS	2396	0	1	0	½	½	*	0	½	1	1	4½	2453
7.	Kosintseva, Tatiana	g	RUS	2515	½	0	0	½	½	1	*	0	½	½	3½	2360
8.	Bodnaruk, Anastasia	m	RUS	2459	0	0	0	1	½	½	1	*	0	½	3½	2366
9.	Kashlinskaya, Alina	wg	RUS	2435	0	0	½	½	0	0	½	1	*	½	3	2324
10.	Charochkina, Daria	wg	RUS	2343	½	0	0	0	½	0	½	½	½	*	2½	2293

Round 1 (October 5, 2013)
Gunina, Valentina	- Goryachkina, Aleksandra	1-0	55	A07	Barcza System
Pogonina, Natalija	- Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	½-½	53	D30	Queen's Gambit (without Nc3)
Kovanova, Baira	- Kosteniuk, Alexandra	1-0	53	B66	Sicilian Rauzer
Bodnaruk, Anastasia	- Kashlinskaya, Alina	0-1	45	C42	Petroff's Defence
Charochkina, Daria	- Kosintseva, Tatiana	½-½	47	A22	English Opening
Round 2 (October 6, 2013)
Kosteniuk, Alexandra	- Pogonina, Natalija	1-0	42	C54	Giuoco Piano
Goryachkina, Aleksandra	- Kovanova, Baira	½-½	42	E06	Catalan
Kosintseva, Tatiana	- Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	½-½	68	B30	Sicilian Rossolimo
Kashlinskaya, Alina	- Gunina, Valentina	0-1	52	D19	Slav Defence
Charochkina, Daria	- Bodnaruk, Anastasia	½-½	42	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Round 3 (October 7, 2013)
Gunina, Valentina	- Charochkina, Daria	½-½	63	A07	Barcza System
Pogonina, Natalija	- Goryachkina, Aleksandra	½-½	55	D11	Slav Defence
Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	- Kosteniuk, Alexandra	½-½	29	B51	Sicilian Rossolimo
Kovanova, Baira	- Kashlinskaya, Alina	1-0	36	C88	Ruy Lopez Closed
Bodnaruk, Anastasia	- Kosintseva, Tatiana	1-0	54	C91	Ruy Lopez
Round 4 (October 8, 2013)
Goryachkina, Aleksandra	- Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	½-½	46	D34	Tarrasch Defence, Main Line
Kosintseva, Tatiana	- Kosteniuk, Alexandra	0-1	65	B12	Caro Kann Advanced
Bodnaruk, Anastasia	- Gunina, Valentina	0-1	40	B12	Caro Kann Advanced
Kashlinskaya, Alina	- Pogonina, Natalija	½-½	58	C45	Scotch Game
Charochkina, Daria	- Kovanova, Baira	0-1	42	C58	Two Knights Defence
Round 5 (October 9, 2013)
Gunina, Valentina	- Kosintseva, Tatiana	½-½	111	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Kosteniuk, Alexandra	- Goryachkina, Aleksandra	½-½	42	B30	Sicilian Rossolimo
Pogonina, Natalija	- Charochkina, Daria	1-0	28	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	- Kashlinskaya, Alina	½-½	56	C46	Four Knights
Kovanova, Baira	- Bodnaruk, Anastasia	½-½	49	A15	English counter King's Fianchetto
Round 6 (October 11, 2013)
Gunina, Valentina	- Kovanova, Baira	1-0	39	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Kosintseva, Tatiana	- Goryachkina, Aleksandra	½-½	53	B30	Sicilian Rossolimo
Bodnaruk, Anastasia	- Pogonina, Natalija	0-1	51	C65	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Kashlinskaya, Alina	- Kosteniuk, Alexandra	0-1	39	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Charochkina, Daria	- Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	0-1	50	B64	Sicilian Rauzer
Round 7 (October 12, 2013)
Kosteniuk, Alexandra	- Charochkina, Daria	1-0	29	B19	Caro Kann
Pogonina, Natalija	- Gunina, Valentina	0-1	53	B12	Caro Kann Advanced
Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	- Bodnaruk, Anastasia	0-1	37	B40	Sicilian Classical
Goryachkina, Aleksandra	- Kashlinskaya, Alina	1-0	33	D40	Semi-Tarrasch Defence
Kovanova, Baira	- Kosintseva, Tatiana	0-1	34	B33	Sicilian Sveshnikov
Round 8 (October 13, 2013)
Gunina, Valentina	- Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	½-½	94	D32	Tarrasch Defence
Kovanova, Baira	- Pogonina, Natalija	0-1	57	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Kosintseva, Tatiana	- Kashlinskaya, Alina	½-½	101	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Bodnaruk, Anastasia	- Kosteniuk, Alexandra	0-1	84	C78	Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Charochkina, Daria	- Goryachkina, Aleksandra	½-½	61	B23	Sicilian Closed
Round 9 (October 14, 2013)
Kosteniuk, Alexandra	- Gunina, Valentina	½-½	60	B12	Caro Kann Advanced
Pogonina, Natalija	- Kosintseva, Tatiana	1-0	48	E04	Catalan
Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	- Kovanova, Baira	½-½	56	C46	Four Knights
Goryachkina, Aleksandra	- Bodnaruk, Anastasia	½-½	41	E10	Blumenfeld Counter Gambit
Kashlinskaya, Alina	- Charochkina, Daria	½-½	61	B12	Caro Kann Advanced

White Queen Wins: All I Wanna Be Is DONE (Band Perry)...

Totally awesome -- I see this in my chessly fantazies as rather a replay of my experiences on the chessboard at this past Saturday's Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVIII, heh heh! The battle scenes on the chessboard are - well, judge for yourselves :) However, I have to tell you that I was not handed a crown at the end of it all. Dang!

How fitting that about ten days ago I used this song in an entirely different context, as a commentary upon what appeared to be a stalemate position at the time, in a purely political context. Evidently the Democrats are much more accomplished chessplayers than anyone gave them credit for.

I REALLY like this song...

Monday, October 14, 2013

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVIII - October 12, 2013

Hola, darlings!

Challenge XVIII had 66 players, of which 12 were chess femmes (myself included). That comes out to about an 18% ratio of female participation. Excellent! More than double the world average of female to male players.

Goddesschess made a record pay-out for prizes this Challenge! Here are the prize-winners:

Open Section:

(3.0) Rachel Ulrich - $120 plus paid entry to Challenge XIX

(2.0) Alena Huang - $100

(2.0) Anupama Rajendra - $100

(1.5) Anne Ulrich - $60

Reserve section:

(3.0) Susanna Ulrich - $60 plus paid entry to Challenge XIX

(3.0) Ritika Pandey - $60

(3.0) Sabrina Huang - $60

(2.0) Divya Pandey - $40

(2.0) Sandra Pahl - $40

(1.0) Ellen Wanek - $20

(1.0) Neha Mhaskar - $20

Free Entries: $70 (Top female player from each Section in Challenge XVII)

Best Game Prize: $50 (Open to all players)

Total paid out is $800 (this does not include the $150 in special prizes that went to the top male finisher in each Section in honor of my Don McLean and National Chess Day)

Eleven out of twelve registered chess femmes won a prize, whoop whoop! I would have won $10 for my draw in R3 Reserve and then we all would have won prize money, but it seemed silly to take money out of my left pocket and put it back in my right, LOL!

Here's a photo of Ellen Wanek and I in the lobby of the hotel that hosted our playing venue after she presented me with a gift tote bag that says "The Dance of the Goddesses." Every chessplayer knows that at the best, most transcendental moments of one's game, the pieces become ibau (ancient Egyptian for "dancers," also a pun on their word for ivory, ebou, from which their earliest boardgame pieces were carved), dancing across the board! I was so touched by her thoughtful choice, and surprised by the gift! Those Halloween decorations are so cute.

Hmmm, I think I need to get new smaller jeans and a smaller jacket (one size down, I think), YAYYYY!

I have no idea what happened to the pics that were taken of Ellen, Janet Ulrich and me -- they weren't on my camera. There were at least two photos taken because the first one may not have worked. I thought they'd been taken with my camera, but nope, guess not. Or else the camera was not operating properly at the time. It's an "antique" - a 5.1 megapiel Coolpic 5600 purchased in - 2005? Geez Louise! I heard a commercial on t.v. earlier this evening that was touting a camera with 41 megapixels - how quickly what is top of the line technology a few years ago is outmoded!

Hales Corners Chess Club posted several photos of the action at Challenge XVIII. Here is one from R2, showing me in my match with Devish Anand:

My chess buddy, Ellen Wanek, who teaches chess in schools to children in Sheboygan and also established Chess in the Park in Sheboygan, is next to me on the right.

This is one of the games I'm rather proud of, even though I resigned in the end. It was my longest game (went 33 full moves) and afterward in the skittles room Devish told me that I had missed a mate in two. SAY WHAT? Well, obviously I didn't see it, wasn't even aware of it, and he followed up almost immediately by saying "but I blocked it." LOL! If anyone reads this and hopefully I've got my notation correct, did I have a mate in 2? First chance I'll have to pull out a board and play through this game is Thursday night.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVIII

Hola darlings! [Sure hope what follows makes sense -- no guarantee because my proof-reading abilities, always "iffy" at best, sure aren't working tonight.]

I came, I saw, I - well, I got a draw! LOL! And it was a good draw too, I think, in R3. I had the white pieces against a 1300 player (I'm at 603). More about that later.

I took TWO photographs during the entire tournament -- of the outside of the building!

Main entrance of tournament site: Holiday In Express Airport, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Welcome, all Ye, who come willingly into the Maw of the Chess Goddess. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha...
[imagine suitable sound effects here, munching and spitting out of bones, for instance].

Below is photo #2 -- my entire cache of photos taken the entire day. Am I getting senile, do you think???

A view to the southeast from main entrance. The original forecast today had been to wake up to intermittent showers and possible thunderstorms in the afternoon. The showers were nowhere in evidence when I awoke a 6 a.m. Got ready and
had a cab to the hotel, arrived about 9:15 or 9:20 a.m. Checked in with Tom and Robin and then ran outside with
my camera to take these photos, intent on doing an entire day of blog-worthy photos. The Goddess had other plans for
me today, though. The weather I travelled through was warm, slightly muggy, and beautiful. There was some thunder
and rain -- was that during Round 3? Maybe, because that is the round I scored my draw in. A sign from Caissa?

The photos above were meant to be the start of a photographic essay on the odessey of my trials and tribulations during Challenge XVIII. Geez Louise! Didn't even think to pull out the camera in the skittles room. I'm usually the photo-taking queen - snapping photos of everything in sight, including coffee carafes and errant score sheets and signs on restrooms and the errant butt-crack or two. But - not a PHOTO showed up on my antique Nikon this evening.

I'm too tired to check tonight, but I do believe there are a few photos of Ellen Wanek, Janet Ulrich and I on my camera, taken by a passer-by parent or player we asked to "shoot us, please" in the lobby of the hotel prior to the start of R1.  Assuming those photographs do, in fact, exist and I didn't imagine the whole thing (reference my imaginary moves in R3, below), AND I don't look like the Bride of Freddy Krueger in them, I'll publish them tomorrow.

I stayed for R4. I already had a bad head-ache but I so wanted to see how it would turn out for everyone, and to see if I could press for a win (gasp!), a draw, or a game I would feel good about my effort despite a loss. Mistake. I should have just hung out in the skittles room during R4 and not played. But I didn't. I had the black pieces in R4 and for some reason, probably because I am just so perverse sometimes, I often manage to play better with the black pieces than with white. Maybe it's just because I try harder when I have the black pieces. So I thought I might have another "competitive" game, competitive by my lights, and entered the round with pounding temples and high hopes.

I am rather proud of how I played those first three rounds earlier today. No excuses, though, for crashing and burning in less than 10 moves in R4. How embarassing! As per usual, I did not see the checkmate coming AT ALL.  Arrrggghhhh!

The best news on a personal level is that I never felt close to tears the entire time I was at Challenge XVIII, and I'm happy about that. I thought it might - could - happen. Brace yourselves-- and for those of you too young to appreciate true romanticism, or those of you who gag at the slightest hint of l'amour -- DO NOT READ WHAT FOLLOWS!

Last night I watched "Return to Me," on regular old t.v. (no cable or U-Verse in this house). I watched it 'cuz I had paid to watch it online some years before, in happier days when Mr. Don was still with us, and I was so touched by it. It is a wonderful romantic movie made in 2000, starring Minnie Driver and David Duchovny ("X-Files"), with a great supporting role of "Grandpa" played by Carroll O'Connor -- and I cried and cried and cried! Sobbed my butt off (I wish it had actually shed some pounds but, alas, it did not, according to the scale this morning). Oh yes, I know, how absolutely STOOPID of me to watch Such. A. Film. On. The. Eve. Of. The. Anniversary. Of. Mr. Don's. Death. Duh, Jan!

Okay - here's the transcendent part of this uber-emotional experience last night -- I had my patio door open to the temperate evening to let in fresh air while I was working at my dinette table (am I the only person on the planet who still calls that dining space between kitchen and family room a "dinette") and the t.v. playing in the family room, with one eye on the laptop screen and one eye on the t.v. (I have developed ambidexterous eyes over the years...). Then I started crying as the movie progressed, and then sobbing (loudly) during the happy and sad parts of the movie, and then the squirrels who are nesting in my back yard garden (many trees) started chiming in, too, with their cries, at about 10:30 p.m.

OH MY! Not kidding -- Quite a sob-fest. I didn't make a recording, though, to prove it to you, LOL! (I have no idea how to do that on my now 'ancient' Nikon Coolpix 5600 that has about 3 split seconds worth of recoding time, anyway). I'm laughing about it now, recounting it in this blog entry, and last night, I was laughing and crying about it at the same time. Those female squirrels who were "singing the blues" with me last night, some of them I've practically fed by hand with nuts since I was first able to entice them to come up to the patio door for a food offering (peanuts and in-shell hazelnuts).

Laugh or Cry!  I didn't shed a tear today.  I talked about Don with Ellen, and with Janet Ulrich, mom to the fabulous chessplayers Anne, Rachel and Susanna, and I was okay - not close to shedding a tear.  I'm so happy to have finally met Janet Ulrich in person -- we had some long chats in the skittles room between rounds. Jim Ulrich, the head of the family, also played in Challenge XVIII.

About that draw in R3. OF COURSE I did a "Jan" and somehow managed to add one extra set of moves into the game, geez! I messed up the moves early -- on move 7. But fortunately Ellen and I were looking over my score sheet after the game with the intent of playing through the game to see where I might have done better, and we got to the strange moves early. I checked with Paul Kaye, the young man I had the W pieces against in R3, and we went through our score sheets. They agreed on the first 6 moves, disagreed on the 7th and 8th sets of moves. I had one more line of moves (29 versus Mr. Kaye's 28 in all) on my score sheet! After lines7-8 on my score sheet, and line 7 on Paul's sheet, we agreed on the rest of the moves.

After puzzling it over in the skittles room with Paul and Ellen, and as well as my fried and aching brain can figure out this evening, it looks like I wrote down a phantom move for my 7th move with white, wrote down my actual move with white under Paul's (black) move on line 7, wrote down another bogus move for me (white) on line 8, and recorded the correct move for Paul (Knight to d7) under black on line 8.

On my score sheet, from move 9 down, our notations match. This was line 8 on Paul's scoresheet. I'll scan it here tomorrow showing my notations and scribbles after consulting with Paul. See what you think.

HOW ON EARTH DOES THIS HAPPEN? No, I did NOT have my camera out or have to go to the bathroom (I am careful to always visit the Ladies' Room a few minutes before I seat myself for the ensuing round) and thus got distracted...

Of the three games I felt I played with my best effort, I was happy with them (in terms of thinking about my moves, not worrying about time on the clock but trying to think things through before making a move that looked good on the surface but was a death in a move or two, trying to plot out alternative strategies and "what-ifs," trying to make my pieces dance, and trying to make sure all my pieces were protected -- I have about a thousand years worth of work still to do on THAT). Game 4 - no tears shed. I disregarded my own intuition regarding my physical limitations to play, and I paid the price for it. Lesson learned. Over, and over, and over again... Hmmm. Well, I'm nothing if not persistent...

More tomorrow, or possily later this evening, because at last the pounding in my head and the pains in my temples and between my eyes is starting to decrease. Unfortunately, the only pain reliever that I can take while on Warfarin (Coumadin) -- blood thinner -- is Tylenol, and the only Tylenol I had in the house tonight was two sample capsules received in the mail, in April 1991. Holy Hathor! Talk about frugal, geez!

Friday, October 11, 2013

Controversial Evidence that People Were in the Americas 30,000 Years Ago

Ho ho ho and a gourd of rum, and some chickens, and who knows how long it took, but they got here, they got here. This is a subject I find absolutely fascinating. Enjoy! Oh - ignore the classic come-on about sex -- I saw a faint depiction of what could possibly be a depiction of some sexual activity, but it's so faint one would need special equipment to make it out. Besides, we know that humankind engaged in sexual activity else we wouldn't be here :)

Prehistoric Brazil artifacts star in exhibit, spark debate
By Yana MarullOctober 9, 2013 4:24 AM

Brasília (AFP) - It's no secret humans have been having sex for millennia -- but recently discovered cave art suggests they were doing it in the Americas much earlier than many archeologists believed.

A new exhibit in Brazil showcases artifacts dating as far back as 30,000 years ago -- throwing a wrench in the commonly held theory humans first crossed to the Americas from Asia a mere 12,000 years ago. The 100 items on display in Brasilia, including cave paintings and ceramic art, depict animals, ceremonies, hunting expeditions -- and even scenes from the sex lives of this ancient group of early Americans.

The artifacts come from the Serra da Capivara national park in Brazil's northeastern Piaui state, on the border of the Amazon and Atlantic Forests, which attracted the hunter-gatherer civilization that left behind this hoard of local art. Since the 1970s, Franco-Brazilian archaeologist Niede Guidon has headed a mission to carry out large-scale excavation of Piaui's interior. "It's difficult to think there exists a site anywhere with a higher concentration of cave art," the 80-year-old Guidon told AFP.

Many paths led to Americas

Other traces of the civilization include charcoal remains of structured fires, explained Guidon, who hails from Sao Paulo.

"To date, these are the oldest traces" of human existence in the Americas, she emphasized.
The widely held theory has suggested human beings only reached the Americas some 12,000 years ago from Asia, crossing the Bering Strait to reach Alaska.

Some archeologists contend flaked pebbles at the Brazilian sites are not evidence of a crude, human-made fire hearth made some 40 millennia ago, but are rather geofacts -- a natural stone formation, not a man-made one.

But Guidon said she believes the Serra dwellers may have come originally from Africa, and she said the cave art provides compelling evidence of early human activity.

The paintings are estimated to date back some 29,000 years, she said, noting: "When it began in Europe and Africa, it did here too."

Other sites, including Valsequillo in Mexico and Monte Verde in Chile, also indicate the presence of communities tens of thousands of years ago. These sites have led archeologists to speculate that peoples traveled various routes to reach the Americas and at different stages, archeologist Gisele Daltrini Felice told AFP.

In search of tourists

UNESCO conferred World Heritage status on the Serra da Capivara in 1991, but tourists remain thin on the ground, which frustrates Guidon.

"After putting in a great amount of effort (to promote the site) we are up to 20,000 visitors a year," the archeologist said.

But "World Heritage sites get millions, and we are prepared to receive millions," she added.
The interior of the Piaui region is marked by widespread poverty, which has much to gain from tourism, Guidon stressed.

But resources are lacking to promote the attractions in a remote corner of the giant nation, she said. The nearest city is the modest town of Sao Raimundo Nonato, which has spent years trying to have an airport built.

The EU is promoting both the new exhibit as well as a swath of conferences on the area under the auspices of UNESCO, Brazil's Institute of Parks and the country's Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage.

"The idea is to promote cultural, historic and nature-based tourism in order to aid the development of areas adjoining Brazil's major parks -- and especially the Serra da Capivara, which has the most modern infrastructure," with 172 sites to visit, said Jerome Poussielgue, European Union cooperation and development officer for Brazil.

And the foundation behind research into the park is backing development projects -- including a ceramics factory that reproduces images of the cave art, a program aimed at giving local women work experience.

"We would like to help in the development of a region where women suffer hugely from violence," says Guidon.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

GM Jesse Kraai - Writer

Hola darlings! Well, I practically fell off this chair (no, it does not resemble a bar stool) earlier this evening when I was scrolling through about 100 emails (when did I get so popular?) and I saw one from Jesse Kraai.

I went - WHAT? Maybe my eyes bugged out a little, too, you know, like the cartoons -- BOIIINNNGG!

Then I thought, nah, that can't possibly be an email from GM Jesse Kraai. Why on earth would he be writing to me? But, turns out, I was dead wrong about that. HOLY HATHOR!

Well, maybe he's written to half the female chess bloggers on the face of the earth, but that's okay. What he asked was if I'd be interested in reviewing his new novel - about a young chess femme who learns the game under the tutelage of a Russian chessmaster. It was a story he had to write.

I mean, come on, how could I possibly resist? Of course I said yes, send me the book at once, you understand - at once! Nah, I wasn't quite that demanding. I do have good manners on occasion and Grandma Newton would be proud of me, I brought them out tonight.

So, I'm excited about this new project I've accepted. It has been many moons since I've done a chess book review and this is the time of year in southeastern Wisconsin where settling in with a good book before the fireplace would be a perfect way to spend a few chilly afternoons on a weekend.

I quickly visited the link to the website Jesse sent me, and read this little tease of a post (really Jesse? One teensy-weensy post? Give us something more please!) -- excerpted here:

The chess pieces knew how they moved. They knew what they wanted too.

and thought - OHMYGODDESS! How on earth could he possibly know that THAT is exactly how I feel about chess and how it SHOULD work for a player who has IT, and how much I want to have IT and see those pieces dancing around the chessboard like the ibau that the ancient Egyptians called their boardgame pieces -- a pun on their words for dancers (ibau) and ivory (ebou, ebu, abu) .

Brooklyn Museum: A partial gameboard of 30 squares (a/k/a Senet) and two different types of ibau, these made
of Egyptian faience, not ivory (ebou), as the earliest gaming pieces were carved from c. 5000 years ago. Taken in
May, 2009 during our second trip to New York.

Of course chess pieces have a mind of their own! Just ask me when a rook (most recent game against William, a pick-up game at chess.com) or a bishop (a game a week or so ago with my chess buddy Shira Evans Sanford) just seem so damn determined to HANG THEMSELVES. They just dance right over to the absolutely worst square on the board they could possibly pick, and laugh about it, rubbing their teeny little hands together in glee thinking how brilliantly they are performing. No vision of the Big Bad Wolf with super-long blood-coated teeth just waiting to chomp them down ever enters into their vision, nope.

Of course, those players who have IT, their pieces never have the thought of hanging themselves; they move about the board on angels' wings, like feathers, touching here, a toe there, a turn, a lunge, a pirouette and poof, there goes your Rook, white pieces, ha! And it's checkmate in three and YOU don't see it coming for a change. Ah yes, the stuff I dream about at night. Do you know how damn frustrating it is, playing such chess in your dreams, only to turn into the Ash Girl, or in my case, old enough to be an Ash Grandma, in the morning? I have not been able to shut down the chess dreams. May as well deliberately try and stop my own heart beating. Ach! I can truly say with what wisdom I have garnered over 62 years that I sympathize with those chessplayers who have gone off the deep end when, like The Red Shoes, the ibau never stop dancing...

Jesse, are you going to turn this into a series, like a chessly Hermione Granger? We need a better role model than Beth Harmon, Walter Bevis' creation -- and I only re-read his book five times, couldn't get enough of Beth and that fantastic, wonderful, glorious chess she played. Can't wait to meet Lisa!

Listen to me - the book hasn't even been put into the mail yet. Maybe Jesse will change his mind and decide he doesn't want me reviewing his book after all...

Okay, peoples, forget you read this blog post!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Crazy...

Hola darlings!

This Saturday is Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVIII in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Hales Corners Chess Challenges are put together and sponsored by my adopted chess club, Southwest Chess Club (formerly known as Southwest Chess Club of Hales Corners) and are held in April and October each year.

As you may know, Goddesschess has provided sponsorship to the Hales Corners Challenges since Challenge XVIII. Now, it's Challenge XVIII. How quickly the time has passed.

Our last time spent together (we were separated by a thousand miles and world apart...) was for a glorious week in Madrid in January 2012. Then, we both fell ill, diagnosed with the same heart ailment (atrial fibrilation, me with some extra complications) within a few days of each other. Don received first class treatment in Montreal and had been on the road to recovery by the beginning of August, 2012, but he passed away unexpectedly on October 12, 2012.

The photo above is one that was taken of Don at his home in Montreal a few months before we left for Spain in January, 2012. He called himself "Pallid'un," a spoof after the old television series that most of you are too young to remember, "Have Gun, Will Travel," and the "hero" of the series was "Will Palladin." LOL! He was a handsome/homely man, Just like Don. In the photo, Don is holding an Avon "White Queen" he'd picked up at a rummage sale. He brought that Queen to me here in Milwaukee in December, 2011. We celebrated a late Christmas and New Year's together before departing to Madrid the first week of January, 2012. That was our last person-to-person time together.

How does one recover from the unexpected loss of a loved one? I don't know that one can, really. I had registered to play in Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVI. GM Josh Friedel was playing in that event, and I so wanted to meet him, one of our few American-made GMs, but it was held on October 20, 2012 and I was, to put it simply, not up to the challenge. No pun intended.

My adopted chess club was so great! I received a personal note and autograph from GM Friedel on the back of a Challenge XVI flyer, and the chess femmes had group photos taken just for moi. I was so touched, moved to tears. Below is a photo of the FOUR chess femmes who played in the Open in Challenge XVI:

They're so beautiful! And below is a photo of the NINE chess femmes who played in the Reserve section in Challenge XVII:

Equally beautiful!

I did not play in Challenge XVII in April, 2013, but I promised that I would play in Challenge XVIII.

WHAT WAS I THINKING????

I started "training" -- my version of it anyway, LOL! That meant playing game after game after game at chess.com, with my chess buddies and a few against strangers (one of whom was an obvious cheat) from April through this evening and still going on, and losing game after game after game. My chess buddy Shira Sanford, formerly Shira Evans, who played with me in one of the Hales Corners Challenges (Holy Hathor, that was back in October, 2010) and who, at her peak, had a rating over 1700, told me I was improving.

I sure the heck hope I look better now than I did in that photo above, and that was before I was diagnosed with my heart conditions, yikes!

So did another chess buddy, Ellen Wanek, who teaches chess in school programs and is a mover-and-shaker behind Chess in the Park in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. My recollection is that I met Ellen online after I emailed her about an online article I'd about her participation in the Sheboygan program, and then she came to play in one of the Challenges, and has come to every single one since then! Ellen told me that I've improved too. Here we are, yucking it up with some of the other chess femmes at Challenge -- I forget -- it was October, 2011. Ellen and I are on the left side of the table:

Love Shira and love Ellen. I think I have seen some miniscule improvement in my play, but I'm a million miles away from prime time.

I hemmed and hawed the past few months about actually playing in Challenge XVIII. YES, I started out with the intent to play when I was feeling particularly healthy in April, but as time went on and some health set-backs, I just didn't think it would happen. Challenge XVIII coincides with the first anniversary of Mr. Don's death, and as the time got closer and closer, I've been getting rather emotional. Not that those emotions have ever been far from the surface. Far from it!

I was afraid. Oh, not of playing crappy chess, cuz I generally do that with no outside interference. No, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to deal with the stress. My physical stamina has been an issue for some years even before all this heart stuff started, and let me tell you, darlings, when you have a heart that will NOT behave despite procedures and strong meds, that saps the strength out of you and makes you feel cold all the damn time well, that's just the pits, and that's the truth. What if I collapsed or, even worse, broke down in tears in front of everyone?

I had actually informed Tom F. that I was not going to play, and began to make arrangements with him to pick up the Goddesschess gift bags that, for the last few Challenges, have been given to the top finishing female in each of the Open and Reserve sections. But I decided last Saturday after a sort of epiphany during a semi-nap on the sofa while that thunderstorm (I'm sure a lot of you heard it) rolled through our environs between about 2 and 3 p.m., that I needed to play and I must play and I would play. STOP THE THUNDER AND LIGHTNING ALREADY, I GET IT, I GET IT. Message from the Chess Goddess received, loud and clear. Geez.

So, I'm playing this Saturday. Guess what - it's supposed to be rainy that day. Oh oh - that means SHE is going to be hanging around making sure I give my best effort. How many of you can say you're going to be playing chess with the threat of a Goddess wrought typhoon hanging over your head if you don't give it your all?

Be there or be round. As a special one-off prize for this event only, I'm giving a $100 gift card to the top male finisher in the Open and a $50 gift card to the top male finisher in the Reserve, after tie-breaks and all that stuff that I will never understand if I live to be 100.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVIII

Hola darlings!

Don't delay, please register to play today! Please come out -- especially chess femmes -- and support this great local event in southeastern Wisconsin sponsored by the Southwest Chess Club. Can we break a chess femme participating players record this year - please please please!

Veterans of the Hales Corners Chess Challenges know that each event is worth 10 USCF Grand Prix and (I believe) 10 USCF Junior Grand Prix points! I copied the info below directly from an email the other day from my adopted chess club, Southwest Chess Club:

The event will be held at the Holiday Inn Express Airport Hotel (near Milwaukee airport: 1400 W. Zellman Court-Milwaukee-414-563-4000). Note - this is a new location-- just across the street from our last two events, HCC XVII and MSC-II! Mention Southwest Chess Club for $89 room rate. We hope you will attend this major regional event, which is a part of the USCF Grand Prix (with 10 Grand Prix points) and also a JGP (Junior Grand Prix) Event. You can print the attached flyer, or use the text-formatted version at the bottom of this email, or print the online version .

Watch for pre-registration news on our blog, and also round-by-round pairings and news while the tournament is in progress.

Some event highlights:

Several regional Masters and Experts are expected to participate. So far, FM Alex Betaneli and NMs Bill Williams and Ben Smail have registered! (Currently, we have 25 pre-registered players, but expect 70-80 total).

Goddesschess Prizes for Females in Addition to Above Prizes, Open: $40 per win/$20 per draw; Reserve: $20 per win/$10 per draw. Highest-scoring female in each section wins free entry into Hales Corners Challenge XIX, April 12, 2014.

Goddesschess is also offering a Best Game prize ($50!), open to any player in either section.

Life Master Sheldon Gelbart will be on hand throughout the tournament analyzing games for tournament participants.

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Hales Corners Challenge XVIII