Chessville
logo by
ChessPrints
 

Advertise
with
Chessville!!

Advertise to
thousands
of chess
fans for
as little
as $25.

Single insert:
$35
x4 insert:
@ $25 each.

From the
Chessville
Chess Store

From the
Chessville
Chess Store

Opinions and Reader Feedback
 

TheParrot Says…

6-30-2007

Arbiters are OK too?  Well, depends.  Here is a recent comment from Guert Gijssen's column at www.chesscafe.com; the position: White Kc5, Qd5. Black Kf4, pawns at a3 and h3:

"White to move, with 3 seconds left claims a draw. White is completely winning, but there is no time to take two pawns within 3 seconds. Some arbiters would agree to the draw and others would prefer to wait before making a decision. I would wait for White's next move, and if he played Qa2, Kb4, Qh1 or something similar, I would agree."

Now, the question is, "why are arbiters interceding in any case," and this sort of response by some arbiters is not the same as by other arbiters!  Why is there any intercession at all?

It seems that the game should either allow the clock to resolve the game or a delay system implemented which allows a few seconds per move - but in either case it is the players who decide the fate of the game.  Why make chess like a tennis line-call?  It certainly does not seem to be an initiative brought about by the players themselves.

Earlier this year Mr. Gijssen, the senior FIDE arbiter, made a false call in a St. Petersburg tournament awarding a draw for a 3-fold repetition when none was there.  At least that is an understandable mistake.  But nothing can be understood from this "on the one-hand, on the other-hand" sort of rule, which in this instance has an arbiter jumping in and seemingly resolving the game by something equivalent to consulting the old 8-Ball.

Another recent 'accommodation' is to forbid players to write their move before they play it.  Again Mr. Gijssen felt this was 'taking notes', and by changing the rule ensured that no player could prove his intended move by referring to the score-sheet.

I happen to know some GM opinion which considers these rulings to be 'daft'.

Rare Chess Pictures:

The GM picture competition has another new competitor!  This phenomenally gifted puppy (Garry Junior?) has been playing the King's Indian Attack and is currently approaching Fide Master level, the youngest puppy ever to do so.

Sadly, Sophia Polgar's painting of a Montreal view [from last week] has now slipped to third place, the puppy is holding 2nd, and since the one below, for completely biased reasons, is now #1.

I found a picture of my old team captain, Peter Clarke of England: Taken in Leipzig 1960, playing Ivkov in the Sahovska Olympiad.  Thank you for the puppy picture Nagesh Havanur and for Ivkov/Clarke, Dimitrije Bjelica.

6-23-2007

With a month to go before the USCF Elections, the excitement is doddering.  But - there will be only one result, whichever way the election goes. If things continue as they are, the future of USCF is grim indeed, especially if the recharged interest from the chess public is not sufficiently represented in the election - then USCF might find itself met with a substantial competitor in a new rival organization. That's the context this year; not for the business-as-usual next few years, but as the base for the next few decades.

The current electioneering process goes like this: On the one hand there is an incumbent board member who is content to raise no less than 3 scandals /per day/ about other candidates, [and answer nothing about himself] and the other board members who make statements to no one in particular as if addressing questions put to them, but are really speeches which can only be called 'cute' rather than 'compelling'.

On the other hand, there is a group who were content to discuss very difficult questions about USCF's future, and answer in detailed writing; questions that cannot be considered easy or convenient and which focus on the foundations of American chess for the C21st, rather than any status-quo issues, or about personalities.

Some incumbents seem to be running on their records - a rather dubious strategy even though they say them about themselves in the best possible light, considering two years of straight 6-figure loses, plus declining memberships, and even loss of control of the two most important scholastic events in the country to other groups who could do better for young players!

It must also be a considerable factor that the current board is too old - and such ventures as they take on are on such a small scale as would be left to the zest of a competent mid-level office manager in any normal business.

This year saw a last-minute save by Frank Berry of the national championship, and it now seems clear that without that generous contribution there would have been no championship at all, even though the writing was clearly on the wall 12 months beforehand.

What constitutes a real agenda for USCF's prime mission and reason to exist?  The following factors seem like key elements in the mix:

1. Penetration of the mainstream education market.

2. Consistent entry into mainstream media attention.

3. Successful partnering with sponsors and joint-initiative entities, which are neither sacrifices, nor make a monkey of the game.

4. Insulating paid staff from consistent invasive and secret meddling from the board, and empowering them to do 'do-able' jobs competently.

5. Clarification of the roles and responsibilities of staff and board, especially the relationship between Executive Director and Board President.

6. Serious attention paid to America's investment in its own chessic future, which means attending to its chess youth by both making adequate financial and pedagogic provisions for their study of the game.

7. Instituting standards of personal behavior which would, at a minimum, be necessary in any High-School background check - otherwise such persons as would not pass that standard, or decline to be audited, should formally have naught to do with young chess players.

8. Formal dispute management resolutions should be objectivized by inclusion of an independent Ombudsman to resolve conflicts between USCF members and other contracting parties to the organization.

9. Competency-testing standards should be instituted for paid and un-paid staff alike, so that at minimum people understand and assent to what is asked of them, and their performance can be assessed.

NONE of the above are in the least unusual in non-profit or for-profit business, and NONE of the above currently exist at USCF.

As a platform for the future, making substance of these missing issues allow American chess some real planks to stand on. The alternative is more a dizzy tight-rope acts by would-be virtuoso personalities, and that stratagem is now a failed one these past 25 years.

Rare Chess Pictures:

Here it is: the first entry to the Annual GM Parrot's Blitz Pics Competition, supplied by GM Sophia Polgar from Toronto, or "Trono", as Canadian's say. Her opponent [who shall be nameless] lost on time after getting a nasty run down the left side of the picture, and got in time trouble in the end-frame.

Steven Seward has also entered the competition with this pic of 2007 US Champion, Alex Shabalov:

Competition is open to all!

If you are not a GM, qualify now for your GM Blitz Pic-norm!

Rules: (a) First set your clock to 10 minutes. (b) You must press the clock with the same hand that you paint with. (c) Finger painters should wipe their painting finger before pressing clock. (d) No 'flicking' or other unsportspersonlike behavior (e) You can only paint when your clock is on.  (f) No painting move should take more than 60 seconds, when the player should stop painting and press their clock. (g) The Parrot's decision is final and completely biased. (h) Picasso rating-points [PRP] will be awarded to normal ELO distribution limits for a reasonable fee.

6-16-2007

Guest Squaaawk! By GM Susan Polgar

Ever since I was a little girl, I always believe in doing the right things.  I have spent my life in chess fighting to change our sport for the better.  I always believe that chess deserves better and I am working hard every day to make that happen. In the past 5-6 years, that focus has taken place in the United States.

I do not believe in promoting chess in one particular area while neglecting others. That is why I promote scholastic, adult, college, internet, correspondence, military and professional chess, etc. I would like to bring respectability, credibility, integrity and popularity to our sport.

When I was in Las Vegas this past weekend, I just learned of new information that is even more disturbing that what I originally thought about US chess.  In the past many decades, the USCF has basically been run by the same group of people. When they first got involved, they all had the same vision. They all wanted to do good things for this federation.

Unfortunately, in order to survive chess politics, they had to join one political chess party or another. Otherwise they cannot survive the brutal and merciless attacks and abuse by the chess politicians. After a while, people start to lose focus on why they got involved in the first place.  There are simply too much hatred and animosity among the chess politicians.  Instead of doing what is best for chess, they seek revenge toward their opponents. It is a never ending cycle.

That is why when I was approached by both major chess political parties to join force with them, I turned everyone down and remained independent in this election even though I have friends on both sides. I will work with everyone to make the USCF better but I do not want to contribute to this endless destructive cycle. I want no part of this kind of politics.

In the past few days, I was told of some of the most incredible lies by various chess politicians for political purpose. There is not even an ounce of truth to any of these rumors. They know that they have no chance to win this upcoming election based on their records and accomplishments. So the only way to win is to confuse the voters with outrageous lies.

First, there were offensive post cards with full of malicious lies and dishonest innuendos.  Then there were internet mailings.  Then a flurry of vicious rumors came.  Some of the absolutely false rumors include:

- The first thing I want to do if my team and I are elected is to fire the USCF ED Bill Hall

- The first thing I want to do if my team and I are elected is to fire the USCF Scholastic Director Jerry Nash

- The first thing I want to do if my team and I are elected is to outsource the Spring's National Scholastic events

- The first thing I want to do if my team and I are elected is to close down the USCF forums

- The first thing I want to do if my team and I are elected is to split the scholastic and adult components of the USCF

That is a lot of first that I did not even know about.  It is amazing to know what kind of lies they can concoct.  It is like reading the National Enquirer.  There are plenty more outrageous fabrications simply to confuse the USCF members.  Some even challenged how many women's world championships I won or how many national championships my husband has won.

As I stated before, they spare nothing.  They are rude and loud.  They twist every fact to destroy their opponents.  It is a completely dysfunctional system with no leadership.  They have chased away countless good members, volunteers, sponsors and supporters because of this.

The only difference is their tactics no longer work.  They can no longer silence everyone.  They no longer control the news.  They definitely cannot silence me.  Their repeated threats to harm me and my family if I do not drop out, their legal intimidation and their daily attacks and insults will not hold me back.

I will not give up fighting for what I believe in.  I will not give up fighting for chess.  I am not going to sit back to allow these politicians continue to destroy US chess and the USCF.  They have done this for too long.

We are not doing enough for our kids, our club and tournament players or our professional players.  They are fighting about dollars and cents while throwing away one million after another in sponsorship opportunities.  They do not have the best interest of the entire federation at heart.

I will continue to positively promote chess while they continue their destructive politics.  I would like to thank everyone who wrote to me or came up to me to offer their support.  We still have another 6 weeks before this election ends.  Please be sure to vote and please tell everyone you know to vote.

This is a very important election.  The future of this federation is in your hands.  We can stop this destructive way and rebuild the USCF into a respected, prosperous and viable organization if we work together!  I have no doubt in this.  We have the momentum and we must take advantage of it to save this federation.  Please feel free to show everyone this: http://www.susanpolgar.com/The2007USExecutiveBoardElection.pdf

Thank you for your support!
News from Susan Polgar

Squaaawk # 2
by TheParrot

Andras Adorjan has famously proposed in his books that Black is OK!  Another question in chess is if Women are OK?

I take a lead from a comment by GM Larry Evans as repeated in the New York Times on a sincere look at the Gender Gap, and where he begins "Nobody knows why chess is dominated by men."

"FIDE - Uniting the Chess World"

Really?  Its plain why women are under-represented in chess.  They are similarly under-represented in Environmental agencies too, where attendance at work-shops is 90% male, and the big organizations are all male-led.  Does this mean that women (a) don't care about the environment to the same extent that men do?  or (b) they lack executive abilities comparably with males?  And (c) is the result of these opinions that women do not deserve to be taken seriously and receive training?

Before the [American] civil war: 0% = Woman Doctors.  In 2001: 55% of graduating MDs were female.

In 1400 women players were the equal of men, says Marilyn Yalom in Birth of the Chess Queen, and circa 1600, when they had achieved political equity in society, there was a decline until recent times - in fact, until the advent of the British Ladies [including Vera Menchik], to the emergence of a few others in Russia and Ukraine, but substantially to the Polgars for GM strength at a level which was not a separate one, but on the same scale as the men.  But that is only since about 1970, and 35 years are insufficient to regain what is essentially a social equity or position in the game which took 100+ years to achieve in medicine.

What is different about women is our open expectation of them - and of the Polgars, it was a removal from public expectation by home-schooling which seemed to make a substantial difference.  Notice was made recently about young Elaine Pritchard in England who almost clipped Alekhine in that famous game.  And he was then the world champion, and she was a 10-year-old girl finishing her game at midnight!

When the first British GMs emerged, there were no women among them, nor still are.

When women write from /their/ perspective it is much as my daughter says about the environmental scene - a certain gender tokenism is present in organizations, but 90% of training resources go to males, despite only 50% of financial contributions and correspondence coming from males.

There is an old joke - even if its a serious joke - which relates to these sociological factors of equity in society, and that has to do with our wills: It goes like this; if you want to eliminate child-hunger in the USA, elect a Jewish Mother as president, she'll solve it in 48 hours!

Its only a joke because of the 48 hours!  And it might actually take a year - but we CREDIT an essential truth in the 'joke'.  In chess, shall we ask ourselves if this social bias is also true, and if social conditions are uncongenial to female players - rather than the still widely prevalent, if unspoken, opinion, that they cannot be equal with males?

Rare Chess Pictures:

I shouldn't have started this with last week's joke about Mickey Adam's facial tattoo.  This is Theo's in Belgium:

If you have a chess tattoo - DO NOT write to the Parrot - unless of course, its a good one.  ;)

6-9-2007

There was no Squaawk published this week.

6-2-2007

Free Speech, and Responsible Speech too!

Following the featured letter this week, better organization, or even a bit of ambition could improve things in US chess considerably, but as you might have noted in the news recently, that is hardly coming from the 'rezident officials'.  35 years after Fischer is enough of a fair trial, and whatever USCF is, it failed its mission to connect chess with the people.

This is rather different than American people not being interested in chess!

Chessville has a conscious policy in promoting interest in the game by anyone who can seriously and responsibly address it in writing, and to honest questions put to them.

But the issue of the week is to do with 'ownership' of the Polgar tournament.  What you won't be reading here from the good-ol-boy Rezidents is that in all the time since Fischer's day still only 7% of women in US play chess, and the needle didn't moved from [almost] empty during the entire period.

Real resentment exists because Polgar is likely to make the thing dance across the meter!  One concerted effort achieved the first Silver in an Olympiad for the American women, and also must have given the participants a big boost in confidence so that they stay in the game [and who or what else does that?] and which was resolutely ignored by the good-ol-boys, who were perhaps nervous that women might be encouraged by this performance?

USCF failed the women in the country just as it failed to do other than dither around for 35 years in evolving chess to the mainstream public, media or education.

Now it massively resents others who can 'move the needle' and get people into the game, and keep them in it.  Should USCF survive even more conflict with the shakers and movers in the chess world, it might consider becoming a more modest and regulatory sort of organization, and not one that actually competes against chess development in America.

Rare Chess Pictures:

Gata's Camel, Real Rooks

Gata Kamsky has won a camel as a gift from His Excellency Kirsan Ilyumzhinov!  The Parrot only has one question, 'what is he going to do with it in New York City?'

Speculations are rampant that the Polgar Center in Queens is building a stable round back to house the camel, and also to accommodate a White Sheep and a baby lion, which Judit Polgar seems to have won.

The Parrot has contacted officials at the SPF and received a direct response from Susan Polgar herself, who denies any new building project in Queens, and instead spoke of her plans, quote:  "We can try to house them in Lubbock, Texas, home of the Texas Tech University and SPICE :)"

Well!  Now me know what the "C" in SPICE stands for, though if Texas takes the sheep they are going to have to call it SPICES.

SPF Vice President, and Spice-guy Mr. Paul 'Gringo' Truong was away and understood to be trying to ride another camel at the Brooklyn Zoo, while simultaneously wearing a 10-gallon hat, a tie of unusual design worn as bandana, and yelling 'giddy-up Nedski'.

The Animal has not yet been named, but 'Sam' and "Samantha" are being considered, pending additional discovery.  Meanwhile, this is the Parrot's suggestion for Ark-Lubbock, and what real rooks look like.

5-26-2007

Well, for a start, as a sense of chess history it would be hard to recommend better than Garry’s Predecessor’s series.  But what does Garry read?

This week you can read a remarkable piece of writing addressed to him by András Adorján, who perhaps recognized the super GM quality in Garry before anyone else, and who also functioned as a mentor for Garry’s Black repertoire.  Garry asked Andras for his opinion, and I wonder if he will like the response?

But IGM Adorján addresses a very central subject in chess which you don’t have to be the World Champion to appreciate, and that is fundamental aspects of creativity in the game.  Provocatively, he asks Garry to consider in a 4,000 word essay if we really are better now than then?  Highly recommended reading!  And I heartily suggest that the participants in the just concluded G.E.Nesis's Cup [see above] also read Adorján’s Black-is-OK! titles – they demonstrate his point for him.

Another provocative title is How to Fool Fritz, Explorations in Man Assisted Machine Chess [MAMS].  On receiving a reader’s copy from its Dutch publisher Chessville organized a “Doctor’s Surgery” to evaluate the title, with contributions from Dr Dowd in USA and Dr Walker in England.  Together they supply perspectives on the value of the book, and the scope of this field of Man/Machine exploration.  The range of potential is so large that another two reviews might not even compass it, but the material is so stimulating that it will also interest those not into computer chess, while for those who are it will be essential reading and a pioneering work in chess literature.

Rare chess pictures:  This week the Parrot thought ‘What if I google Snakes and Chess?’ and after 47 sites visited came up with this image of a picnic table completely made of recycled plastic bottles. But will this do for Chessville’s discerning readers? The Parrot thought not, so…re-googled on “recylced chess sets” and found this on e-bay!

But I gotta go, there are 257,000 references to check out, from products made by ‘incarcerated artists’ to 16 chess pieces made entirely out of recycled office furniture, and I just can’t stop googling …

5-19-2007

How about world champions and world champion candidates?  For a sense of the art of high level chess the Parrot heartily recommends the article between Andras Adorjan and Garry Kasparov.

It is rare in this Parrot’s experience to read such high level talk on the art of the game, and Adorjan already shared his comments here with Chessville readers in straightforward and typically uncompromising ways, as he does in his books – he does not shrink from telling his old student, GK, his opinions of what should be in Predecessors IV, and challenges us all to think again if we are really so better than the innovators in chess 25 years ago.

The four thousand word essay has so many potential pull-quotes in it to entice the reader, it is hard to resist – but first, maybe make up your own mind if this is what you too think is the state-of-the-art of chess, and would tell the strongest player of all time the same way as you addressed Chessville’s public!

5-12-2007

“…and not the disgusting politics” Part 2

While very momentous events are pending in the chess world, and originate outside normal channels, Chessville has been approached by someone wishing to plainly state what is amiss with USCF politics, and Chessville’s publisher has agreed to publish a major guest editorial on this subject in our pages.

What is NOT going to happen is to address 'questions' as framed in the way that certain incumbents have put them - people too shy to be questioned about their own activities, and whose feverish egos feast on negative gossip and distraction.

The editorial focus will be an address not to personalities, but to issues, especially ethical issues – which has to be the theme of the week.

Now, there is a lot going on in the chess world at the moment, far beyond the normal scope of ordinary business as usual -- indeed far beyond its imagination - which should all be clear and in the public domain by next week.

Given that in this election season for USCF office few standards or ethical considerations are observed by certain writers, perhaps this address will be other than sound-bite personality issues – and which require considerable thought, but which will have a bearing on the chess future of American players in the C21st, rather than, for example, personality grandstanding about the prospects of individual candidates – which is all about themselves.

Finally – much of this issue has to do with public decency of expression and with responsible speech rather than 'free' speech' which is sometimes so free, it forgets to include any facts.

The guest editorial will be written by someone who wants something more to be displayed than there evidently is in current chess culture, which seems to repress interest in chess rather than promote its prospects.

If ethics and standards are to be the bones of contention, this week, Fide doesn’t exactly seem to be in the bosom of confidence of the British Chess Federation either…

Not a pretty chess pictures:

"I have nothing to retract and I look forward to humiliating them in any hearing or court."

Nigel Short

Fide, you see, want to have Nigel appear before their ethics committee. But the English Federation have taken strong exception to the issue – even this much:

We ask the Commission:

1) To cease this attempt to stop GM Short commenting on issues which are of legitimate importance to all chess players.  This is an abuse of the Ethics Commission against a former title contender who has always spoken passionately and honestly about chess.

In the event that this complaint should progress we ask the Commission:

2) To investigate with full vigour the background to GM Short’s remarks and the events at those tournaments which led him to make them, and if justified by the evidence, to charge Vice President GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili and Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos under 2.2.10 and 2.2.11 of the FIDE Code of Ethics for damaging the reputation of FIDE and its events.

Even in the event, that the complaint against GM Short is withdrawn, we reserve the right to ask the Commission to investigate the conduct of Messrs Azmayparashvili and Makropoulos.

Yours Faithfully,
Martin Regan (Chief Executive ECF)
Peter Sowray (ECF International Director)

5-5-2007

”…and not the disgusting politics”

A very forthright comment or two emerged this week from with Erik Anderson, President of AF4C, in an interview with chess journalist Mig Greenard:

"AF4C sponsorship totally broke down when a member of the USCF board accused the AF4C of distributing pornography. (Really.)  GM Joel Benjamin will break his record streak of participating in an amazing 23 consecutive US championships, withdrawing over frustration with the USCF (with no slight intended to the Oklahoma organizers, who are doing their best)."

The problem is chess politicians still do not get this. Their continuous petty and destructive political games are destroying this federation for years. That is why I am determined to change this. I care only about promoting this game properly for the benefits of the entire sports from kids to adults, college, correspondence, military and Internet chess, etc. We need to promote chess and the USCF and not the disgusting politics.

Rare Chess Pictures…
 

One of the most overlooked factors relating to computers in chess, is the prediction by Professor Rufus. R. Rolfie that dogs will soon overtake them in ratings based on their superior smell of positional evaluations. “This move stinks!” is a typical canine observation.

Sadly, just when many animals seem to be taking up the game, cats & dogs can’t raise the high entry fee to get into tournaments these days, and are frustrated by the new MonRoi device which is “not paw friendly.”

According to a squirrel conspiracy theorists, the Monroi device is another way to keep smaller animals out of chess. The much published Mademoiselle Fifi, a tabby cat out of Austin, TX, has said that she has taken to reading Russian chess books, since she has no use for a mouse either, and often shares them with her friend, Bobby [captioned] who is researching the Pelikan.

4-28-2007

Now here’s an issue for our times.  The sometimes Chessville associate editor Mr. Rob Mitchell has been banned from a newsgroup run by a USCF board member, Mr. Sam Sloan.  Mr. Mitchell raised two specific issues in respect of Mr. Sloan; one of his publicly reporting of the medical circumstances of a USCF employee, which is quite contrary to current HIPPA rules says Mr. Mitchell, and secondly, in respect to what is termed ‘porn’ on the private website of Mr. Sloan.

Now, Mr. Sloan responded by adopting a stance of not understanding which Rob Mitchell raises the issues, as if that were a pertinent issues [there being several USCF members with the same name], rather than responding to the serious content of either issue.

An irony is that Mr. Mitchell went to some considerably pains to impartially defend the same person, Sam Sloan, against what appeared to be gratuitous destruction of his efforts in Wikipedia biographies of chess players by someone currently employed as a USCF moderator...

The issue stands: If individual board members are apparently indifferent to public objections to their well-publicized personal orientations, especially in respect to sexual issues, of what concern is this to everyone?

Are we so Victorian to think public and private representations completely different subjects, as if they occupy different worlds?

Mr. Mitchell has raised issues which are glossed or ignored about public concerns of especially women and children in chess.  United States Chess Federation have seemed unable to moderate Mr. Sloan’s expressions, and so sometimes ban him from their own forum.  To ban a board member is a severe indicator that they do not attend any better to Mr. Mitchell’s concerns, any more than the apparent indifferent Mr. Sloan, to the subject of decency in public expression.

The bottom line is the well-being and retention of Women and Children in chess.  Both are currently at appalling levels compared with other countries, both in terms of quantity of players and also quality of experience.  Also appalling are reports of abuses, both in chess, and its momentum in the general society.

This is too public an arena to detail such correspondence – though it is not too public a place to ask out loud, what price decency in our chessic affairs?

Rare Chess Pictures…
 

4-21-2007

This week several issues surrounding the MonRoi company have been making the rounds, and are of such importance to all chess players they should not be ignored or go un-debated.

Essentially, there appears to be 4 contentious aspects.

The first (1) is the changed rule which now insists you should write down your move after you make it, which GM Benjamin, for one, has criticized as having an ill effect on juniors. Implementing this rule does not seem to have achieved due consideration on the effects of play, and made instead to accommodate a commercial entity. Shouldn’t strong players have their views taken into account?

The Second issue is some very (2) dubious language at the MonRoi site, which seemed to claim that MonRoi intends to claim copyright for game scores – at least they appeared as such to the usually very sober and cautious New York Times. A clearer statement of intent and less catch-all language about ‘data’ seems more than indicated!

Then there is the (3) odd situation a ‘reporter’ interviewing the MonRoi president, see the article http://beta.uschess.org/frontend/news_7_332.php who also received payments from the company as a consultant.

That interview, which did not raise questions currently in the public mind about either items 1 or 2 above, caused one USCF member to opin; “Shameless cross-promotional pimping of a device that makes cheating MUCH easier (& the company the USCF cut a back room deal with) and then the subsequent and thinly veiled masquerading of it as news is lame.  Where was the open debate on whether or not these devices should be allowed at tournaments? Where was the vote?”

This last comment (4) seems to constitute the 4^th concern, and obviously the USCF member writing above was not convinced that the current reports about cheating in chess are well met by anything he has read. In fact, he suspects the contrary. Another reader mentioned if he should leave his investment in the $400 device at the table if he stepped away from it – or is it cheating to take it with him?

Whatever is true in respect of each issue and MonRoi, I think independent interviewers asking real questions of the company and of USCF rule-makers, are necessary, since its our game, and these are our concerns, and we, the chess public, should be the real consultants.

Rare Chess Pictures…

Got Champion?  While browsing the Karpov School’s web site I found a fascinating page with chess stamps, mostly featuring AK himself, but also a sheet or plate of famous players.

You can probably do this yourself, but on the top row, that’s Judit Polgar, Alex Morozevich, Peter Leko, Mikhail Tal, then middle row has Victor! Korchnoi, Vlad Kramnik, Vishy Anand, Anatoly Karpov, and… on the bottom row are… ?

I imagine that any collector with this whole plate of stamps would be even more happy than having the rare Fischer Karpov one which I admit I have never seen before.

Can any reader provide or point to a similar plate of chess stars on postage stamps?

4-5-2006

This week the Parrot went under cover to discover what’s up at USCF, and investigate answers to (1) The US Championship, (2) Current Finances, (3) The USCF Forum and communications.

The heavily disguised Parrot [caption] talked with Don Shultz, board member. But he didn’t discover anything. He got replies, but not exactly answers, which included a number of absurdities including contacting secret moderators at USCF’s forum to ask them why they are secret, and on the matter of turnover in Scholastics, now understand better the gentleman’s record in introducing chess jackets for Olympiads and other events. It was not clear from his answers, nor from another board member if they understood the current financial position to within the nearest quarter of a million dollars of expected year end Red Ink.

I don’t think its worth the readers time to notice non-answers, since it’s so boring! But the gentleman knows that if he wishes to address issues fair and square, rather than making gratuitous speeches at election time, then the, erm, Duck, will report ‘em!

One factor which differentiates the Polgar slate of 4 candidates, for example, against the current USCF board, is age. Older folks fought their battles already, and maybe did very well too in advancing the cause of chess in society in their time – the Fischer-era.

Do they understand the foundations for chess in the C21st? If they can still rock ‘n’ roll to connect with people today is unclear.

To complete the Duck’s non-report on a different tone: Don Schultz is the only board member to have conducted any correspondence with non-insider journalists these past two years. His courage cannot be doubted. What is in question is the extent of the dire straights the Federation now finds itself in, and which it looks more likely to die of happy talk, rather than negotiating the current rapids with enough science and energy to survive and thrive.

3-31-2007

This is unfortunately an all too common chess picture - results for Linares 2007 were:

Total draw percentage: 67%
Winner's draw percentage: 64.3% (Anand)
Minimum draw percentage: 42.9% (Carlsen)
Maximum draw percentage: 85.7% (Aronian, Svidler)

Compared with the Amber tournament which scored for Rapid; 34 decisive games from 66, or approximately 50% draws. And for Blindfold play; 36 from 66, or about 45% draws.

Anything less than half seems ‘good’ these days, but over two-thirds?! Something is wrong with that picture, especially when the players are paid fees to attend. Unfortunately giving the majority of the money to the top few players is not any incentive for up-and-coming players to take part and gain experience, and this seems to be no solution.

Whereas scoring wins for black as 1.5 would greatly optimize the worth of winning with the black pieces, and tempt players out of neutral – the added risk of playing for a win with black would surely result in less wins.

Next week the Parrot goes under cover to discover what’s up at USCF, and investigate answers to (1) The Championship, (2) Current Finances, (3) The USCF Forum and communications.  The heavily disguised Parrot [right] hopes that Chessville readers can keep a secret for a week while the mission is underway.

3-24-2007

It’s a very Red Week for US Chess, and while official figures are officially withheld by USCF officials, new board members might be rightly alarmed to know if their initial budget will start somewhere between -$50,000 and -$300,000 since this would greatly effect their own operational plans for their term of office.  Will the current board be known as ‘the Red Board?’

USCF has, as collateral, one new building which is of unknown worth, since any 30-person business or organization wishing to purchase it would have to move to Crossville TN, and which presumably cannot be re-mortgaged since any bank or re-financing organization would raise the same question of its objective worth.

Meanwhile USCF’s market is under attack from varieties of Barbarians, not excluding Fide, who plan to implement a world-wide rating system of their own, to as low as 1200-rated players. Kasparov Foundation have directly boosted their own Scholastic program to US schools; independent ratings services such as XPR are competing on price/service issues across the USA; and Washington State already seceded from USCF’s rating system, and will a quarter of the nation’s population in California do the same?!

Not a happy picture, and it will take a big red credit card to fix it, and proper business management if the organization is to continue to call itself a national foundation to promote chess, in any meaningful sense of either national or promote.

3-17-2007

Super-size that D, Bobby F?

After USCF re-named the US Championship after a sponsor, chess jokes this week have been about what other fund-raising activities USCF could well advertise to increase the fund?  In an unofficial leaked and completely deniable [until the money rolls in] report, USCF have launched the -

Sponsor an Opening Inc Leaders Society [SOILS]

MacDonalds are slated to take over the Cambridge Springs, renaming it the Bobby Fisch-wich Defense.

The Wilkes-Barre var. after fierce competition from advocates for Mars-Barre will now be called, the Bi-Gender12-hour Secure, var. [Recommended by Ministers of the Church Playing Chess and V. Kramnik. See also, ‘really safe tea’, at NunnTeaCo Outlets]

And the old Stonewall becomes the new StoneWalMart. “C4 you, then Cus4!” Internationally outsourcing since 1985.

Finally, the attack named after a Dallas player, will now be known as the Don’t Mess with Lexus Attack! Booklet; $3.95 with a full tank, from better petroleum emporiums.

3-10-2007

Cheater's Corner

Can you cheat with the MonRoi system?  Live broadcasts to the net also get the moves out of the playing hall, and recent technology from another e-board company [Shahcom, who invented e-board technology and made the first live broadcasts from Elista] can even send moves to your cell phone. The current issue seems to be the /relative/ ease which broadcast transmissions can now aid difficult-to-detect cheating.

ACP has just challenged Fide to do something about this issue - and an Indian IM has been exonerated after suspicions of cheating, while questions about the W Ch itself still float around, being a soggy mixture of technology, paranoia and bizarre behavior involving toilets.

If the Monroi device can be configured to be 2-way rather than 1, as originally configured and intended, then, since even those 'un-tamper-able' electronic voting machines - did you see the documentaries? - have proved to be susceptible, and can even record ‘the impossible’ such as negative votes (-5)! Are we to think that any hardware-software combination can’t be hacked?

The real question is what to do with cheaters if you catch them? They not only cheat at chess, but where there is money involved, this is constitutes fraud, and they cheat the law.

What penalties or remedies would readers suggest?

Meanwhile… Hysteria Rules over Cheating.  I just read the column of another chess journalist who is plainly outraged about being accused of cheating by a TD, a current US Board member.  It seems as though one must prove oneself innocent, and tomorrow, you the Chessville reader, can find yourself accused.

Separating the game from its players proves again that such a divorce yields nothing good.  Since this is the C21st, perhaps chess officials and rule makers and can manage to conference with players this century?  Its radical, but not doing so is even more radical.

3-3-2007

Friends of the Parrot - Senior reviewer wanted:  After already reviewing Adorjan’s title Black is still OK! Here at Chessville, and concluding that the work deserves more quality attention than given it in the chess-press. There is still a need to review the sequel, Black is OK forever! A Batsford title. Certainly one reason this book needs serious attention by an IM or GM reviewer is contained in the following Squaaawk!

Squaaawk!  Adorjan’s series of titles, Black is Okay… suggests a different explanation for results with black and white than is normal. He suggests these results are more to do with our expectations of chances with both colors than with the objective situation before us on the board.

As a thesis, this is very controversial! But so is the increasing trend of ‘Draw-Death’ in chess. As the main alternative to changing the rules and scoring black more for a win than white, this appears to be a challenge to change our attitudes towards the black bits, and thus revitalise the game from the inside, so to speak.

2-24-2007

The Parrot challenged a board member last week about the projected $324,000 loss for the current year and if he felt responsible for it happening on his watch?  Apparently not – it seemed in his opinion to be the previous board’s responsibility.

A USCF’s moderator said there was no such report of a loss, though the reporter is on the same finance committee as himself.

It must be heartening to read the news of the US championship, and the Women’s championship, and perhaps “B” players will not yet have their calendars engaged and can play “maybe May 15-23”, (pending sponsors), and the women can play “later in the year, probably in the summer.”

2-17-2007

But USCF did announce something, the 108th 2007 US Open, July 28 – August 5, July 31- August 5, August 1 – August 5, 2007 Crown Plaza Philadelphia-Cherry Hill, with what seems to be a $40,000 prize fund total.
Official Tournament website: http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2007/usopen/

Whichever group of candidates will succeed to a majority on the board is going to have a tough time financially. They may even start in the hole, with red ink on every portfolio.  Quite who is responsible for achieving the current loss is, of course, unknown – taking responsibility being foreign words to this board.  One member has already been obliged to resign after an ethical investigation of his rating, but I doubt if anyone will resign over losing almost a third of a million dollars of members’ money – since, naturally no-one was responsible!

10 Years without sponsors < … > connect the dots.

2-10-2007

Clearly – money is not the main issue, but instead clear and coherent vision and workable practice is.  This is a critical time for a USCF which has been bankrupt of ideas for sooooooo long, and now seem bankrupt of cash too.  These candidates will not only have to have new ideas to reinvigorate the country’s chess health, they must also be good enough to see these ideas are deployed!  The strength of their answers will provide USCF members with a real sense of both their vision and their management and so recommend their candidacy.

2-3-2007

USCF appears to be approaching a crisis point of no return – in fact a collection of problems have become a serial crisis where there is no going back, and no forward looking plans that seem viable either.

Shaken by a succession of ethical problems even at the board level, the Parrot wanted to know what the real options and alternatives are?  So asked 4 prospective board members running together on ‘a slate’ if they wanted to be interviewed?

Yes, they said.  What do you, dear chess fans, know about these people, their orientations to chess in the USA and what they would do if elected?  What things would they most want to achieve, and how are they going to do it?

In the coming weeks each will be interviewed and asked to answer the same 5 questions plus 5 additional questions tailored to them personally.  Here they are:

From left to right: NM Randy Bauer, FM Paul Troung, GM Susan Polgar and Dr. Mikhail Korenman.

Here’s one opinion: Evan Post liked the new scoring idea proposed  last week which gave White 1.0 for a win, Black 1.5 for a win, and both white and black 0.5 for a draw and 0 for a loss:

“Hit em where it hurts!!!  Deduct 10% of all prizes and appearance fees from each player every time a chess game is drawn by agreement. Use that penalty money to fund brilliancy and best game prizes.   I like the scoring change as well.”

1-27-2007

This is a rather technical Squawwk! But one that is also a current concern of the ACP, Association of Chess professionals, on the subject of the Draw Problem – sometimes termed ‘Draw-Death’.

A reason to take a look at first tier player results at Corus, and compare them with still very strong GM play at the same tournament in Group B, is to identify where the problem lies.

The first tier players of Group A achieved a decisive to draw ratio of 28:46, or about 2:3; whereas Group B achieved 44:32, or about 7:5. In percentages this resolves to first tier players scoring 50% more draws than wins, and elsewhere the GM ‘norm’, being about 35% less draws than decisive games.

A slightly more telling statistic between Group A and Group B at Corus is the win results with white, since black is almost the same in both groups: Group A = W16 D46 B12, and Group B = W30 D32 B14.

Since top players receive attendance fees, isn’t this a little un-sporty for Group A? Or this something inevitable for 2650+ rated GMs?

One thing ACP might consider is the effect of changing the scoring mechanism so that a white win = 1 point, a draw = 0.5 points, but a black win = 1.5 points.

This idea has the twin benefits of not changing the rules of play and not changing the rating system, but providing an incentive to not draw by incrementing Black’s score.
 

1-20-2007

Corus, he first big international of the year is well under way at Wijk aan Zee, and will be followed by Linares to lead out 2007’s top performers from around the world.  Meanwhile at home there is not even a national championship on the horizon.  Organizer USCF state lack of sponsorship interest and could not replace the previous sponsor in a year of trying – and the sponsors themselves state USCF’s failure to gather enough publicity for the event to make it worth their while.

So here’s the question facing chess in this country: If the national championship did not have a big prize, but player’s and officials’ costs were covered, then an event could be held for $50,000.  Shall we do that?

The real financial reward for winning is in subsequent sponsorships and endorsements?  Players would be contesting for the honor of being #1 in the country.

Even Fischer played for peanuts!  Chess is not a sport, and cannot compel media interest or professional levels of reimbursement for its players as if it were – that is the sad legacy of those in charge of the post-Fischer period of chess in the USA.  As Hikaru Nakamura recently commented, there are no young people of his own caliber on the scene.  Chess-USA needs to retrench itself and behave like the game it is, the Royal Game, and recover its sense of itself, of its art and resist fantasies and speculations that it is a sport like football.

Given the right support the groundswell of players in other countries is something to notice – and a UK newspaper recently wrote that chess is a pastime second only to soccer.  England produced 25 home-grown grandmasters in the post-Fischer epoch from a population of 55 million, while Poland with a tiny population of 38 million produced almost as many in the past 12 years.

Chess infrastructure has become so degraded and fractured there is no real link between the top and bottom anymore, with unreal expectations from the semi-pros at the top, and a shrinking-pool of active players at the bottom.
 

1-13-2007

DOUBLE Squaaawk!

(1) This week the national championship became the plaything of the politicos, and continuing secrecy, deals and ‘awards’ are the cause of 2 board members being banned. Apparently the usual open disclosure of who has bid for the championship is discontinued, and a vendor who did bid was kept secret from even other board members! In fact the board itself did not sanction the bid, and a complaint stand that the USCF president acted outside his authority. Little wonder that Nakamura says nothing cheerful about joining in the championship, and especially about on-line play and inherent uncertainties over cheating. Now we learn that AF4C has withdrawn, but offered $25,000 support.

THREE WITH ONE BLOW: Bill Goichberg could get on the phone today with MonRoi, ask them for 10 grand to cover administration expenses [beyond salaries already paid to 30 USCF staff], and then broadcast the thing from USCF's own site. This will have the triple-effect of:

(a) being what chess players /want/ to see on the site - actual chess!
(b) USCF needs to attract to its chess site, active chess watchers who can turn into new members [so don't charge or restrict access - maybe new people will join up! and
(c) Actually do what USCF is established to do, manage a national championship that /is/ for chess players. After all, it is /our/ game, and chess playing rather than chess politics is the heart and soul of it.

(2) Last week the Parrot asked these questions about Fide:

(a) Will Kok’s money be enough to gain player’s confidence in a viable Fide?
(b) Is a change of leader to a World Champion, a ‘chess-diplomat’ in her own terms, and a strong chess education advocate, preferable?
(c) If you thought ‘b’ above, is it possible within the current ‘peculiarities’ of the Fide election system to elect someone like Susan Polgar? And if you think not, then is an entirely new outfit indicated?

Readers Squawwk back:

Dear Big Bird... oops, Parrot: :-)

In my humble opinion change is necessary. I doubt that the injection of the new miracle cure into the corpus of organized chess will save it from the ravages of illness.

Too long has it endured in illness. Too long it has permitted opportunistic leeches to sap away it's vitality till there is nothing left save for the vestiges of a once grand ideal.

The effort needed to "reform" FIDE is tantamount to purchasing a grand old Victorian home and finding out it is a money pit. Another analogy is that to reform a corrupt organization you must first become a part of it. Once a part of that organization you are forced to subjugate your ideals if you are to ever effect any modest levels of reform. Once that is done you are not placed into a position of "going along to get along".

I dare say that time and energy would best spent building a new home from the ground up rather than buying into the "money pit" .

Rob Mitchell, TN.

1-6-2007

Bessel Kok and the FIDE President have now teamed up to form an enterprise with initial capitalization of 4.5 million Euros.  This is a second go of making a world-wide chess business, after FIDE Commerce went belly-up.

Opinion around the world seems genuinely divided if this is good or bad for chess.  Okay, now we get some more high level events, on the other hand is this throwing good money at a bad system?

GM Susan Polgar has announced a serious interest in running for the Fide Presidency, as well as running for the USCF Board. She represents business not-as-usual, and wants to put a full-stop to corruption in both organizations, much as the player here pictured with her wants to do in mainstream Russian politics.

These then, are the questions:

1. Will Kok’s money be enough to gain player’s confidence in a viable FIDE?

2. Is a change of leader to a World Champion, a ‘chess-diplomat’ in her own terms, and a strong chess education advocate, preferable?

3. If you thought ‘b’ above, is it possible within the current ‘peculiarities’ of the FIDE election system to elect someone like Susan Polgar?  And if you think not, then is an entirely new outfit indicated?

Unlike Chessville’s traditional 20 Question sessions to solo individuals, these are three questions it asks of every reader.  And there really are only three possible scenarios.  Will you answer them?   Write to TheParrot about the character of the world chess organization you would like.  Hey, it's your game!

Photos courtesy: http://www.chessphotography.blogspot.com/

• TheParrot Squaawks - 2004

• TheParrot Squaawks - 2005

• TheParrot Squaawks - 2006

The
Chessville
Chess Store
 

Advertisement

Reference
Center
 

The Chessville
 Weekly
The Best Free
Chess
Newsletter
On the Planet!

Subscribe
Today -
It's Free!!

The
Chessville
Weekly
Archives

Discussion
Forum

Chess Links

Chess Rules

Visit the
Chessville
Chess Store