Everything/Anything and…Chess…"Despite the documented evidence by chess historian HJR Murray, I've always thought that chess was invented by a goddess"–George Koltanowski: from the foreword to:"Women in chess, players of the Modern Age"
ACP Women Cup in the Land of the World Champions – Georgia
The ACP Women’s Cup starts tomorrow – 18th February 2012 – in Tbilisi. On the link – which will open in a new window – you can follow the games.
Tbilisi – on the map – very close to Azerbaijan, where my favourite Chess City – Baku is, which I would love to visit one day – especially the old city. If you remember my Baku-Chess entry, you will remember the beautiful pics of the old city too – where one of my favourite blogreaders is ‘hiding’ too. [hehe]
Tbilisi Schedule
Ana Zatonskih
Some of the players at the ACP Women Cup: Alexandra Kosteniuk, Tatiana Kosinteva, Ana Zatonskih and Antoaneta Stefanova – see more players on the given link.
Tbilisi – pic from the gallery I’ve just discovered on the official site!
If you go to the ‘gallery’ link on the official site, you will find more beautiful pictures of Tbilisi
Image: Wikimedia
I think Tbilisi will also be on my list of cities I would like to visit one day!
Rkinis Rigi – in Old Tbilisi – image: Wikimedia
Tbilisi – Church at night
According to Wikipedia: Tbilisi is the largest city in Georgia with a population of 1,152,500.
Results: ACP-Round 1
For more results, please click HERE . The link will open in a new window.
Alexandra Kosteniuk: The current Woman’s World Chess Champion – see her blog-link on my blog’s sidebar.
A nurse playing chess with a patient – WWI
Women at Chess in London London, June 24 – The fourth round of the International Women’s Chess Tournament, played in this city this evening, was finished with the following results:
Stevenson beat Thomas in a Giuoco Piano after twenty-nine moves. Gooding beat Muller-Hartung in a French defense after fifty-three moves. Bonnefin beat Hooke in a Ruy Lopez after forty-eight moves. Fagan beat Watson in a French defense after seventy-four moves. Finn beat Forbes-Sharpe in a two-knight defense after forty-three moves. Rudge beat Field in a Giuoco Piano after twenty-nine moves. Fox beat De La Vigne in an irregular opening after thirty-one moves.
Appended are the scores up to date: 1897
*Games left unfinished
The New York Times
Published June 25, 1897
Click HERE to read the news article in PDF-format. Links will open in a new window.
Giuoco Piano – Chess Opening – image: Wikipedia
I’m not familiar with this name as a chess opening, I’ve heard/read about many chess openings, but this one was new to me.
The Giuoco Piano is a chess opening characterized by the moves
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 Bc5
Instead of 3. … Bc5 it is possible for Black to play 3… Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 ( Two knights defence ) or 3. … Ne7 4.d4 d6 5. h3 Nf6 6.Nc3 0-0 7.0-0 exd4 ( Hungarian defence )
The Giuoco Piano (Italian: “quiet game”) is the oldest recorded opening. The Portuguese Damiano played it at the beginning of the 16th century and the Italian Greco played it at the beginning of the 17th century. The opening is also known as the Italian Game, although that term is sometimes used more generally to describe the position after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4. The Giuoco Piano was popular through the 19th century, but modern refinements in defensive play have led most chess masters towards openings like the Ruy Lopez that offer White greater chances for long term initiative.
White’s “Italian bishop” at c4 prevents Black from advancing in the center with …d5 and attacks the vulnerable f7 square. White plans to dominate the center with d2-d4 and to attack the Black king. Black aims to free his game by exchanging pieces and playing the pawn break …d5, or to hold his center pawn at e5.
Source: Wikipedia
Another champ…
MRS. HARRISON TRIUMPHS
February 27, 1938, Sunday
Defeats Miss Lesley in Women’s Title Chess Tourney. Mrs. Edna Harrison continued her winning streak in the preliminaries for the Hazel Allen championship trophy at the Marshall Chess Club yesterday, defeating Miss Dora Lesley in the seventh round. Mrs. Harrison now has scored 6 1/2 points.
Mar 5, 1986 – Lyudmila Rudenko, the first women’s world chess champion, has died at age 81, the official Soviet news agency Tass reported Tuesday. The news agency said she died Sunday in Leningrad. A native of the Ukraine, she won the first world chess competition for women in 1950, …
was a Soviet chess player and the second Women’s World Chess Champion from 1950 until 1953. Rudenko held the FIDE International Master and Woman International Master titles.
Born in Lubny in the Poltava region of Ukraine, in the Russian Empire, her father taught her to play chess at age 10 although at first she was more serious about swimming. After grammar school, she moved to Odessa and took a degree in economics. Rudenko became the Odessa swimming champion in the 400m breaststroke. Her professional career would be as an economic planner for the Soviet Union, and chess would remain a hobby.
She began playing tournament chess in 1925 after a move to Moscow. She then moved to Leningrad where she met and married scientist Lev Davidovich Goldstein; in 1931 they had a son. In Leningrad in 1929 she began training with chess master Peter Romanowski. She would not reach the peak of international women’s chess until she was about 40 years old.
Source: Wikipedia – Vera Menchik died during a German air raid in Kent.
Lasker and Women …
Among the women fond of chess of this country, mrs J W Showalter has long been considered the champion chess player. At present she is engaged in a little match with Lasker who has to concede to her the odds of a knight. Mrs Showalter has so far won two games, while her opponent has registered an equal number of wins.
On this Google-link you will find more links about the history of women in chess to follow up.
To explore some chess openings, click on this link from the site of chessgames. To enjoy your chess openings, I have three music files to share with you which you might want to listen while exploring some chess openings. Choose the music to open your chess dance floor and have a ball! The first song is a famous song – Zorba’s Dance. The second, a South African golden oldie – Helloh-A and Strauss – The Skaters Waltz. I will of course choose the music of Strauss to open my chess dance floor. On rainy days like today, Amazon can be sure of making their money out of me when it comes to music!
Image:chess.com
Zorba’s Dance by Mikis Theodorakis
from the CD: Memories from Greece – see the youtube-link for the dance.
It’s not Christmas yet! But maybe an early Christmas present for Alexandra with the World Women’s Chess Championship’s final starting this coming Sunday between Alexandra and 14 year-old Hou Yifan of China! Saturday 13 Sept is a free day. The finals start on Sunday…see schedule:
Please click HERE to play through the games of Alexandra Kosteniuk and Hou Yifan’s games in round 5. The link will open in a new window. Please click here for the Official site that will open in a new separate window.
Schedule — all games start at 15.00 (GMT +3) Sunday 14 September Round 6, game 1, Yifan vs Kosteniuk–0-1
Monday 15 September Round 6, game 2, Kosteniuk vs Yifan–1/2
Tuesday 16 September Round 6, game 3, Yifan vs Kosteniuk–1/2
Wednesday 17 September Round 6, game 4, Kosteniuk vs Yifan–1/2
Thursday 18 September Tiebreaks/Closing Ceremony
So the Women’s World Chess Championship Final will be between 24 year-old Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia and 14 year-old Hou Yifan of China (pictured).
Image: chess.com
Hou Yifan earned her place in the final the hard way by beating favourite Humpy Koneru of India in a blitz tie-break playoff.
Yifan won the first rapid game only to be pagged back by Koneru in the second. Yifan again took the lead by winning the first blitz game and this time Koneru failed to stage another comeback and was finally eliminated.
So it’s Russia versus China in a 4-game final for the World Chess Championship. In the red corner it’s GM Alexandra Kosteniuk – a former Women’s World Championship finalist from 7 years ago, she’s now practically a veteran compared to her opponent. In the errr…other red corner , a full 10 years younger, is Hou Yifan who has also qualified as a GM and is a remarkable chess phenomenon.
Saturday is a rest day, so the final starts on 14 Sept (Sunday) and finishes on 17 Sept (Wednesday). If the scores are level there will be tiebreaks on the 18 Sept to determine the winner.
So what story will be written? Is it to be the tale of Kosteniuk returning after many years to go one better and finally win the title she covets? Or is to be Hou Yifan, a world champion at just 14 years of age?
I am Alexandra Kosteniuk, an International Woman Grandmaster (WGM) –1998– and an International Master among men (IM) –2000–. During the FIDE Congress in Calvia –2004–I was awarded the title of Grandmaster (Men), thus I became 10th woman in the whole history of chess who got this title. I am the Women’s Vice Champion of the World, a title I got at the World Championships in Moscow in December 2001. I am the European Champion 2004 and Russian Champion 2005.
I was born in the Russian city of Perm on April 23, 1984. I have been living in Moscow since I was one year old. I graduated from the Russian State Academy of Physical Education in July 2003 and am now a certified professional chess trainer. It’s my dad, Konstantin Vladimirovich – who taught me to play chess when I was 5 years old and I am very grateful to him for that.
I improved in chess rapidly. My first great achievements came in Junior tournaments. In 1994 I became the European Champion among girls under the age of 10, and a month later shared first and second places at the World Championship under the age of 10. Later, I had the same major achievements in other age categories, for example I became World Champion of girls under 12, in 1996.
In 1997, I became a Woman International Master (WIM) at the age of 13, they say that I reached this mark slightly quicker than Maya Chiburdanidze, but I don’t give much significance to that. I scored all necessary WGM norms in February of 1998 that is at the age of 13 years and 10 months but the GrandMaster title was officially given to me in November 1998 at the 33rd World Olympiad in Kalmykia.
My current ELO rating as of July 1, 2005 is 2516, which makes me now the fifth strongest woman in the world. My official rating in the USCF Rating list of August 2005 is 2565 and so I am the highest rated woman on the USCF Rating List at this moment.
I also have many other interests but chess, I write poems (some of them are published in my book), and I like sport in all its forms. I also love to do fashion modelling, and I even played a part in a movie, which by far was the most fun thing I have ever done in my life.
My first book How I became Grandmaster at age 14 has been published already in three languages (Russian, English and Spanish). My dad and I have worked on it for almost two years, and I feel that its genre is very original. It is a manual in which I teach to play chess and at the same time I tell how I learned to play chess starting from the age of 5. The book contains many annotated games and pictures, including color ones. I hope that it won’t disappoint you. I think that many parents could purchase it as a present for their children. Perhaps not everyone who reads it will become a Grandmaster at the age of 14, but many readers will learn to play this most intelligent and most beautiful game in the world.
Alexandra Kosteniuk is one of the beauties in the world of Chess! In this video you can see the game she played against GM Zoltan Almasi. It’s a blitz. Fast chess, also known as, blitz chess, lightning chess, bullet chess and rapid chess, is a type of chess game in which each side is given less time to make their moves than under the normal tournament time controls of 60-150 minutes (1-2½ hours) per player. Read HEREmore about blitz chess.
Please click HERE for the official site of Alexandra Kosteniuk. Alexandra Kosteniuk comments in detail her blitz game played in Moscow at the World Blitz Championships Qualifiers against one of the world’s top experts on the Berlin Wall defence.
Image…NYtimes
The model Carmen Kass in a five-minute blitz match against Viswanathan Anand in 2004.
Image:chessbase Read the review of this book here at the link at the bottom of this post….or click on the image to order the book.
Many of us, even those of us who don’t play either well or often, are familiar with chess. Some of us will be aware that some pieces are differently represented in different parts of the world, but I wonder how many of us are aware of the comparatively recent introduction of the queen?
Marilyn Yalom attempts three objectives in this interesting book. Firstly, and of most interest to me, she outlines a history of the game of chess and its likely spread across the world. Secondly, Dr Yalom explains the development of the piece currently known as the queen in most European chess play both in terms of its replacement of earlier pieces, and its emerging power. Finally, Dr Yalom makes a case for parallels between the emergence of the power of the chess queen and the rise of powerful female sovereigns in Europe.
While I am attracted to the notion of the role of the chess queen as a reflection of the rise of strong queens (such as Isabella of Castile), and a possible association with the cult of the Virgin Mary, this is of peripheral interest to me. What I did find fascinating was the history of the development of the game, especially the differences between cultures and countries. Dr Yalom advises that the chess queen did not appear on the board until about 1000: some 200 years after the game had been introduced to southern Europe. Yet, by 1497, the queen had developed from a weak piece (moving one square at a time on the diagonal) to the more formidable force that she is today.
Dr Yalom presents a wealth of information in this book. Whether you share her conclusions, her enthusiasm for the subject combined with her capacity to present a variety of interesting data in a readable and accessible way will make this an enjoyable read.
Those who are serious chess players may find some of the facts interesting. Those of us interested in the evolution of institutions of power and who choose to explore parallels between games of strategy and political realities should also enjoy this book.
On this link- on my blog – you can follow her games of round 5 and round 6…against Yifan of China and see more pics of her too. https://chessaleeinlondon.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/alexandra-kosteniuk-winner-of-nalchik/ To be honest, I haven’t known of the existence of Alexandra before, I think there are so many Chess Grandmasters that we don’t know of, but I want to blog her, as she is a female player! and I think more should be done to attract girls to play chess. Too many girls are still thinking chess is a boy’s game. Why do you think that is? If you go to my chess links, you will find a link saying… “Tube Chess”…follow that link for some good movies about her playing chess, but also about other chess players!
Alexandra Kosteniuk is the 10th woman in the world to have ever achieved the Grandmaster (men) title. She’s rated sixth woman in the world, and #1 woman in Russia. She has a FIDE ELO of 2515. Alexandra had a great success at the annual New Year Blitz tournament organized by the Deputy Economy Minister Arkady Dvorkovich in Moscow. After qualifying in the semifinals, she won convincingly the final with 8 points out of 9 ahead of GM Najer –2635–7, GM Dlugy –2518– 6.5, GM Alekseev –2716– 6, GM Bareev –2653– 4.5, GM Vasiukov –2492– 4, etc.
Spoken by great men:"Give me 20 divisions of American soldiers and I will breach Europe. Give me 15 consisting of Englishmen and I will advance to the borders of Berlin. Give me two divisions of those marvellous fighting Boers and I will remove Germany from the face of the earth." - Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, Commander of the Allied Forces during WW2.
"The Americans fight for a free world, the English mostly for honour, glory and medals, the French and Canadians decide too late that they have to participate. The Italians are too scared to fight, the Russians have no choice. The Germans for their Fatherland. The Boers? Those sons of Bitches fight for the hell of it." American General, George 'Guts and Glory' Patton.
Chessalee 
Chess Queen Alexandra
Posted in Chess, chess books, chess games, Chess Grandmasters, GM Almasi, GM Kosteniuk, Hungary, Kosteniuk, Kosteniuk comments on her chess game, Marilyn Yalom, Russia, Viswanathan Anand, tagged Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk images, Anand, Birth of the Chess Queen, Blitz Chess, Carmen Kass, Chess, Chess Blitz, chess books, chess games, Chess games of Alexandra Kosteniuk, Chess Grandmasters, GM Almasi, GM Kosteniuk, Grandmasters, Hungary, interactive chess games, Interactive chess games of Alexandra Kosteniuk, Kosteniuk, Kosteniuk comments on her chess game, Marilyn Yalom, Russia, Viswanathan Anand, Zoltan Almasi on 16/05/2008| 12 Comments »
Click on the images for a larger view.
Please click HERE to play through chess games of Alexandra. The link will open in a new window.
10 January 2009: News article about Alexandra…the link will open in a new window.
http://www.miamiherald.com/277/story/847451.html
On this link on my blog, http://chessaleeinlondon.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/alexandra-kosteniuk-winner-of-nalchik/ you can follow the games played in the World Women’s Chess Championships in between Kosteniuk and Yifan. There’s also more pictures of her to see.
Alexandra Kosteniuk is one of the beauties in the world of Chess! In this video you can see the game she played against GM Zoltan Almasi. It’s a blitz. Fast chess, also known as, blitz chess, lightning chess, bullet chess and rapid chess, is a type of chess game in which each side is given less time to make their moves than under the normal tournament time controls of 60-150 minutes (1-2½ hours) per player.
Read HERE more about blitz chess.
Please click HERE for the official site of Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Alexandra Kosteniuk comments in detail her blitz game played in Moscow at the World Blitz Championships Qualifiers against one of the world’s top experts on the Berlin Wall defence.
Image…NYtimes
The model Carmen Kass in a five-minute blitz match against Viswanathan Anand in 2004.
Image:chessbase
Read the review of this book here at the link at the bottom of this post….or click on the image to order the book.
Many of us, even those of us who don’t play either well or often, are familiar with chess. Some of us will be aware that some pieces are differently represented in different parts of the world, but I wonder how many of us are aware of the comparatively recent introduction of the queen?
Marilyn Yalom attempts three objectives in this interesting book. Firstly, and of most interest to me, she outlines a history of the game of chess and its likely spread across the world. Secondly, Dr Yalom explains the development of the piece currently known as the queen in most European chess play both in terms of its replacement of earlier pieces, and its emerging power. Finally, Dr Yalom makes a case for parallels between the emergence of the power of the chess queen and the rise of powerful female sovereigns in Europe.
While I am attracted to the notion of the role of the chess queen as a reflection of the rise of strong queens (such as Isabella of Castile), and a possible association with the cult of the Virgin Mary, this is of peripheral interest to me. What I did find fascinating was the history of the development of the game, especially the differences between cultures and countries. Dr Yalom advises that the chess queen did not appear on the board until about 1000: some 200 years after the game had been introduced to southern Europe. Yet, by 1497, the queen had developed from a weak piece (moving one square at a time on the diagonal) to the more formidable force that she is today.
Dr Yalom presents a wealth of information in this book. Whether you share her conclusions, her enthusiasm for the subject combined with her capacity to present a variety of interesting data in a readable and accessible way will make this an enjoyable read.
Those who are serious chess players may find some of the facts interesting. Those of us interested in the evolution of institutions of power and who choose to explore parallels between games of strategy and political realities should also enjoy this book.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060090650/ref=cm_rdp_product
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