Top chess news snippets for Tuesday

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hi everyone,


Here is chess news in brief for a quick scan:

• Chess project awarded: IBM India today felicitated the winners of “The Great Mind Challenge 2010” - a pioneering nation-wide software development and research contest that saw record participation from 1,50,000 students and faculty members from 2,000 Indian colleges, submitting a total of 3000 projects. The runners up were Scriptocoders from Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai for their project Chess Master based on Human Computer Interaction (HCI) which incorporates motion sensing technique in playing the game of chess.

• Kasparov on Africa visit: World chess champion Gary Kasparov is travelling all over South Africa teaching school children and adults about the age-old game of chess. The European chess genius landed in South Africa on Saturday to form a joint venture with Pretoria-based chess educational project Moves for Life (MFL). Kasparov has announced that he wishes to link his Kasparov Chess Foundation to MFL. The 48 year old said he was inspired by the words of President Jacob Zuma last October, when he spoke so “movingly on the many benefits of chess for children”.

Justus Williams, Joshua Colas and James Black Jr.

• Black teenagers excel at chess (via New York Times): “’Masters don’t happen every day, and African-American masters who are 12 never happen,’ said Maurice Ashley, 45, the only African-American to earn the top title of grandmaster. ‘To have three young players do what they have done is something of an amazing curiosity. You normally wouldn’t get something like that in any city of any race.’ The chess federation, the game’s governing body, does not keep records on the ethnicity of its members. But a website called the Chess Drum— which chronicles the achievements of black chess players and is run by Daaim Shabazz, an associate professor of business at Florida A&M University — lists 85 African-American masters. Shabazz said many of them no longer compete regularly.  

• Chess theatre auditions: The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities will hold auditions for the musical, Chess at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., December 1 and 2; and in New York City, December 5 - 7, 2011. Chess will be directed by Arvada Center Artistic Producer, Rod A. Lansberry, with musical direction by David Nehls and choreography by Kitty Skillman Hilsabeck. Colorado auditions are December 1 and 2, from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., by appointment only. Call the Arvada Center at 720-898-7200 to schedule a time. Actors must be 18 years & older to audition. Wojcik/Seay Casting will coordinate the New York City auditions, December 5 - 7, 2011.

• Docs remove shaving kit handle, tongue cleaner, chess pieces from patient: Doctors at a private hospital in India have performed a rare surgery on a 45-year-old resident of the city of Panchkula. The man had swallowed a shaving kit handle, steel tongue cleaner and chess pieces. The items were removed from his stomach and intestine with an open surgery.

• Doordarshan Indian TV Network will telecast four exclusive episodes of 30 min duration each of the Bilbao Chess Masters Final on its DD Sports Channel as follows: Produced and directed by Vijay Kumar, the programme has expert comments by renowned chess expert Leontxo Garcia.

1st Episode on 14th November at 22:30 hrs
2nd Episode on 15th November at 22:30 hrs
3rd Episode on 16th November at 22:30 hrs
4th Episode on 17th November at 22:30 hrs
The telecast will be free on air on INSAT 3a Satellite available in parts of Europe, Middle East and South East Asia.

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