Mr João Riquito poses beside the chess table conceived by Konstantin Bessmertny
Considered the “greatest chess master of all time”, Garry Kasparov is coming to Macau play a match against Xiong Junyang, a female Chinese chess master and two-time winner of the Chinese National Chess Championship in the junior category who resides in Macau.
The match is being organized by the “Riquito Advogados” solicitors’ office and is scheduled for December 2, at 2:30 pm in the STDM Auditorium, at the University Library of the University of Macau. The event is part of a series of activities as Mr João Riquito, who himself is a passionate chess player, believes “there are more interesting things to do than to deal with the law.”
Thus the former World Chess Champion will not only come to play but also deliver a seminar on “The theory of decisions” the day before, on December 1st. This talk will take place at 11 am at the lawyers’ office; however, is only for members of the office and “a few selected guests.”
Kasparov, who still holds the record as the youngest chess champion (22 years old), today works as a member of the Center for Security Policy of Washington think tank. In the seminar, he will speak about his strategy studies. The chess match set to take place on a Sunday is special for various reasons, apart from the master himself. Chief editor LuÃs Sá Cunha explained, it will be played on a chessboard, which is an artistic piece, made by the Russian painter and sculptor Konstantin Bessmertny, who works in Macau. “Each piece is different and unique.” The sculpted pieces include “a Churchill, a Napoleon, a Cesar, and the hands of a pianist”. Mr Riquito commissioned the artwork in 2009 and obtained it from the artist in 2011. From today onwards, the board will be exhibited in MGM’s VIP hall. The match will be also be “artistically covered” by Mica Costa Grande, filming the event and thus showing each move on a large screen. “I think this match is going to remain in the memory of Macau”, Mr Cunha declared. However, he stressed, “It’s not a commercial event.”
Thus the activities are fully sponsored not only by the solicitors’ office, but are also supported by Ms Pansy Ho, who is providing the space to exhibit the chessboard at MGM as well as accommodation for the chess master at the hotel. The Macau Chess Association helped to select Mr Kasparov’s adversary, Ms Xiong Junyang, who trains young chess players in Macau and Guangdong Province. In 1997, she finished fourth in the junior category of the World Chess Championship, a fact that Mr Riquito regards as proof “that there are really some undiscovered talents in Macau”.
Although chess games and seminars are more interesting than dealing with legal matters, the office will also organize a seminar on several topics regarding “commercial and civil law” on January 19th. Speakers include Dr. Pedro Azevedo Maia, professor at the University of Coimbra, Dr. Augusto Teixeira Garcia, Vice-rector at UM, Dr Rui Filipe Oliveira, a partner at “Riquito Advogados” and Mike Allen from EC Harris, an international consultancy firm. The exact topics for the lecture have not yet been confirmed. (Courtesy Macau Daily Times)
The match is being organized by the “Riquito Advogados” solicitors’ office and is scheduled for December 2, at 2:30 pm in the STDM Auditorium, at the University Library of the University of Macau. The event is part of a series of activities as Mr João Riquito, who himself is a passionate chess player, believes “there are more interesting things to do than to deal with the law.”
Thus the former World Chess Champion will not only come to play but also deliver a seminar on “The theory of decisions” the day before, on December 1st. This talk will take place at 11 am at the lawyers’ office; however, is only for members of the office and “a few selected guests.”
Kasparov, who still holds the record as the youngest chess champion (22 years old), today works as a member of the Center for Security Policy of Washington think tank. In the seminar, he will speak about his strategy studies. The chess match set to take place on a Sunday is special for various reasons, apart from the master himself. Chief editor LuÃs Sá Cunha explained, it will be played on a chessboard, which is an artistic piece, made by the Russian painter and sculptor Konstantin Bessmertny, who works in Macau. “Each piece is different and unique.” The sculpted pieces include “a Churchill, a Napoleon, a Cesar, and the hands of a pianist”. Mr Riquito commissioned the artwork in 2009 and obtained it from the artist in 2011. From today onwards, the board will be exhibited in MGM’s VIP hall. The match will be also be “artistically covered” by Mica Costa Grande, filming the event and thus showing each move on a large screen. “I think this match is going to remain in the memory of Macau”, Mr Cunha declared. However, he stressed, “It’s not a commercial event.”
Thus the activities are fully sponsored not only by the solicitors’ office, but are also supported by Ms Pansy Ho, who is providing the space to exhibit the chessboard at MGM as well as accommodation for the chess master at the hotel. The Macau Chess Association helped to select Mr Kasparov’s adversary, Ms Xiong Junyang, who trains young chess players in Macau and Guangdong Province. In 1997, she finished fourth in the junior category of the World Chess Championship, a fact that Mr Riquito regards as proof “that there are really some undiscovered talents in Macau”.
Although chess games and seminars are more interesting than dealing with legal matters, the office will also organize a seminar on several topics regarding “commercial and civil law” on January 19th. Speakers include Dr. Pedro Azevedo Maia, professor at the University of Coimbra, Dr. Augusto Teixeira Garcia, Vice-rector at UM, Dr Rui Filipe Oliveira, a partner at “Riquito Advogados” and Mike Allen from EC Harris, an international consultancy firm. The exact topics for the lecture have not yet been confirmed. (Courtesy Macau Daily Times)
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