2012 Anand Gelfand World Chess - A Funny Batman-Joker Chess Video Dedication

The 2012 Anand Gelfand World Chess Championship has defied definitions so far. Here is a funny video we find apt for the situation. It is up to you to decide who is 'Batman' and who is the 'Joker'! In the end, the Joker says in Russian: Why so serious!

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Game 11 Moves - Anand's Easy Draw versus Gelfand at 2012 World Chess Championship

2012 Anand, Gelfand World Chess Championship Game 11 in Moscow: Saturday chess did not have the fireworks expected. Reigning world chess champion India's Viswanathan Anand has settled into his rhythm and obtained an easy draw against Israel's Boris Gelfand in the game. The Game 12 - the final in the series of classical control chess games in the current world chess match - would be played on Monday and would be available live through the fantastic official website feed from India time 4.15 pm. Meanwhile, here are the Game 11 moves in our Chess King applet.

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Women's World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship in Batumi from May 30

For those worried about the chess lull once the 2012 Anand, Gelfand World Chess Championship in Moscow ends on May 30, there is the more sexy Women’s World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship 2012 coming up in Batumi, Georgia! The Women’s World Rapid and Blitz Championship 2012 will be held from May 30 to June 6 at te Sheraton Hotel. The Association of Chess Professionals and the Georgian Chess Federation are coming together to organise this women's chess event. An interesting aspect would be that zero tolerance rules would not apply. More information about the chess championship available at official website.

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Crucial Game 11 Live Today - 2012 Anand, Gelfand World Chess Championship (Betting odds Updated)

The crucial Game 11 is on today! Tune in to the live webcast from the 2012 Anand, Gelfand World Chess Championship via the official website at about India time 4.15 pm. Only two games in classical time control are left in the main match. If the score remains tied after Monday's game, a tiebreak would be played on Wednesday. There is a rest day on Sunday tomorrow.

 Game 10 underway on Thursday. Photos: Official Website.

Vladimir Potkin, Vladimir Below, 

and Anatoly Karpov gave a simul to talented children

Expectations from Game 11 at World Chess Championship 2012

• Israel's Boris Gelfand, the challenger would use his White to the best advantage. The risk is great. Gelfand has been on the offensive and he would like to decide matters for once and all.
• India's Vishy Anand has regained his rhythm. He has immense patience which he displayed in Game 9 by building an unbreakable fortress and letting Gelfand hammer at iron falls with no use.
• Most people think it is to Vishy's advantage if the match goes into tiebreak. However, Gelfand has come this far by getting through a series of tiebreaks against some of the current top players in the world. We think, the tiebreak could be an advantage for Boris Gelfand. Though, a tiebreak in a match like this is almost a lottery.
• A win by either player today could decide the match. 
• Betting odds: Bookies predict 79% chances of draw in Gelfand-Anand Game 11, 11% chances of a Gelfand win with White and 10% chances of an Anand win with Black. European betting information odds improved for Gelfand to 85%. Another update - Bookie odds were revised to a 50% for draw in the tenth game at Game 10 Move 22. ...Be8

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Robot Chess - Grischuk versus Kuka Monster Chess Video

A special robo chess event was held in Moscow recently on the sidelines of the 2012 Anand Gelfand World Chess Championship - The first world robot blitz chess championship. ChessKA beat KUKA Monster! Later, KUKA Monster also played with Russian Grandmaster and former world blitz chess champion Alexander Grishcuk. Here is a video report on the super chess event.

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John Healy The Grass Arena Based Documentary on Prisoner-turned-Chess Master: Barbaric Genius

London author, chess master, ex-prisoner and former boxing champion John Healy is the subject of a new documentary 'Barbaric Genius' that opens this weekend in London. Faber & Faber published his book, 'The Grass Arena'. It went on to win the JR Ackerley Prize for autobiography. Harold Pinter described it as 'terrific'. A BBC film adaptation was praised to the hilt. Today, you can buy the book as a Penguin Classic, with an introduction by Daniel Day-Lewis. But do you know why author John Healy was blackballed by the publishing industry? Why none of his other books are readily available? Here is a trailer of the documentary.

  

He'd lived rough for 15 years on the streets of London under the Vagrancy Act, when begging carried an automatic three-year prison sentence; 'lulled, dulled [and] skulled' out of his head. He'd seen fellow winos killed with smashed bottles. He'd drank enough cheap and powerful alcohol to stun a mule. He'd hit the cliché rock bottom, and maybe even fashioned an even lower status for himself, as he journeyed through this subculture of dark desperation.

Finding himself in prison again, he met Harry The Fox, who taught him the dense art of chess. Healy was instantly hooked. He left prison a 30-year-old chess obsessive. He swapped drink for chess. Soon after he was playing masters, and winning championships. But it all became too much: as with the booze, chess consumed Healy. Eventually, he turned to writing. And naturally it was these extreme experiences and consequences of the homeless life that leaked out of him, and bled into his masterpiece, 'The Grass Arena'!

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