Pak TV Star Fawad Khan plays Chess on Numm! (Wish him Happy Birthday)

For all chess lovers who are also part of the huge fan following of Fawad Khan - the Pakistani TV heart-throb, episode 14 of Numm was a delight. Wali Bakht Khan (played by Fawad Khan) plays chess with Badey Sahab (Usman Peerzada). And, it was not one of those five-second fleeting scenes, but one for several minutes with the chess motif used creatively and so aptly. (All alert readers must note, this was real chess with the board set up correctly.) 

In the scene, Wali beats Badey Sahab in the game, quite a signal that he is going to beat the feudal lord and the restrictive traditions of the region. In fact, Wali has already shown that by resolving the sugar mill dispute he is "playing things" his way... playing to win. 

Fawad Khan excels in his portrayals of a range of characters. He has brought special charisma and glamour to the Pakistan television industry. As Fawad Khan has developed as an actor, his hard work and dedication has become obvious for all to see. It is both inspiring and infectious. 

By the way don't forget to wish Fawad Khan a very happy birthday today, November 29 on the official Facebook Page of Numm. You can also watch the previous episode there.

Fawad Afzal Khan rose to prominence playing the role of Hassan in 2010 serial Dastaan for which he won Pakistan Media Award for Best Actor. Since then he has starred in a number of Pakistani serials, notably Akbari Asghari, Kuch Pyar Ka Pagalpan, Humsafar for which he won Lux Style Awards for Best Actor in 2013, Ashk, Zindagi Gulzar Hai and Numm. 

Khan made his film debut in 2007 with Shoaib Mansoor's Khuda Kay Liye which was the highest-grossing Pakistani film of 2007. Khan went on to win the Lux Style Award for Best Actor. In 2013 Khan appeared in Abdullah Kadwani's Armaan, which earned him Tarang Housefull Award for Best On screen Couple with Aamina Sheikh.

Khan was first known for being the lead singer of Pakistani rock band Entity Paradigm, but the band split up due to life commitments. His songs "Shor Macha" and "Rahguzar" did well in the charts, and was considered a critical and commercial success.

Numm (Urdu: نم‎) is 2013 Pakistani drama serial that portrays social issues. It is Directed by Ahson Talish, produced by Amjad Hashmi and written by Myra Sajid.

The show tells the story of strict customs and rituals of feudal and its impact. The plot revolves around three people Fawad, Sania and Kanza, which shows the effect of unwise traditions and old customs on this triangle relationship. Numm was on-aired on August 24, 2013 worldwide by Geo TV. Before releasing Numm teaser trailers were leaving very deep impact on people, the serial become the most watched serial due to his highly and acclaimed TV starlets cast. Ahson Talish also acted in small scenes as a male protagonist (Fawad Khan) father. The theme song of the drama is also gaining huge popularity among fans and viewers. Currently it is one of the highly rated and most watched serials on Pak television. 

Fawad Khan will be seen in a lead role opposite Sonam Kapoor in the Hindi re-make of 1980s Hrishikesh Mukherjee film Khubsoorat. The film tells the breezy tale of an extrovert – a feisty girl (played by Sonam) who brings about changes in the regimented atmosphere of a household controlled firmly by its overbearing matriarch, according to apunkachoice.com.

While Sonam plays the motor-mouth, Fawad will expectedly play the bachelor who falls for her. We cannot wait to see the on-screen chemistry between these absolutely gorgeous people! Rumour has it that Alia Bhatt was chosen to play the female lead but has now been replaced by Sonam, according to Oye! Times.

The shooting of Khubsoorat has already begun in Rajasthan. The film is being directed by Shashanka Ghosh and produced by Sonam’s father Anil Kapoor. -- Zainab Raza Undulusi

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Kosteniuk Telethon Geneva Chess Goodwill Simul December 8

If you happen to be in Geneva, Switzerland on December 8 at 2 PM, come and meet me or even play with me in a 30-player simul at the yearly Geneva Telethon, which collects money to support research to cure people from genetic diseases. You can read the announcement on the 12th Women's World Chess Champion personal blog at www.chessqueen.com. 

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Join Free Online Blitz Nov 23

Read the details about the tournament and sign up here.

* The tournament will start on November 23

* This is a blitz chess tournament in honour of the Anand - Carlsen World Chess Championship Match. 

* It's FREE to join

RCA-Open 2013

3,500 USD in prizes 30 prizes & 18 “lucky winners” FREE entry

The basis for success in chess is to keep the right balance between learning, practice and fun. During the World Chess Championship Match, which started on November 9, you have the opportunity to learn much. 

But you need not just be a viewer!

RCA Chess Open2013This will be a 13-round Swiss tournament, played with 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move. It is open to anyone – no serial number for playchess is required (free entry).

All you have to do is download the client on to your machine, create an account and play in the event. For details, see http://www.playchess.com. Here you will find instructions on how to download the software and create an account.

The event is a human-only tournament. It is forbidden to use a computer, especially an engine, as help for finding your moves. All games will be controlled and strictly monitored for engine use.

In order to improve your competitive mood, we are offering some attractive prizes, worth approximately 3,500 USD.

Winner: ChessBase12 Mega-PackagePlace 2: USD 300 Voucher for products of RCA
Place 3: USD 250 Voucher for products of RCA
Place 4: ChessBase 12 Starter-Package
Place 5: USD 200 Voucher forproducts of RCA
Place 6: USD 150 Voucher for products ofRCA
Places 7 & 8: ChessBase Mega-Database 2014
Places 9 &10: USD 100 Voucher for products of RCA
Places 11 & 12: DeepFritz 14
Places 13 & 14: USD 75 Voucher for products ofRCA
Places 15 to 20: 6-month premium membership toplaychess.com
Places 21 to 30: 6-month standard membership toplaychess.com

Luckywins for places 35, 45, 55, 65, 75, 85, 95, 105, 115, 125, 135, 145,155, 165, 175, 185, 195 and 205: 3-month classic membership.

You can observe the above-mentioned ChessBase products (prizes) here: LINK

RCA = Remote Chess Academy, and you can check its products here: LINK

Voucher is equivalent to the money that you can spend on a purchase of RCA products

The sign-up link again: sign up here.

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India, France have Highest Number of Rated Chess Players in the World

India has just moved up to join France as the No. One ranked chess nation in terms of FIDE rated players. India rose to 35,200, and this number will be moving back and forth in the next few days until November when India is expected to be No. One.

Strangely, 35,200 is the same as France, the leader for over ten years. But India is growing steeply and France moderately. This had to happen. This week, one can expect India to surge ahead of the French number and never look back! Asia set to rule world chess.

About four decades back, India had just Manuel Aaron on the rating list. People still remember him since his name was the first entry in the rating list for many decades. For many years he was the only Indian and later among the few Indians.

Since, Anand won the World Junior in 1987 and then went on to became World Champion in Tehran 2000, the numbers tended to grow sharply. More players took to the game in the summer of 2001 and the progress kept growing.

Anand might be the primary cause for all this but the organisers, particularly, the All India Chess Federation did plenty of ground work. Rated events were organised all over the country and particularly more in the state of Tamil Nadu, Anand's home state.

In Europe, when Veselin Topalov emerged, Bulgaria's mobile networks supported elite events. In India it was even more basic. NIIT together with many state Governments supported school chess. On its part, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu went several steps ahead and cleared the way for chess in schools programme. Children in the age group 7-17 play chess in Tamil Nadu. Many states have chess in schools programme, but Tamil Nadu is one step ahead. They also practically implement it.

Two years back, India had overtaken the Germans and the Russians in the rating list. Earlier this year, the Indians went past Spain. Now, when experts were expecting India to get the better of France around March 2014, this sudden surge in the chess activity related to the world championship has helped India go past or equal France in October.

India's growth style is pyramid. The base is broad. A recent study related article in The Economist said more Indians play chess than any other nation. This number comes as no surprise. But that it came a few months ago needs to be analysed, since we might be observing a 2013 wave on the back of this Anand v Carlsen match, which could be several times bigger than the 2001 Anand wave after he won the world title in 2000.

The AICF and its administrators have laid a perfect platform for chess to grow in the land which invented the game. Our style will soon be copied by leading lights and European nations. Anand is in his final phase of preparation and not available to react to this good news. "It is all team effort," said V. Hariharan, Honorary Secretary of the All India Chess Federation while reacting to this news. "This is great news," said Bharat Singh, CEO of the AICF. D.V. Sundar, Vice President of FIDE was delighted about the timing of this achievement as India is making the final touches to the organising of the Anand v Carlsen match from Nov 7-28. (AICF Press Release – 28.10.2013)

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Carlsen's Form vs Anand's Experience

The clash itself is still a good two weeks away but the buzz is already palpable for the World Chess Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and world number one Magnus Carlsen, who is half the Indian legend's age.

Given the statistics, Anand holds the advantage. The two have played 29 games so far in the Classical format with Anand winning six and Carlsen clinching three while the remaining 20 ending in draws.

The November 9 to 28 match can be best described by a famous line -- An unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.

Carlsen is the unstoppable force, having broken all records, scaled one peak after the other like no one else and won almost everything except the World championship at a young age of just 22 years.

Anand, on the other hand, has been the immovable object at the top of World Chess for nearly 22 years.

It was in 1991-92 that the Tiger from Madras won the Reggio Emilia tournament ahead of Soviet greats such as Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov and announced his arrival in a fitting manner in the elite chess circles.

Carlsen was one year and one month old then.

Anand's perseverance, ability to adapt to new challenges and creativity has helped him stay on top for all these years.

This has resulted in five World Championship victories coming in knockout, match tournament, and three one-on-one matches, making him not only the undisputed champion of the world but also one of the legends of the game.

Carlsen grew up watching Anand at the top and in some of the games that the Indian won between them, he was quite severe.

Carlsen seems to have learned all the lessons well. Psychologically especially and this explains his results against Anand in the last few years. The Norwegian has won all his three games post 2009 and has beaten Anand in the last two encounters.

While the top players are hardly intimidated by rating differences, for the layman the gap between ratings (95) seems too much in favour of Carlsen.

The 2870 (highest ever) rating has come from some phenomenal results and says a lot about Carlsen's ability to play for a victory in all situations.

The stamina, ability to calculate, to play very long games, tiring out opposition, almost hypnotising opponents into making mistakes have been crucial to his stupendous success.

And going by current form, the Norwegian holds a definite edge over Anand.

It's almost an intriguing that the five-time world champion Indian starts an underdog against someone half his age.

A few months back in South Africa, Garry Kasparov shared a hearty laugh drawing similarities to his victory over Anatoly Karpov in the 80s. However, Kasparov then won several matches and tournaments against (mostly) the younger generation.

Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi is probably right in his assertion, "I would trust a coin-toss more than any predictions." -- PTI

For cool chess stories surrounding the Anand - Carlsen World Chess Championship 2013 check: www.worldchesschampionship2013.com.

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Computer World Chess: Komodo wins Stage 2; Stage 3 Begins Today

The chess engine Komodo is the winner of Stage 2 of the world’s strongest computer chess championship TCEC. Komodo, the engine by Don Dailey and Larry Kaufman rated 3084 elo, achieved 14,0/19 to edge the solid opposition. Second place is for the new Stockfish 4, by M. Costalba, T. Romstad and J. Kiiski. The 3098 rated engine collected 13,5/19 and what deprived it of the first place was probably the direct match loss against Komodo.

Third place is for Gull 2.2 by Vadim Demichev with 12,0/19. It started as 8th seeded, but showed spectacular ability outplaying all lower rated competitors and getting a full point against the winner Komodo. With the same points as Gull, but with lower tiebreak, at fourth and fifth positions are Hiarcs. It is the top placed engine under 3000 elo and fared through the event with good start and strong finish.

Houdini 3, the absolute champion of the competition, remained at 5th position. The engine by Robert Houdart rated 3145 elo scored 11,5/19. A total of 10 engines qualify for Stage 3 (that starts October 19th at 12:00 CET). The remaining qualifiers are Bouquet with 11,5/19, Rybka with 11,5/19, Critter with 11,5/19, Naum with 10,0/19, and Junior with 8,5/19. (final standings all engines here)

Replay the games of Stage 1 / Replay the games of TCEC Stage 2 / See the current live game / Full list of participants / Information / Play online at Chessdom Arena

Stage 3 starts today!

TCEC enters the decisive stages of the competition, that will allow the chess world to evaluate which is the strongest engine at the moment. All 10 participants qualified at this stage deserve to be here – Komodo, Stockfish, Gull, Hiarcs, Houdini, Bouquet, Rybka, Critter, Naum, and Junior. It is a field with average ELO approaching 3100 and exciting chess is expected ahead.

To spice up things even more, the tireless tournament director Martin Thoresen has decided that Stage 3 will be thematic – the openings used by the engines will be taken from Candidates 2013, Sinquefield Cup, and King’s Tournament ! After seeing how the top chess players played out the strategy in the given situations, it will be curious to se what the engines will add to that.

Stage 3 starts October 19th at 12:00 CET Watch the live games here / Visit the official website

 

These are the evaluation graphs, time usage and the depth search of the engines. Onno was always a step ahead

Stage 3Stage 3 consists of the 10 engines that qualified from Stage 2. The format for Stage 3 is a double round robin and the openings are chosen per pair so that each engine will play both sides of the same opening against each other. The top 6 will move on to Stage 4 while the rest is out of nTCEC for the current Season. 90 games are played in Stage 3.

See predictions for Stage 3 here

Stage 4

Stage 4 consists of the 6 engines that qualified from Stage 3. It is a hexa round robin and will use the same book rules as in Stage 3, meaning that the openings are chosen randomly per pair so that each engine will play both sides of the same opening against each other. The top 2 will qualify to play the Superfinal, while the other 4 engines are out of nTCEC for the current Season. 90 games are played in Stage 4.

Superfinal
After Stage 4 has finished, the top 2 engines will meet in a Superfinal of 48 games. This match is played with 24 different openings so that each engine plays both black and white of the same position. The match will be presented with opening 1 used in games 1 and 2, then opening 2 used in games 3 and 4 etc. If the match is theoretically won for one side before game 48, the match will still continue until all 48 games have been played. In the case of a drawn match there will be a Rapid match of 12 games with a time control of 25′ + 10″. In case it is still tied there will be a Blitz match of 6 games with a time control of 3″ + 2′. When the Superfinal is over, the current Season ends.

The nTCEC Grand Champion

The winner of the Superfinal will be crowned the nTCEC Grand Champion and will keep this title until there is a winner in the next Superfinal. There is no automatic qualification for the reigning Grand Champion, it will have to go all the way through the next Season for it to be able to defend the title.

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