Indian Chess Set Gifted by Elena Burmistrova to Russian Museum

Moscow: Elena Burmistrova, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee/Director General of Gazprom Export, has presented the CFR Chess Museum with a unique art gift for the New Year. 

It comes from a limited edition of handmade chess sets titled "Indian," manufactured at the porcelain enterprise "Delta-X" of Kislovodsk in the 1990s. To design the chessmen, the artist A. Lyubkin resorted to ancient legends and tales' motives. Pieces of gilt and overglaze painting join the combat on a chessboard of marble and serpentine stone, with a unique house for chess pieces being a rare and distinctive feature of this particular set. The tradition of tucking the pieces away "to rest" in a dedicated "accommodation" instead of a dark wooden box dates back to several centuries ago. This is both a respect for the wise game's porcelain participants and a practical solution to keep beautiful pieces on the table as a kind of display.

"Indian" chess set by A. Lyubkin takes an honorable place in the exhibition of the famous G. Alexandrov's Museum of Porcelain Chess in St. Petersburg. It is now at the full display to visitors of the Russian Federation of Chess as well.

Andrey Filatov, President of the Chess Federation of Russia, expresses his gratitude to Elena Burmistrova for such a valuable New Year’s present.

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True Story of Chess Kid Tani: I Believe in Miracles!

Excerpted with permission from My Name is Tani by Craig Borlase and Tanitoluwa Adewumi published by HarperCollins.

Prologue 

My name is Tani, and my family says I like to ask a lot of questions. They’re right. I like puzzles. I like riddles. I like trying to figure out why things happen and how things work.

But things have been different lately. Instead of asking the questions, I’ve been the one trying to answer them. A lot of people have wanted to know all kinds of things about me and my life. They want to know what life was like for me and how I feel about the way things have changed. They want me to tell my story, and I want to tell it, but there’s never enough time to say everything that’s in my head.

So this book is going to be my answer.

But if I’m going to tell you my story, I need to start by saying that I don’t remember much about Nigeria. I know that I was six years old when these really bad people called Boko Haram tried to kill my dad and we had to leave — but honestly, I was asleep most of the times they came looking for my dad, so you’d have to ask him about that.

What I do remember about life in Nigeria is playing soccer and my brother, Austin, trying to teach me chess and how one day I was watching the news on the TV and there was this airplane pilot on it who had just done something amazing. He was Nigerian like me, and there must have been a really serious problem with the plane because everyone was excited about the fact that he had landed safely, and everyone survived. From that moment on I wanted to be a pilot. It’s not because of money, though. Being a pilot makes you rich, but I don’t mean money rich. I liked the idea of doing something like that, to help people.

I remember a lot about life in America. Like how when we moved to New York I learned about chess properly this time and discovered that the very best players in the world are called grand masters, and so, from then on, I started to think that it might be good to be a grand master too. And then one day Coach Shawn actually took me to meet Fabiano, who is the number-two chess player in the whole world! He shook my hand and we talked, and from that moment on, I decided that I definitely wanted to be a grandmaster.

And then something happened.

I won a chess competition, and lots and lots and lots of people wanted to talk to me. It wasn’t just people from New York or even America. People from all over the world wanted to know my story. Some of them still do.

A lot of the people I have spoken to ask me about chess. They say things like how has chess changed your life? Or, what do you like most about playing chess? I mostly give them the same answer to both questions, which is chess has taught me how to do deep thinking. 

Sometimes people laugh when they hear me say that, but I don’t see how it’s very funny.

The more I think about all this, the more I know that I can’t answer either of those questions quickly. I 

need a lot more than one minute to be able to explain everything. And I don’t think I can even do it all myself because there’s so much that I don’t remember.

So the best way to tell my story is to have my parents help me. They know all the details of everything 

that’s happened, and they’re also my heroes. None of this would’ve even happened if it hadn’t been for them.

I would have asked Austin to help tell this story, too, but he likes basketball a lot more than he likes 

writing. But he’s still my hero as well.

After I won the chess tournament and spoke to all those people, life changed really quickly for all of us. 

Recently I’ve been thinking again about being a pilot. Since talking to everyone, I now know that there are a lot of places I’ve not been to, and if I was a pilot, maybe I could go see them. I could fly to China, Japan, Arizona, Washington, DC, Kentucky, Turkey, England. I want to go to these places and live there for maybe one whole year or maybe just five months. I read in a book that the average person lives to be seventy-one years old, but I think I’m not going to live the average. I think I’m going to live to be more than one hundred. So maybe I’ll do 

both—be a grand master and a pilot too. I’d like that.

I don’t know what I’m going to be. My dad says that’s okay.

But I do know this much. I believe in miracles.

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Aman Goel Wins CCBW Bruce Lee Memorial on Lichess

Lucknow, July 20, 2020: Aman Goel (Sil3entAman) won the Remembering Bruce Lee Memorial CCBW Global Online Lichess Tournament on July 20.
Shaan Garg (brrrruuuuuhh) came in a creditable second with Enaith Habibullah (Enaith) standing third.  PreciousBansal (preciouschesschd) was the Best Girl (overall third).

Aman, playing strategically, put up some nice ideas in the Sicilian and English. In an interesting Najdorf battle, Aman polished off the runner-up with a back rank mate.
Shan Garg dropped only two games for a creditable second playing totally unlike Aman with tactical mad fire on the chess board.
Enaith Habibullah, home from boarding school, showed remarkable resilience in his 1.e4 games to take the third place.
Precious Bansal, held her own, amidst the strong competition to easily pick up the Best Girl Prize without much difficulty.

Martial Artist legend Bruce Lee's poem, "Be water, my friend" is the philosophy for Chess Club Black and White (CCBW).

"Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."

A nice quora post explains it as, "Water is easy-going. Water doesn't fuss, it doesn't push, or pull. It fills the space allowed, no more, no less. This saying is basically to remind you to just relax, go with the flow, be present and in the moment; let things happen and enjoy that you're there to take it all in. Be water, my friend."
You can find a very nice podcast on the quote on the official Bruce Lee website at this link.

DO like the CCBW FACEBOOK PAGE PLEASE 

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800 Years of Chess Art in One Book: Amazing Research by Peter Herel Raabenstein

Chess has been a royal discipline for more than 1000 years…

“Chess teaches us that even when everything seems to be going badly for us we should not lose heart, but always hoping for a change for the better, steadfastly continue searching for the solutions to our problems.” Benjamin Franklin

Regardless of whether you consider yourself a very good or an average chess player, or prefer to watch the game from a distance with one of your loved ones who succumbed to the chess game, you still belong to a very prestigious circle of people. Only the initiate knows what such a true and genuine “game” entails.

Like any thing that has stood the test of time, chess has evolved and has influenced many personalities during that time. Chess can be seen as a tool that allows you to penetrate human development - artistic, social, political, industrial and technological. This game has been able to influence society for centuries. 

Peter Herel Raabenstein, a conceptual artist from the Czech Republic, realized the same thing. Chess has been his passion since 2003, when he was looking for a suitable gift for his uncle who loves chess, art and history. Peter decided to buy a special book for his uncle, but later found that no one had ever published any such publication. Finally, he collected 12 portraits on chess and made them a calendar. Uncle was enthusiastic and advised him not to give up his vision of creating a book that would connect the world of chess and art.

In the following years Peter continued his studies and deepened his artistic and chess knowledge. In 2009 he met his friend at the Wijk aan Zee chess tournament and introduced him his project. His friend liked the idea very much and the result was an epilogue for his book, which had not existed at the time. Soon after, both artists had to break up, but Peter was fascinated by the symbolism of chess and was still working on his book. 

“Enthusiastic reactions and support from my surroundings motivated me to complete the project. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I couldn't stop and actually disappoint every lover of chess and art”, explains Peter Herel Raabenstein, author of the publication. 

Now after 10 years, he can finally introduce you to a unique publication “Chess in art” with a collection of chess themes. On 320 pages, the author captured 800 years of development through paintings by more than 700 artists with a detailed description of how they perceived kings' play through art. The book simply delights every chess player, painting and history. In other words, life is composed of various battles and not from just the chess battles. 

The book “Chess in art” will give you a few unforgettable moments when you will feel like a king for at least a moment. The author and the whole team behind the creation of this publication wish you not to get checkmate, not only on the chessboard but also in your life 

Web: 

http://www.chessinart.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chessinart/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chessinart/

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GM Grivas Message of Hope before World Stars Sharjah Chess June 12-13

GM-FST-IA-IO Efstratios Grivas is living in United Arab Emirates for the past 15 months, operating as the Director of the Sharjah International Chess Academy and General Coordinator of the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club. He will also be the Official Commentator of the World Starts tournament.

What do you think about the new reality in the chess world caused by Covid-19?
Some three months ago players were enthusiastic on the new online reality, but they soon understood that the thieves were multiple and unstoppable! There is no point to explain further what has been already seen in various publications, but for nowadays we need to play online as there is no real alternative. But after the end of the pandemic, we will go back to normal life. The online chess platforms weren’t ready for it and although they ‘solved’ somehow the necessity of playing, they created more problems and drove many players to feel disgusted about the online chess - nearly everybody can tell a nasty story! If the online cheating is not ‘cured’ online chess will step back and at the best it will go in a bit worst scale that it was before the pandemic.

How did the organizers make the decision to organize online tournament of such a high level as the World Stars Sharjah Online International Chess Championship 2020?
The Sharjah Cultural & Chess Club is a historical chess club of nearly 40 years and the biggest in the world. It has organised various and plenty of tournaments from beginners to World Class players, as multiple FIDE Grand Prixes. Earlier this year we had to cancel our annual Sharjah Masters Tournament due to the CV-19, where more than 60 GM had been registered, but we couldn’t do without ‘active’ chess life. Since March middle we have organized various online tournaments as the Ramadan Masters and the Future Stars, as well as seven matches with foreigner clubs and academies. Here I have to note that we are also running a daily 7-hour online training program (via Chess Evolution platform) with top-trainers, for our players and the Arab Chess Federation, all for free! As the Coordinator, I am proud of our motto: Because We Care!

Why do you think people should follow your commentaries during the tournament?
Well, because they will not be in the dark during the games, they will have fun and they can learn something! My CV is a good proof of the above.

Who do you think is a favorite in the tournament with the format 10min+3sec?
Unpredictable. Shorter time controls usually doesn't favour the strongest in rating. This fact promises an interesting and fighting tournament, where everything is possible.

When do you think the Sharjah Masters will be organized? Is there a hope chess will be back to normal?
Chess is related to life; life will come back soon and chess will follow - no alternative to talk about. I have some hopes that we might organize the Sharjah Masters later this year, but we still need some time to check all data and make the necessary procedures. Of course, do not take anything for granted, as this CV-19 is unpredictable as well!

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Escape from Covid to Chess Planet: Play with CCBW

No stopping the chess, but parents must counsel kids to not go overboard and stay safe online, writes Shilpa Mehra

Lucknow: While the world shut down, the chess community went berserk. The world's top chess websites saw traffic treble in just a few hours.

The scene here in Lucknow on first day of lockdown: We quickly created a WhatsApp group, set up an online page, pinged our friends at chess clubs in Dehradun, Chennai, Madrid and London, got zoom meeting app going and life was set.

By 5 pm a serious tournament with Anna Nagar Chess Academy (ANCA) Chennai was on. Right after that at 7 pm the gang headed to the Etlantis Club Dehradun blitz evening practice session and midnight was for show of strength in Mexico City at the Ajedrez en línea event. The gang included 6-70 year olds with Silentman and Lizzyosmond leading the boys and girls charge.

For once, no school, no work and we could play into forever.

While the rest of the world wondered what to do with tension, fear and questions, we had escaped to another planet under the guidance of idiamin100!

Arbiter and professional chess trainer, Naveen Karthikeyan would know: "As a chess trainer I can tell you, every single chess kid is happy right now anywhere in the world. We study chess professionally in Chennai even during school days but this is full steam ahead. We are practicing and studying almost round the clock and with chess players of all strengths across the world."

Karthikeyan says, "The best part is our kids at the ANCA and CCBW are not only competing among themselves and with kids in other cities, but are also getting a chance now to grab games with Grandmasters and International Masters who are all also playing online in lockdown."

The schedule is set.
CCBW friend, journalist and chess player from Chandigarh, Jupinderjit Singh, tunes in via zoom for banter blitz of crazy fun with kids shouting out moves to his opponents on video chat. Banter blitz is when a senior player takes on one opponent at a time and plays while explaining his thought processes aloud as a chess teaching method.

International Master Nubairshah Sheikh tunes in from Mumbai for serious chess study with intermediate students of CCBW even though it's fasting time in Ramzan. Just 21 with GM norms, Nubair is sure to be Grandmaster as soon as mortar-n-brick venue tournaments resume. The children already call him GM!
Tiger201, aka Rohit Rana, holds our place at the evening blitz at Etlantis Chess Club in Dehradun. Our in-house organiser, Resistiré scourges the net for chess events on the hour. There are tournaments of varying time controls happening every minute. We don't want to sleep.

Yet, it's an online world so quick tips to stay safe:
- keep security settings safe in WhatsApp group so as not to be added automatically to random chess groups mushrooming all around
- be careful about playing tournaments with entry fee as online payment gateway needs to be used; plenty of great free tournaments around though
- discuss with your coach how and what chess activities to join in as there's a boom in choices
- discuss time controls and specific events with your trainer lest you catch an online playing addiction
- discuss all privacy issues with your kid about online behaviour including not divulging private and contact details to strangers online
- rationing online time and checking eye strain
- draw up specific schedule for eating, sleeping and exercise otherwise this may get a tad out of hand
- online cheating is a reality, face it without anger. Choose to hang out with the right people as real chess lovers don't cheat. If you suspect someone of cheating, submit their name to the website online moderator for evaluation

Meanwhile, this Sunday 8 pm we are at the Ajedrez con Cabeza Club in Madrid on a special invitation by Pedro M. Vincente to compete with chess teams from Spanish-speaking countries Cuba, Argentina, Spain, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Mexico. After the 5 +2 one hour tourney, we will do a ten minute zoom session to cheer everyone and plan to meet in person when the magic returns to the real world.

Want to join Chess Club Black and White team for the Sunday tournament?

Join here on lichess and send real name to resistire in lichess for approval.
https://lichess.org/team/chess-club-black-and-white-ccbw-lucknow

The tourney link will be sent to you after Id approval.

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