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Sunday, August 25, 2013
Amazing Chess Music: Byrne - Fischer Game with Percussionists Connor Shafran, Eric Poe
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
The famous game played in 1956 between Donald Byrne (White), and 13-year-old Bobby Fischer (Black) has now been set to amazing music by two percussionists. The moves are entirely accurate to the original game, and the rhythms coincide with the flow and strategy. Recorded at the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, 2013. Written and performed by Connor Shafran and Eric Poe. Sheet Music will be available within the next few days at www.connorshafran.bandcamp.com.
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
We have here a rare chess video: Fischer versus Botvinnik in 1962. The video belongs to alecksandrkoblents, whose videos we have featured on Chess Blog before as well.
Making Chess Glamorous, Exciting: The Guardian on Andrew Paulson
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The Guardian report on Andrew Paulson who is gearing up to give chess a jazz new look makes an interesting read. Here is an excerpt.
Chess impresario hopes to bring back the Fischer v Spassky glory days
Andrew Paulson, a 54-year-old American businessman who has spent most of the past 15 years in Russia, is committed to reversing this decline. In a remarkable financial coup, he has persuaded Fide, the international governing body of chess, to hand him the media and marketing rights to the world championship for the next 10 years.
Suddenly, this chess enthusiast who admits to being a "patzer" – a player of no great ability – has become the game's potential king. "The characters in the chess world are fascinating," he says at Simpson's in the Strand, a famous chess coffee house in the 19th century and a possible venue for a new grand prix tournament to be staged in London next year. "When I first dove into the chess world, I felt incredibly comfortable with these people. It was like being back in college. These were passionate, eccentric, but deeply committed. They see themselves as the keepers of the holy grail."
Paulson, who ran publishing businesses in Russia and remains a director of an internet company based in Moscow, did not set out to become a major player in the chess world. He met Fide's controversial president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, by chance last September, and says he immediately realised chess had huge untapped commercial potential.
How did he convince Fide to let him take over marketing of the game? "Their fundamental error was that they were trying to get sponsors for [single] events. I said to them, 'No. If you give me all of the events connected to the world championship, I can reconceive this as a whole.' Then we're not selling an event, we're selling chess. We're selling chess as an idea, as a symbol, as a metaphor."
His company, Agon, is about to release the results of a YouGov poll on chess in the US which he says proves how extensive is the interest in the game. Fourteen per cent of adults play at least once a year; and the percentage is higher if you add the number of children playing regularly. Even more striking is the fact that two-thirds of American adults have played chess at some point in their lives.
Design group Pentagram is developing a new visual identity for the world championship, using the tagline "The best mind wins", and Paulson has commissioned a short film drawing on footage from the Fischer-Spassky match and from movies which have featured chess, notably From Russia with Love. He wants chess to be seen not as some nerdy pastime, but as central to the culture of both east and west.
Paulson claims he will shortly be unveiling long-term sponsorship deals with half a dozen companies in different sectors. They will provide the €6m (£4.8m) a year it will cost to finance the new biennial world championship series, which will incorporate grand prix events in leading cities, a world cup, a candidates tournament between the top eight players emerging from those earlier competitions, and then an extended title match between the challenger and the holder.
Paulson is allowed to choose one wildcard entry to the candidates tournament, and it is a testimony to the fact he intends to reintroduce some showmanship into chess that he has already sounded out Kasparov for what would be a sensational comeback. Kasparov, who will be 50 next year, has so far rejected the idea, but Paulson hopes he can be persuaded to change his mind.
As his play in exhibition matches shows, he remains a formidable opponent, and his return to competitive chess would generate widespread interest. "I see one of my goals as making chess a spectator sport," says Paulson. "You can make it interactive now. There are so many resources that can be brought to bear to make the watching of a chess event fun for individuals and for groups."
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
We find such creative work with chess that it's a pleasure to feature it on www.chessblog.com. Here is a nice photo montage uploaded by JessicaFischerQueen.
World Chess Champions from Morphy to Anand. Adolf Anderssen and Johannes Zukertort are included. There are two photos of each champion- one at the board followed by a head shot, then the page turns. In order of appearance: Morphy, Anderssen, Zukertort, Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, and Anand.
Music is "Sanctus" composed by Handel, performed by Ernst Reijseger,, Voches de Sardinia, and Moses Silla.
Where is former world chess champion Fischer's bench?
Hello Everyone!
Do you know where is Fischer's bench? Do you know that the former World Champion Bobby Fischer disappeared from the chess world right after his triumph?
We found an interesting article on the Internet about how Bobby was "happy to escape the crowds", go swimming and on a long walk with his friend Einar S. Einarsson. And, that's where there is 'Bobby's Bench'!
Fischer-Spassky 1972 World Chess Championship Match table up for sale
The special table made for Fischer-Spassky
1972 World Chess Championship match.
Hello Everyone!
Every chess lover knows about the hype surrounding the 1972 World Chess Championship between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. It was a key time in chess history. The match was played not only with special chess sets but also special tables that were made-to-order specially for the match. Three tables were made for the historic match.
According to The New York Times, one of those tables is now up for sale! The owner of this table is 77 years old. Both Fischer and Spassky had signed the tables. The Match Organizing Committee chairman is also willing to certify that the table up for sale is authentic.
You could check more photos of the table at this website.
Today I will tell you about the recent Mainz Chess Classic Festival that took place from July 27 to August 2, 2009 in Mainz, Germany.
This festival which is run by the great organizer Hans-Walter Schmitt has a long history and every year is getting bigger. Two world championships - Chess960 and Rapid, two opens - Chess 960 and Rapid which are qualifyers for the world championships and many interesting side events including the computer world chess championship, children tournaments, simuls and many more are in the program of the Mainz Chess Classic.
Chess960 (also known as Fischer Random Chess) is a variant of chess that was invented by Robert (Bobby) Fischer. You can listen to Fischer, speaking about his variant of chess. Chess960 is played using traditional chess rules, the only difference is that at the beginning of the game the players shuffle the pieces and place them randomly on the first rank. Only two rules have to be followed: 1 - the king should be in between two rooks and 2- each player should have a dark-squared and a light-squared bishop.
I played in Mainz 4 times and always enjoy these tournaments. The first time I came to Mainz was in 2002. I gave a simul which was one of the toughest and longest simuls in my career
and played a rapid match with Elizabeth Paehtz.
It was a very tense and interesting match, I won it 6-5 by winning the final tie-break game. The photo album of the 2002 event can be found here.
I came back to Mainz only in 2005 in order to play in the qualification tournament for the Chess960 Women's World Championship 2006. I won the qualification tournament by showing the best result among women in the Chess960 Open.
In 2006 I met with Elizabeth Paehtz in a match in Mainz again. But this time we were playing the Chess960 match for the Women's Chess960 World Title.
This time I won 5.5 to 2.5 and became the first Women's World Chess960 Champion. The photos of the 2006 event can be found here.
In 2008 I came to Mainz in order to defend my title. This time I first had to play a round-robin tournament with 3 contenders: Kateryna Lahno, Victoria Cmilyte and Natalia Zhukova. The players who took the first two places, me and Kateryna Lahno, had to play a match for the first place and for the World Champion title.
In a very exciting and breath-taking match, I won it 2.5 to 1.5 and became two-times women's world Chess960 champion.
With the organizer of the Chess Classic Hans-Walter Schmitt after the very spectacular match with Kateryna Lahno.
All the photos of the 2008 event can be found here. You can also listen to my Chess is Cool podcast where I'm telling in details what is chess960 and how I won the 2008 championship here.
Below is a 10-min movie about Mainz and the tournament which will make you feel the atmosphere of this festival:
This year there wasn't the Women's World Chess960 Tournament since it's being held once every two years. But nevertheless we had a few exciting tournaments to follow. First, we found out the name of the new Chess960 Men's World title holder which was Hikaru Nakamura. Hikaru won against against the defending Chess960 World Champion in the final match with the score 3,5 to 0,5 and became the new Chess960 World Champion. An article about this match can be found here.
After the World Chess960 Championship, the FiNet Chess960 Open was played which determined the names of the contenders for the next Chess960 World Championships. The main event was won by Alexander Grischuk, who gets a chance to play in the next Chess960 World Championship in Mainz and the best female player of the Open was Kateryna Lahno, who should be invited to play next year in the Chess960 Women's World Championship. The full article about the FiNet Chess960 Open can be read here.
After Chess960 events there was time for Rapid tournaments in Mainz. After the World Champion Vishy Anand failed to qualify for the final of the GRENKELEASING Rapid World Championship, Levon Aronian was the clear favorite to win the title against the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi. The full article can be found on the web-site of the organizers of Mainz here.
The rapid Ordix Open was won by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who took the clear first place with the fantastic score of 10 out 11 points! The top female player this time was again Kateryna Lahno who finished the tournament with 8 points out of 11. The article about the Ordix Open can be found here.
As usual the Chess Classic 2009 in Mainz went very well and with a great success and I'm already looking forward very much to coming back to Mainz next year in order to defend my Women's World Chess960 Champion title.
Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk Women's World Chess Champion
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Best chess wishes to you! Alexandra Kosteniuk
12th Women's World Chess Champion
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