Friday Fun: Chess Biathalon?

Ok, this is seriously odd:

What a great idea! In an area where there is lots of snow, and where most people are accomplished Nordic skiers, why not mobilise the chess enthusiasts amongst them to take part in a Chess Biathlon. You ski and stop, not to shoot at targets, but to solve chess puzzles. Is this the first time that such an event was staged? It is certainly worth emulating.

*snip*

As the students navigated the course, they stopped to write down solutions for the mate puzzles at the different stations. Some worked in pairs, others were solo. At the finish line everyone's course time was recorded. They each turned in their solutions sheets to the trail assistant. For each correct solution time was subtracted from their finishing mark. Incorrect solutions added time to the finish. Skipped puzzles added double the time.

Of course, not as odd as chess boxing.

Friday Fun: Anand Wins!

Just to complete the story I've been telling over the last couple of weeks, Viswanathan Anand of India did hold on to retain his World Chess Championship title this past week by drawing game 11 in his match with challenger Vladimir Kramnik.

Definitely, all congratulations in the world to Anand who is a deserving challenger. To quote Garry Kasparov on the Daily Dirt blog:

It was a very well-played match by Vishy. Except for the loss of concentration in the 10th game, he played consistently and managed to enforce his style. His choice to open with 1.d4 was excellent. He reached playable positions with life in them so he could make Kramnik work at the board. Anand outprepared Kramnik completely. In this way it reminded me of my match with Kramnik in London 2000. Like I was then, Kramnik may have been very well prepared for this match but we never saw it. I didn't expect the Berlin and ended up fighting on Kramnik's preferred terrain.

*snip*

A great result for Anand and for chess. Vishy deserved the win in every way and I'm very happy for him. It will not be easy for the younger generation to push him aside.

Friday Fun: Update on the World Chess Championship

Wow. If I had had to chose any possible outcome for the first 7 games (of 12), one of the least likely would have been that champ Viswanathan Anand would jump out to a 5-2 lead over challenger Vladimir Kramnik. But that's what's happening. Anand needs just 1.5 points over the next 5 games to win the match. While it's not impossible that Kramnik could pull off that kind of comeback, I would be quite surprised if it happened.

Today is game 8, a make-or-break game for Kramnik as white. He pretty well has to win to keep his hopes alive.

Great coverage at ChessNinja, Chessbase and EvolutionBlog.

In any case: official home page, Wikipedia page on the match, live game viewer.

Friday Fun: World Chess Championship

Yes, it has begun!

The 12 game epic clash between reigning champ Viswanathan Anand and challenger Vladimir Kramik started this past Tuesday in Bonn Germany: official home page, Wikipedia page on the match, live game viewer.

Currently, the score is 2-1 Anand, with Anand winning is pretty dramatic fashion today in game 3 with black. Winning a game with black against someone like Kramnik is quite the accomplishment and will certainly put a lot of pressure on the normally solid Kramnik to open up his game.

Personally, I'd be happy to see Anand retain as he's a class act over all and one of the all-time greats. I'd be somewhat disappointed if Kramnik wins as I always tend to prefer the more dynamic Anand vs. the solid, slightly dull style of Kramnik, but I have nothing against the man personally and would be ok if he won.

There's great coverage at ChessNinja, TWIC and Chessbase. Jason Rosenhouse at EvolutionBlog is also posting on the match.

A busy day in the world

As it happens, October 14th is a pretty busy day in the world:

1. The Canadian Federal Election.
   
   
2. Open Access Day (on FriendFeed). I do plan on doing a blog posting a bit later on today.
   
   
3. Round 1 of the World Chess Championship match between Vladimir Kramnik and reigning champ Viswanathan Anand.

Personally, I also have three meetings/events at work today that are all happening simultaneously, so that should be a treat.

Ok, this could be expensive

The Chess & Math Association is moving their Toronto store from about a 15 minute walk from my house to, literally, right around the corner.

The Chess'n Math Association established in Toronto in 1993. After 15 years on Bayview, and a recent change in landlords, we were forced to look for a new location for our retail outlet - Strategy Games - as our rent was about to double...

We have now signed a 5-year lease nearby at 701 Mt. Pleasant Rd. (South of Eglinton and opposite Sobeys). Cutomers will find parking to be better than on Bayview and this new location is also within easy walking distance of the subway. Lessons and school administration will continue at 1650 Bayview for the next few months.

Our lease at 1683 Bayview expires June 30th but if all goes well we expect to start operating out of Mt. Pleasant on or around June 20th.

We would like to thank everyone for their support over the years and we hope you will visit us at our new location.

Sincerely,

Larry Bevand
Executive Director
Chess'n Math Association

Friday Fun: A couple of notes from the world of chess

• Anand Wins, Anand Wins! Like I predicted a couple of weeks ago, India's Viswanathan Anand was pretty dominant throughout the entire world championship tournament in Mexico City. Congrats to Anand.
  
  
• And speaking of Garry Kasparov (and when are we not), a long article about his political aspirations in Russia in the New Yorker.

Friday Fun: Let's get ready to RRRRRRRRumble!

(Ok, it's a day early, but I have my reasons.)

So, today begins the World Chess Championship tournament in Mexico City. Photos of the opening ceremony yesterday, list of participants and round schedule here. A good preview is at The Week in Chess, with chattier discussions at ChessNinja here and here.

The participants are Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, Boris Gelfand, Alexander Grischuk, Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Leko, Alexander Morozevich and Peter Svidler. Kramnik is the defending champion. The rather complex explanation of what happens next is to be found at the TWIC link above.

What's going to happen? Well, Kramnik is champion but tends not to do as well in tournaments as in matches, except in tournaments of all highly rated players in which he can eek out a +2 and still win. Anand is the highest rated player, but he sometimes seems to lack the killer instinct to win the big tournament. Aronian is the second youngest in the field but may be the one most poised for another big breakthrough, like the one he had a couple of years ago to break into the top 10. On balance, I would say Anand 50%, Kramnik and Aronian 20% each and 10% one of the others.

It should be fun.