March Family Chess Night @ Bookman’s on Speedway–Deviant Chess

Can you solve March’s puzzle? Black to move and mate in three moves.

Win a PRIZE!  Bring your puzzle solution to Bookman’s on Speedway Family Chess Night, 6:30-8:30pm, first Wednesday of every month–this month, March 7–and win a free prize. The whole family, new and experienced players are all invited to join us to play or learn chess.

Deviant Chess: Fischerandom –Why not shuffle the pieces?

If you are tired of memorizing openings you may want to give Fischerandom a try. You can generate random starting positions by using the Fischerandom chess generator found at chessgames.com.

In Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1996, Bobby Fischer proposed a variant of chess that starts with randomly positioned pieces. Called Fischerandom or Chess960 (because there are 960 initial positions)–the new game would maintain the basic structure of chess but revitalize the game which Fischer thought was dead. Fischerandom would increase creativity and negate chess that used computer databases and memorization of opening lines. Players would be focused more on understanding than playing by rote.

Fischer said: “I love chess, and I didn’t invent Fischerandom chess to destroy chess. I invented Fischerandom chess to keep chess going. Because I consider the old chess is dying, or really it’s dead. A lot of people have come up with other rules of chess-type games, with 10×8 boards, new pieces, and all kinds of things. I’m really not interested in that. I want to keep the old chess flavour. I want to keep the old chess game. But just making a change so the starting positions are mixed, so it’s not degenerated down to memorization and prearrangement like it is today.”

Rules are simple. Listen to Bobby himself briefly state the rules:

http://chess960.net/how-to-play.html

References

http://chess960.net/

http://support.chess.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/141/16/what-is-chess960

http://www.amazon.com/Shall-Fischerandom-Chess-Batsford-Books/dp/071348764X/

Postscript

February’s puzzle solution:
1. Qxh7+ Ke6
2. Qg6+  Bxg6
3. Rf6#

Philadelphia 9 Queens Academy features X Chess & Blitz

For the last four years, 9 Queens has partnered with Philadelphia non-profit ASAP (After Schools Actvities Partnerships) to host 9 Queens all girls chess academies led by co-founder Jennifer Shahade. The latest edition on February 11th featured a lecture by Jennifer on openings, a blitz tournament and a screening of the second episode of the Extreme “X Chess” Championships. Zayonna Brown won the blitz tournament with a perfect 3-0 score and won the first place medal and a copy of Play Like a Girl!

The Extreme Chess Championships is a made for TV single-elimination knockout that showcases the drama of chess competition and the diversity of its top practitioners. Watch the “Battle of the Sexes” episode below, which features Philly based law student and chess master Alisa Melekhina, who also teaches at 9 Queens academies.

9 Queens is the fiscal sponsor of X Chess.

Third Annual Rodeo Daze Tournament

Join us for the Third Annual Rodeo Daze Chess Tournament at Valencia Library on February 24, 2012 at the Valencia Pima County Public Library.

February Family Chess Night @ Bookman’s–Women’s World Chess Champions

Can you solve the puzzle for February? White to move and mate in three.

Win a PRIZE!  Bring your puzzle solution to Bookman’s on Speedway Family Chess Night, 6:30-8:30pm, first Wednesday of every month–this month, February 1–and win a free prize. The whole family, new and experienced players are all invited to join us to play or learn to play chess.

Women’s World Chess Champions represent the world’s largest and fastest developing countries

The New York Times recently reported that if you want to understand the world in 2012, you need to go to China and India. Not only do these countries “account for one-third of humanity and much of the world’s recent growth. They reflect some of our oldest and richest civilizations. . .” and the invention of chess. The area is the birthplace of chess and home of the current finalists of the Women’s World Chess Championship recently concluded in Albania.

Hou Yifan of China

Hou Yifan of China defeated Humpy Koneru of India (5.5 to 2.5), retaining the women’s world title. Hou Yifan, now 18, was the youngest to win the women’s championship (at age 16) and the youngest female player to qualify for the title of Grandmaster. Humpy Koneru holds a 2011 FIDE Elo rating of 2614, placing her as the number two ranked woman player, behind number one, Judit Polgar, who has never played in a Women’s World Championship. She prefers not to compete in women only events.

Humpy Koneru of India

Northwestern India (in the 6th century) is generally attributed with the birthplace of chess, although China is suggested as an alternate point of origin. That these top women chess players come from the world’s largest and fastest developing countries and where the game originated is appropriate for the emerging world order.

You can read about Hou Yifan and Humpy Koneru in the 9Queens publication Play Like a Girl, authored by 9Queens co-founder Jennifer Shahade. Proceeds from sale of the book help support 9Queens.

References:

http://www.wwcc2011tirana.com/template.php?pag=1&t Women’s World Championship 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/crosswords/chess/hou-yifan-of-china-repeats-as-womens-chess-champion.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/crosswords/chess/chess-the-year-in-review.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/travel/where-to-go-to-understand-the-world-in-2012.html China and India travel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_chess

http://www.silk-road.com/newsletter/volumeonenumberone/origin.html China as chess origin

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=95916 Hou Yifan chess games

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=49497 Humpy Konero chess games

Postscript:

Solution to January’s puzzle by Vladimir Nabokov from his book, Poems and Problems (1970):

“Key: Q-h5
1 . . .  B-e8    2 QxB mate
The best tries are b5-b6, B-c7, and Kt-e6″

Teacher Training Workshop

Are you interested in teaching chess? Good news! You don’t need to be Bobby Fischer to be an effective chess teacher or coach. 9 Queens is offering a free training seminar for anyone interested starting a chess club, working as a chess instructor or developing chess teaching skills.

Date: January 28, 2012

Time: 10 am – 2:30 pm (30 minute lunch break)

Place: Tucson Main Library, 101 N. Stone

Topics to be covered include:

• Planning a lesson
• Teaching strategies for instructors with limited chess experience
• How to keep students engaged
• Teaching the basics of chess
• Hands on exercises
• Making chess fun

9 Queens is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to extending the benefits of chess to under-served and under-represented populations.  If you would like to attend this seminar, please send an email to jhoffman@www.9queens.org. You must pre-register to attend; space is limited.

Do you love to read?

Join us on February 4th from 1-4 pm at Bookmans on Speedway as we promote chess literacy with free lessons.