2012's Best Chess Blog, Chess Journalist, Chess Art

A month ago I listed the Entries for 2012 CJA Best Blog, where CJA = Chess Journalists of America, so it's only fitting that I note the winner. The full list of winners in all categories is on the CJA site at Prize List for 2012 CJA Awards, where we find that best blog is GM Kosteniuk's Chessblog.com (and not her Chess Queen Blog as I guessed in the 'Entries' post). The popular GM acknowledged her selection in Our Chess Blog Wins Chess Journalists' of America Award 2012, along with a list of her favorite posts.

Last year, in The Last Shall Be Least, I noted that there was no award given for 'Chess Journalist of the Year'. This year the award went to Chess Life's Mike Klein. An example of his work is featured in this month's CL: 'Two Weeks of Theater' by FM Mike Klein. Here's the lead paragraph:-

Sports movies insist on an underdog for drama. But at the 2012 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women’s Championship, the top four players produced the kind of tension that even a screenwriter could appreciate. The two weeks of theater, held from May 7-20 at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, ended with GM Hikaru Nakamura overcoming the late points lead of GM Gata Kamsky to win his third title. IM Irina Krush, only seconds away from an extension of the tiebreaker with IM Anna Zatonskih, slipped past her rival in a messy affair to capture the women’s crown for the fourth time.

For more about the winner, see USchess.org's Interview with Mike Klein, Chess Journalist of the Year.

The last category I like to recognize each year is 'Best Chess Art'. In 2012 the award went to 'Winding Down' by Caroline Kaye. After a little research I discovered that this was the cover for the April 2012 Chess Life, pictured on the left. During the same research I noticed that Kaye was also credited for the cover of the March 2012 CL, a photo of GM Gregory Kaidanov, winner of the 2011 Eastern Open.

Congratulations to all of the 2012 CJA award winners!