Echoes of Past Yahoos

This month's first echo goes back to May Amazon Yahoos Crumble (May 2019), where I documented an emerging trend:-

An unwanted -- let's call it creepy -- coupling of my Yahoo habits with my Amazon habits.

The latest Yahoo ad is pictured below. Half blank, it's simpler than previous ads of the same type.

'Ad         Amazon.com'

The link behind the ad led to Amazon 'Movies & TV': Queen Of Katwe, subtitled 'Madina Nalwanga (Actor), David Oyelowo (Actor), Mira Nair (Director)'. Curiously, when I bookmarked that link, I got a much longer text for the link -- everything you wanted to know about the film (without mentioning Disney):-

Amazon.com: Queen Of Katwe: Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, Martin Kabanza, Taryn Kyaze, Ivan Jacobo, Nicolas Levesque, Ronald Ssemaganda, Ethan Nazario Lubega, Nikita Waligwa, Mira Nair, Screenplay by William Wheeler, Based On The Book By Tim Crothers: Movies & TV

The Katwe story is a minor recurring theme on this blog, last seen in Every Story Has a Beginning (April 2019). What triggered the ad? While writing last weekend's post, FIDE's Social Commission 2019, I took a brief look at A Knight Without a Castle: A Story of Resilience and Hope, a recent book by Robert Katende. The author was a major character in the Katwe story and was played in the movie by David Oyelowo. • The Katwe connection: Amazon => Yahoo => Amazon; QED.

[I haven't seen the Katwe movie yet. I recorded the French version early last year, but my wife erased it before I got the chance to see it. I resisted the temptation to erase one of her recordings. Marital harmony often hinges on ceding the last word.]

Tragically, the Katwe story figured in one of the topics I selected for a possible post on 'Mainstream Stories 2020-02'. The story was:-

• 2020-02-16: Young Ugandan who featured in a Disney chess film dies at 15 (abcnews.go.com) • The young Ugandan was Nikita Pearl Waligwa, whose name appears in the long list of credits a few paragraphs above.

This month's second echo goes back to last month's Not Mainstream Stories 2020-01 (January 2020):-

• 2020-02-23: Iranian chess referee who fled to UK could face arrest if she returns (theguardian.com) • '[FIDE arbiter] Shohreh Bayat warned after images circulated appearing to show her without a headscarf at Shanghai tournament.'

The third echo is also from Iran and goes back to Under the FIDE Flag (December 2019). To summarize the relevant headlines from that post:-

2019-12-27: Iran’s Alireza Firouzja, 16, bypasses ban on playing Israelis (theguardian.com; Leonard Barden) • 2019-12-29: Iranian Chess Player Who Refused To Play For His Country Wins Silver Medal At World Championship (rferl.org)

The latest story from February was:-

• 2020-02-21: Alireza Firouzja wins first major title at age of 16 (theguardian.com; Leonard Barden; NB: URL doesn't match headline?!) • 'The chess world’s rising star Alireza Firouzja, aged 16 and exiled from Iran, won his first major trophy last night when he defeated India’s Vidit Gujrathi, 2-0 in a speed play-off in the Prague Masters.'

Iran's loss is the world's gain. As for Leonard Barden, recently retired, he would make another worthy story from February, but that requires an entire post.