Blocks of Yahoos

The month of July 2023 is coming to an end, meaning that it's time for a roundup of the month's chess news, aka Yahoos. For a more precise definition of Yahoos, see the footnote below.

I always start a post with a summary of the sources that reported the month's news, as shown in the chart on the left. This month we had nine sources with two or more stories, topped as usual by Chess.com.

Second was Chessbase, with double the count for the two sources tied for third. Last month Chessbase was missing from the list of sources with more than one story. In that post, Three Yahoo Surprises (June 2023), I wrote,

The first surprise is the no.2 position held by FIDE. Last month, in Youtube Yahoos (May 2023), Chessbase was no.2, a ranking it has held or shared every month since last year's post Cheating Mania (September 2022), where the New York Times was no.2 and Chessbase was no.3.

That post was split in two parts, which led to an error. In the second part I admitted,

I made a couple of mistakes when I prepared the discussion [in the first part]. At the top of its results, Google News returned blocks of stories on two specific chess topics that I failed to include in my counts. As an example, both blocks included a story by CNN.

For this current post Google News again 'returned blocks of stories on two specific chess topics' [note to self: find out what Google calls these sections]. Before I look at those, let's have the usual statistics.

This month Google News returned 103 stories from 51 sources. Of those, 42 sources had a single story. The two blocks of stories accounted for three stories each. I selected a single report from each of the two blocks of stories.

'Iranian chess player gets Spanish citizenship' (three stories; no other stories among the other 97 returned by Google News)

• 2023-07-27: Iranian chess player Sara Khadem who competed without hijab granted Spanish nationality (cnn.com) • 'An Iranian chess player, who competed in an international tournament without wearing a hijab, has been granted Spanish nationality, Spain’s Minister of Justice announced on Tuesday. Sara Khadem, also known as Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, competed in the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in December 2022.'

For the original hijab story, see First Yahoos of 2023 (January 2023). This CNN story was one of the three stories from CNN. The other two were featured in last month's 'Yahoo Surprises', due to an overlap in the reporting periods for June and July.

'Queen's Gambit Chess on Netflix' (three stories; no other stories...)

• 2023-07-25: Rook No Further, The Queen's Gambit Chess Is Now on Netflix Games (cnet.com) • 'Almost three years after the premiere of the popular Netflix show The Queen's Gambit, the streaming giant released The Queen's Gambit Chess, a game based on the series, on Tuesday. You can play this game for free and without ads or paywalls with a Netflix subscription (starting at $7, £7 or AU$7 a month) on Android and iOS devices.'

Those two stories make a good start for the month's news, but there's more. I'll come back to the rest later.

[Yahoos (mainstream news stories about chess) are derived from Google News top-100 (or so) stories from the past month.]

***

Later: Let's first have a word about a couple of newcomers to the list of news sources. About Android Police (androidpolice.com), says,

Android Police started in 2010 as a resource for Android news and reviews, but has since expanded to be one of the most authoritative and trustworthy technology sites on the internet. And we’ve done that without losing the signature intelligence, humor, and integrity you’ve come to expect from us.

One of its stories was about the same 'Queen's Gambit Chess' we saw in the first part ('Relive the Netflix show as you hone your chess skills'). Dexerto (dexerto.media; 'The World’s Largest Esports & Influencer Media Group'), says,

DEXERTO is an award-winning media company at the forefront of gaming culture and esports. Engage with our network of esports, gaming and influencer brands attracting over 100 million fans each month, supported by a group of exclusive gaming publisher partners.

One of its two stories was about PogChamps, a frequent visitor to the series about Yahoos:-

• 2023-07-25: PogChamps 5 Chess Tournament announced ft. xQc, Tyler1, Sykkuno, more (dexerto.com) • 'The fifth iteration of PogChamps is finally back after a two-year absence, and it has been announced that it will consist of a who’s who of the world’s top streamers and chess players duking it out for the $100,000 prize pool.'

If, like me, you're more interested in world class chess than in millennial zeitgeist, FIDE's stories are worth more than a quick glance.

• 2023-07-01: The rise of China as a chess power • 'China's ascent as a global chess powerhouse has been nothing short of extraordinary. From its humble beginnings, China has now emerged as a dominant force in the chess world. The unfolding of China's path to chess dominance is something which should be looked at carefully and studied.'
• 2023-07-24: All eyes on Baku as the chess elite descends on Azerbaijan for the World Cup • 'The event will feature an unprecedented prize fund of 2.5 million US dollars. For the first time, the top three players from both the Open and the Women's section will qualify for the Candidates tournaments.'

One more story, this one with a romantic twist, is worth mentioning.

• 2023-07-26: Hikaru Nakamura Finds His Queen, Marries Atousa Pourkashiyan (chess.com; TarjeiJS) • 'GM Hikaru Nakamura has had great success on the chess board recently, but everything appears to work out off the board as well. The world number-two confirmed to Chess.com that he married WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan.'

Later in the same story we learn:-

35-year-old Pourkashiyan is a seven-time Iranian women's champion. She made her debut for the Iranian national team as a 11-year-old in 2000, and has played a total of nine Olympiads, six of them on board one. She moved to the U.S. just a few years ago and officially changed federations to represent the U.S. last December. Her current FIDE rating is 2305, making her the eighth highest-rated woman in the country.

Congratulations to the chess newlyweds!