A Press of Yahoos

Last month's Yahoos post, Historic Olympiad Yahoos (September 2024; see the footnote below for an explanation of Yahoos), had a single subject as the most important chess topic of the month:-

The 100 stories total for September had the first nine under a heading that proclaimed, 'India win historic double gold at Chess Olympiad'. I counted another 18 stories about the Olympiad for a total of 27, plus a few more stories lacking the word 'Olympiad' in the title.

This month's 97 stories -- 10 of them old stories from previous months -- lacked a clear favorite. Eight of the 97 stories were about the 9LX Champions Showdown, which I'll cover in a future post on my chess960 blog; see the link on the right navigation bar.

Another six stories were about the forthcoming World Championship match, which starts next month. I could cover these on my blog dedicated to the subject, but I haven't done much with it in the last six months. I'll include one not-so-typical story here:-

• 2024-10-30: Experience the thrill of FIDE World Chess Championship live in Singapore! (fide.com) • 'Join us in Singapore for the World Chess Championship and witness chess history in the making! Take advantage of specially curated travel packages, each combining exclusive access to the title match with unique attractions, and save up to 30% off.'

A couple of paragraphs at the end of that page explain, 'About the FIDE World Championship Match', but nowhere are the dates given (25 Nov. to 13 Dec.). Another six stories were about a match between a many time competitor for the Women's World Championship and a popular streamer:-

• 2024-10-21: Chess Legend Pia Cramling To Face Off With Levy Rozman In Battle Of Generations (chess.com; TarjeiJS) • 'Get ready for an exciting event between two generations, as Swedish chess legend GM Pia Cramling goes head-to-head against the Internet's chess teacher IM Levy Rozman in a six-day over-the-board event in Stockholm.'

A third batch of articles, with five stories, was about an important national tournament, the American championship:-

• 2024-10-29: Class acts: Caruana, Yip defend chess titles at U.S. national championships (washingtontimes.com; David R. Sands) • 'U.S. national champion GM Fabiano Caruana and U.S. women’s national titleholder IM Carissa Yip successfully defended their crowns at the national championship tournaments that ended last week at the Chess Club of St. Louis. It was the fourth open American title belt for Caruana, the country’s highest-rated player, and the third for Yip.'

I also noted a total of seven stories about Magnus Carlsen. These could all have been on the same angle, but the titles weren't obviously related and I didn't take the time to read them all. Here's one that had caught my interest even before I started the Yahoo list for October:-

• 2024-10-25: After 20 years at the top of chess, Magnus Carlsen is making his next move (apnews.com; Mark Lewis) • 'Offering a new way to interact with the game, Carlsen on Friday launched his application, Take Take Take, which will follow live games and players, explaining matches in an accessible way that, Carlsen says, is sometimes missing from streaming platforms like YouTube and Twitch. "It will be a chiller vibe," he says.'

Hardly a month rolls by without another example of chess players behaving badly. The following stories, both from the same Chess.com journalist, each appeared twice:-

• 2024-10-21: Shevchenko Given 75-Day Ban Amid Cheating Investigation, Misses European Club Cup (chess.com; TarjeiJS) • '[FIDE] has handed GM Kirill Shevchenko a temporary 75-day suspension following last weekend's expulsion from the Spanish Team Chess Championship, where two locked phones were found in a bathroom.'
  
  
• 2024-10-21: Christopher Yoo Issues Apology After Strike: 'Very Sad For What I Did' (chess.com; TarjeiJS) • '17-year-old GM Christopher Yoo expresses deep remorse following his expulsion from the 2024 U.S Chess Championship where he struck a videographer.'

With so many disparate chess topics, I needed a collective noun to group them together. I went looking for a word in one of my favorite reference books, a thesaurus, where -- after throng, multitude, horde, ..., crowd -- I found the perfect word. What was that word? See the title of this post.

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

Don't Burn the King

In our monthly featured Flickr photo, sometimes we see giant chess pieces occurring naturally in nature (I know that sentence is redundant, but how to rewrite it?). For example:-

• Chess in the Sky (September 2017)
• Chess on Orion's Belt (December 2022)

And sometimes we see giant chess pieces constructed in natural surroundings. Consider the following from 2024 Burning Man.

The King by David Posner from Charlottesville, VA © Flickr user Duncan Rawlinson - Duncan.co under Creative Commons.

The description of the photo explained,

The King is a geometrically shaped, octagonal King Chess Piece of monumental scale. The King is designed to express the shortcomings and follies of contemporary power dynamics and gender roles. We want the citizens of BRC [Black Rock City, Nevada] to first be inspired by the scale and construction of the piece.

Then, as they explore and inhabit the spaces, we hope to invoke thought and discussion around the roles we play and the ways we participate in contemporary patriarchy. We believe that these roles are damaging to all people, and we aim to create an approachable platform for that idea to be shared.

Need more info? Just follow the link on the Flickr page to The King Burns (thekingburns.weebly.com). The home page shows a giant hand made of smoke about to grab the giant King.

The London Chess Centre on Video

Just a few weeks ago, in a post titled Historic Olympiad Yahoos (September 2024), I noted,

The 100 stories total for September had the first nine under a heading that proclaimed, 'India win historic double gold at Chess Olympiad'. I counted another 18 stories about the Olympiad for a total of 27, plus a few more stories lacking the word 'Olympiad' in the title.

As confirmation of that note, this month's short list for the featured monthly video had a third of its clips from the ChessBase India channel, a resource that currently has over two million subscribers. Although most of the clips were about the Olympiad, I chose to use one of the two that had nothing to do with that historic event. Why? Because I like the subject and have a lot of respect for owner IM Malcolm Pein.

A Unique Chess Store For Chess Lovers In London | Chess & Bridge London (4:27) • '[Published on] Oct 12, 2024'

The description explained,

Chess & Bridge - The London Chess Centre located at 44 Baker Street, London is a store dedicated to the chess and bridge lovers. Here is a short video where you can enjoy the different chess sets and accessories and also you can choose from a huge collection of books.

For more about the store, see its web site Chess and Bridge Online Shop (chess.co.uk).

October 1974 & 1999 'On the Cover'

For last month's post, September 1974 & 1999 'On the Cover' (September 2024), we saw four Americans who were newly minted IMs 50 years ago and the logo for a controversial type of FIDE World Championship played 25 years ago. This month we see the leading American GM of 50 years ago, but the FIDE event has disappeared.

Left: '?'
Right: 'Serper Grabs World Open Title'

Chess Life & Review (50 Years Ago)

U.S. Champion Walter Browne, who after winning his title went on to win the Pan-American Championship in Winnipeg, Canada. The U.S. Championship story is [inside]. Photo by Burt Hochberg.

There was more about GM Browne on 'The Editor's Page - News & Views' by Burt Hochberg. This was a regular column in those days.

Walter Browne continues onward and upward. Following his crisp U.S. Championship victory, the American grandmaster went after the Pan-American Individual Championship in Winnipeg, Canada. Though he expected to win it, his dominance of the field was reminiscent of Fischer's performances in tournaments of equivalent strength: Walter gave up only three draws in fifteen games, winning the other twelve. Starting with the World Open in July and including the U.S. Championship and the Winnipeg tournament, Browne has played 37 games without a loss, and this record no doubt stretches further back.

His sudden prominence has not gone unnoticed by the media. The September 2 issue of Newsweek, for instance, devoted two thirds of a page to Browne, reacting to the public's increased awareness of chess since the onset of the Fischer era. The public needs heroes, and so do the media. Walter's youth, his confidence, his lifestyle, his looks -- all fit the public's idea of the dynamic modern sports figure. And since media interest is good for chess, we say more power to him.

This was the first of Browne's six American championship titles. In the same issue he authored a report titled 'The U.S. Championship, by Walter Browne, U.S. Champion'. The five page article, half of which were raw game scores, started,

After the poorly-organized Olympics at Nice (construction noises at the hotel began at 6:00 A.M.), I was looking forward to the excellent conditions normally surrounding a U.S. Championship. Unfortunately, however, on first sight of the playing room I noticed that the players would be quite cramped, while the lighting was very dim.

It was also clear that there was no analysis room, so after the games the players had to sit on the floor outside the playing room. Near the end of the tournament, Bisguier and Evans came up with a table and chairs. Obviously, they had a lot of influence!

The opening ceremony went smoothly. Evans chose No. 1 and I had to play Black against John Grefe in the first round. After the ceremony we all adjourned to a fine Yugoslav restaurant which provided lively entertainment.

The tournament report was a game-by-game description of Browne's progress through the event. For example, 'In the ninth round against Bisguier, I played one of the best games of my life.' That game is available online: Walter Browne vs Arthur Bisguier; United States Championship (1974), Chicago, IL USA, rd 9, Jul-25 (chessgames.com; '"Browne Bagging It", game of the day Oct-07-2006'). For Browne's previous cover appearance, see July 1974 & 1999 'On the Cover' (July 2024; 'On the right is GM Walter Browne, winner of the 4th Statham Tournament in Lone Pine, Cal.').

Chess Life (25 Years Ago)

Congratulations to Alexander Khalifman for winning FIDE's Knockout World Championship, which ended August 29th. And kudos go out to Alex Yermolinsky for his tiebreak victory in the 100th U.S. Open, held at the Sands Regency in Reno, Nevada. Marcel Martinez won the Junior Invitational, hosted by the Mechanic's Institute of San Francisco. And while Boris Gulko, Yasser Seirawan, Gregory Serper and Alex Yermolinsky battle it out in the finals of the Interplay U.S. Championship, we congratulate Anjelina Belakovskaia for winning the Interplay U.S. Woman's Championship in Salt Lake City. Stories will follow next month.

Our main feature this month is on the World Open, won by Gregory Serper, after a tiebreak session of quick play games. Steven Seward of Cleveland, Ohio, again provided the artwork for this month's cover. He enjoys doing portraits, and, judging by your letters, you enjoy his work.

This marks the third time we've seen artwork by Seward of Ohio. The previous cover was January 1974 & 1999 'On the Cover' (January 2024; 'We again called on portraitist Steven Seward of Cleveland, Ohio, to work his magic for our cover.')

The 'main feature' of the issue was a three page report, 'Serper Breaks Log Jam at World Open' by Jerry Hanken. The author was a regular contributor of reports on top-level U.S. chess events of that period. It started,

The 27th Annual World Open, held over the Independence Day weekend, was one of the most exciting and interesting of this great series of tournaments. This was the 15th in a row held at the elegant Adams Mark Hotel in the upscale City Line area of Philadelphia. With adjustments for re-entries in the lower sections (they're not allowed in the Open), the total was 1,470 players, a significant increase of 36 over last year's. The prize fund was increased by $10,000, making the prizes even deeper than last year's.

As it is every year, the World Open was by far the largest U.S. non-scholastic open in attendance and prizes. With the New York Open taking a sabbatical this year, the 30 grandmasters who graced the Open section was again by far the largest number in any U.S. tournament. (Of course, I am not counting the FIDE Las Vegas extravaganza.)

"So who won the shooting match, Hanken? Don't keep us in suspense!" Ah, as Bill Shakespeare said, "Thereby hangs a tale!" In a word, it was Gregory Serper, a very likeable and genial ex-Soviet player who now lives in Cleveland, Ohio (GM City USA, with Yermolinsky, Goldin, and Lein also making the lakeside big town home), who hopes soon to be a U.S. citizen.

GM Serper is today a regular contributor to Chess.com. For an index of his writings, see Gserper's Articles (chess.com).

So what about the news on the FIDE Championship? It was confined to 'Alexander Khalifman Is FIDE World Chess Champion' by Peter Kurzdorfer and started,

Who would've thunk it? The FIDE Knockout World Chess Championship in Las Vegas produced the biggest upset in all world championship history!

Russian Grandmaster Alexander Khalifman, while certainly a very good player. has never been ranked at the very top among world-class grandmasters. He was seeded 36th in the knockout championship, even though top-10 GMs Kasparov, Anand, Morozevich, and Karpov were not competing. Nevertheless, he fought his way through the tournament, winning all seven matches by knocking out grandmasters Dibyendu Barua, Gata Kamsky, Karen Asrian, Boris Gelfand, Judit Polgar, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, and Vladimir Akopian.

The two-column report by CL Assistant Editor Kurzdorfer was the eighth feature in that month's magazine, sandwiched between 'Six Tie for First at North Bay [Ontario, Canada] International' and '1999 U.S. Blind Champion'. The Jerry Hanken report on the World Open was the fifth feature after 'U.S. Amateur Playoffs', 'Pan-Am Promo', 'CJA Awards', and '1999 U.S. Amateur Championships'.

We can only speculate on the reason for the low profile of the FIDE event in CL. Was it because of the bad showing by the U.S. players, all of whom were eliminated no later than the second of the seven rounds? Or was it because of bad blood between USCF, as the American federation was known at that time, and FIDE? I'm guessing it was both.

Wikipedia to Trading Cards to eBay

At the beginning of every month, in preparation for the monthly post on Top eBay Chess Items by Price (March 2010), I prepare a short list of top items sold in the previous month. The items on the short list often repeat previous posts in the series. For example, this month I had on the short list (listed from least expensive to most expensive):-

• A chess watch, similar to the watch shown in Skeleton, Marriage, Chess Watch (October 2016).
• A bronze of cats playing chess, reminiscent of Cold Painted Cats (December 2022).
• A dollhouse, the third such post after Another Dollhouse Chess Table (October 2016).

At the top and bottom of that list I could have added a couple of paintings by Ukrainian artists. Normally I like artwork as the basis for an eBay post, but neither of the paintings inspired me.

Instead of those choices I picked an item titled, '2023 The Chess 16 cards lot'. It sold for US $850.00 'Buy It Now', along with the mentions 'Other people bought this. [one] has already sold' and 'Condition: Used'. Only the first card in the series, pictured below, was shown in the auction.

The description of the auction said,

List of cards:
#2 Emanuel Lasker
#3 Jose Raul Capablanca
[...]
#12 Anatoly Karpov
#13 Garry Kasparov

These were followed by #14 through #17: Kramnik, Anand, Carlsen, and Ding Liren. Any casual fan of chess history will recognize the World Champions, where the post-Kasparov names are those generally accepted by public opinion (apologies to Alexander Khalifman and the other FIDE Champions who aren't on the list).

Where's '#1 Wilhelm Steinitz', who is shown on the card? Although the title of the auction says, '16 cards', '#17 Ding Liren' appears to have been added afterwards, since his name was listed using a different font. I bet that the set includes '17 cards'.

The back of the Steinitz card says, '(c) 2023 The History of Chess. All rights reserved'. The text of the card starts,

Wilhelm Steinitz was a Bohemian-Austrian and, later, American chess player. From 1886 to 1894, he was the first World Chess Champion.

It doesn't take much sleuth work to discover that the text on the card is copied verbatim from the Wikipedia page Wilhelm Steinitz (wikipedia.org). The image on the front of the card is also the same as Steinitz's likeness on the Wikipedia page.

It turns out that all of the individual cards in the card set are available from the eBay seller's store. Some of the cards have the same color as the featured Steinitz card; these each sell for '$49.00 Buy It Now + $29.00 shipping from United States'. Other cards are colored in gray; these sell for '$99.00 Buy It Now + $29.00 [etc. etc.]'. There are a couple of other Karpov cards, both with 'RC Rookie Chess RARE' in their titles, selling for $499.00 each plus shipping. I've seen both cards on eBay, selling for a small percentage of that price. It's hard to imagine that anyone would be gullible enough to pay that sort of money for those cards, but who knows?