Brain the Winner

Circumstances dictated a five week break between the previous edition of Video Friday, How to Hold Chess Pieces, and this current edition. Since my short list for this edition eventually reached 40 videos, I had some difficulty narrowing the choice to a single clip. In contrast to the choice in 'How to Hold', I decided to take a more highbrow route, although there were plenty of lowbrow choices available.

Brain the Winner in Chess (4:43) • 'Researchers and academicians alike are increasingly finding chess to be a brain feeder that can lift IQ levels, improve reading skills, enhance memory and concentration and, perhaps, in one's later years, stave off dementia and other chronic brain disorders.'

The explanation, by Franco Campanella, DO -- Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (I had to look it up) -- ties in nicely with another recent post, The Riddles of Chess.

Treated Like a World Champion

In a recent post on my World Championship Blog, Zone 7 Details, 1969 & 1975, I quoted Bill Hook writing in 1975 about the Santo Domingo zonal held in July that year,

A surprise visitor was Florencio Campomanes of the Philippines, FIDE Deputy President, fresh from negotiations in Caracas for a possible Fischer - Mecking match.

Although I couldn't find any more about the match (why was the meeting in Caracas?), I did find a 1973 Fischer photo that doesn't yet seem to have been made available on the web. There are, however, similar photos in several places.

The photo caption said,

MANILA, OCT.16 -- PRESIDENTIAL CHESS -- World chess champion Bobby Fischer, right, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, left, play ceremonial game of chess Tuesday, during the opening of the Philippines International Chess Tournament in Manila. In background from left are: Mrs. Imelda Marcos, wife of the president, and Christina Ford. (AP Wirephoto)

The Marcos encounter is mentioned in Frank Brady's Endgame, in a section listing offers that Fischer refused after becoming World Champion.

Bobby did accept one offer, but not for millions -- rather for $20.000. He was invited to be the guest of honor at the First Philippine International Chess Tournament in 1973, and in addition to the honorarium mentioned above, all of his expenses were paid. He stayed at the Tropical Palace resort on the outskirts of Manila for a month. At the tournament he made the ceremonial first move and played a mock game with President Marcos -- one that ended in a mock draw after eight moves.

Journalists asked Fischer why he'd accepted the offer to come to the Philippines on his first "official" visit when he'd turned down similar offers from other countries. "I was there in 1967," he said. "I was not yet World Champion but they treated me like a world champion."

Christina Ford is undoubtedly Cristina Ford, 'the second wife of Henry Ford II, chief executive officer of the Ford Motor Company [...] She was a friend of former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos', according to Wikipedia.

July 1964 'On the Cover'

Last month's 'On the Cover' resulted in two blog posts: June 1964 'On the Cover' and The USCF in Numbers. What will this month's edition bring?

Left: 'On to Boston!'
Right: 'Doughty Dane'

Chess Life

[Back page ad] United States Open Chess Championship • Sheraton-Plaza Hotel, Boston, Mass., August 16-29 • Tournament Director: International Master George Koltanowski, Asst. Director: Robert Goodspeed • A 12-round Swiss Tournament, open to any player in the world. Entry fee: $20 • PRIZES: 1st Prize $1500 + Trophy + Title [...]

Chess Review

As the dust settles after the Interzonal Tournament at Amsterdam, Bent Larsen (our doughty Dane on the cover), who led most of the way, stands in a quadruple tie with Vassily Smyslov, Boris Spassky and Mikhail Tahl at the top of the 24 player field. Fifth and sixth are Leonid Stein and David Bronstein. But they rate no cigar (*).

Instead, Borislav Ivkov fills the fifth qualifying place for the Challengers Round of matches next year, and either Lajos Portisch or Samuel Reshevsky, who must play a match to settle the sixth qualifying place. These six then, along with seeded Mikhail Botvinnik and Paul Keres, contest matches next year to determine who is to take on World Champion Tigran Petrosian in 1966. [...]

(*) Stein and Bronstein actually scored better than even Ivkov but do not qualify under [the] FIDE rule that no more than three from any one country can do so. They may replace qualified Russians.

For the full crosstable, see 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal Tournament.

Kasparov TMER: Early Years

Continuing with the Kasparov TMER (Tournament, Match, and Exhibition Record) -- last seen in Updated 2014-06-02 and Next Steps -- I tackled the action to 'Compare the TMER with Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, Part I: 1973-1985'.

The first step was to compare the games in the book with the TMER PGN file available on Garry Kasparov's Tournament, Match, and Exhibition Record (1973-). Since the full PGN file dates to March 2003, and some of the files for individual events were created in October 2000, the exercise was as much a look at the PGN file as it was at Kasparov's book.

Of the 100 games in the book, I identified seven early games missing in the PGN file. I also noticed several discrepancies in basic game data (round number, date played, etc.) on the PGN file. I'll address these at the same time I match the events listed on the TMER index with those described in the book.

Diderot Chess

Two years ago, in this series on Top eBay Chess Items by Price, I featured the work of Chessspy in a post titled Restoring Chess Sets. This current edition of 'Top Chess Items' once again features Chessspy, this time for an auction titled 'ANTIQUE 18th CENTURY DIDEROT CHESS SET WITH ASSOCIATED BOX, EXTREMELY RARE', pictured below. The chess set sold for US $3150 after receiving 12 bids from seven bidders.

The description added,

In the late 1700s, a man named Denis Diderot (pronounced "DEE-derr-oh") compiled an encyclopedia of all the crafts of the 18th century. The entire encyclopedia was published between 1751 and 1772. It was 17 volumes of text plus 11 volumes of etched plates. The plates showed what was available at the time and how everything in the period was made. The Encyclopedia was tremendously important then, and it is perhaps even more important now because it lets us know what was made in the 18th century and how it was all done.

There is a plate in Diderot's Encyclopedia that shows a chess set. So we know that this style of chess set is AT LEAST as old as the Encyclopedia. Well, it almost goes without saying that very few of these chess sets have survived the 250+ years. Jon Crumiller has one (look it up online using his excellent site) and there are a couple of others in the world. That is about it.

About a year ago, I was lucky enough to discover a part set: 23 of the original 32 pieces. I had to devise various method of reproducing the 18th century manufacturing method and so it has taken me quite a while to finish this exciting and unusual project. It is now complete and on auction. I have put it with a box that is vintage and has nothing whatsoever to do with the set except that it holds it very nicely and also looks good with it.

The box doubles as the board and is also shown in the photo.

Meet the Monks

Returning from vacation, what better way to get back to blogging than an unusual photo of the world's current no.1 & 2 chess players?

Chess grandmasters Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian play simul on 10 boards with monks and residents of Tatev © Flickr user PAN Photo under Creative Commons.

It's a pity the photographer had to ruin the published copy with '© PAN Photo' written five times on the image. Is he worried that people would crop it out?

The 'No Cheating' Jigsaw Puzzle

Two essays on one of the hottest subjects in chess have appeared this month:-

• How To Catch A Chess Cheater: Ken Regan Finds Moves Out Of Mind by Howard Goldowsky [uschess.org]
• Draft Copy of Recommendations of the Anti-Cheating Committee [fide.com]

The Goldowsky piece has 'award winning' stamped all over it. Rarely is a technical subject explained with such clarity.

While researching the topic of cheating for the umpteenth time, I discovered the following image -- a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle showing two wizards playing chess -- which portrays the crux of the debate particularly well.

'No Cheating'
Jigsaw Puzzles - SunsOut.com

I'm also following this subject in another thread, last seen in Ethics and Cheating.