Mediaboss Marketing

Although not immediately obvious in the list of app available to ChessBase Account users, there is an app created and dedicated to teaching chess from scratch. This app does far more than just teach the moves, it also teaches fundamentals in positional play, tactics, and the endgame!

Link to Learn Chess beginner courses

The first page starts with the basics such as mastering the moves of the pieces

This is the first of three beginner courses. The first will start by teaching how all the pieces move, then will proceed to rules such as castling, stalemate, and even basic opening principles to avoid 'analysis paralysis' at the very start.

Here is a sample of the tutorial on castling. The diagram in the lesson is dynamic and you can move the pieces.

After you have reviewed the lesson, you will be able to test your understanding with some basic exercises. Above we can see a multiple choice question to verify the student's understanding of castling rules.

Very logically, the next phase of the course, aka Beginners Course II, shows how the pieces can work to create mating patterns both alone and in tandem with other pieces.

Once again, the course presents its concepts in a very gradual presentation, allowing the new student to become ever more familiar with the dynamics of the pieces.

The exercises are all dynamic, so you can actually play the solution on the board.

If you solve it correctly, you are congratulated and given a follow-up comment.

The final stage of the course really takes the student to the next level by providing ample tutorials on all the classic tactical motifs such as double attacks, pins, skewers, and more.

The lessons are presented with clear explanations and illustrations. The lesson explains:

"Those who understand the typical motifs of double attacks have a huge advantage among amateur players."

Oh, how so very true!

An example of the lesson on double attacks. Here we see the pawn fork, but there will be other forks and types of double attacks.

This introduction is quite thorough. Still, this last stage also does the student a service by providing them with a primer on the most basic endgame concepts such as mating with king and rook against king, opposition with the kings, and finally the rule of the square.

This beginner's course really does go far beyond just teaching the student the rules, it provides them with the tools to progress and defeat their nearest rivals as well as a taste of what lies down the rabbit hole.

Click here to subscribe to ChessBase Account and see the many other options it offers

Read more from the original source:
Learning to play chess with ChessBase - ChessBase

It's a pretty cushty week for ABBA's Benny and Bjrn (I mean, when isn't it a cushty week for them). The pair will have four separate live shows they've composed running simultaneously in London a Drury Lane concert performance of Chess, Mamma Mia! next door at the Novello, ABBA Voyage in its own custom auditorium and the immersive dining Mamma Mia! variant at the O2.

It's a testament to their almost faultless ability to deliver a banging tune. Setting aside the ABBA back-catalogue of the three other shows, Chess is laden with musical riches: "I Know Him So Well", "The Arbiter", "Pity the Child", "Anthem", "One Night in Bangkok", "Heaven Help My Heart", "Someone Else's Story" to name some.

That's what stuck with me as I hummed my way out of Drury Lane following Monday night's concert. Nick Winston, who previously gave Chess a pandemic-disrupted run in Japan, has delivered a slick, pared back version of the musical here letting the tunes do the talking. It's helped by some unobtrusive choreography, while Ben Cracknell's lighting shoots beams of light across Drury Lane, quickly evoking Cold War paranoia.

It's all a great way of side-stepping the glaring issues with the source material: given the lack of a satisfying book (Chess has had more revision thrown at it than my modern history GCSE exam did), the show has a tendency to veer wildly, at times rattling through story and other times alighting for multiple numbers on the same plot point. Tellingly, lyricist Tim Rice calls its Broadway opening a catastrophe in the Drury Lane programme. Characters are sketchily-drawn, with one-note backstories that can be wafer thin. It's one of the reasons the starry Coliseum run had something of a patchy critical reaction.

But those tunes! It'll be hard to forget Samantha Barks sending shivers (apt for the West End Elsa) down the spine with a blistering "Nobody's Side", while Hadley Fraser's "Anthem" was as clean cut and note-perfect as they come. Joel Harper-Jackson's dick-ish, drug-snorting Freddie sees the chess player imbued with a bolshy savagery (and the voice of an angel) while Frances Mayli McCann, returning to the venue after Bonnie and Clyde, duetted to perfection on "So Well". The concert is must-see watching for anyone with a free day today.

It's got me thinking. Over in New York, they have the "Encores" series a chance for stage stars and big names to give commercially unfriendly, vintage or forgotten work a second life. This has delivered some excellent musical revivals including the ongoing Into the Woods production lighting up Broadway. Maybe it's time that the UK doubled down on something similar. The LMTO, accompanying Chess here, seems perfectly placed to deliver that. Give the company a home (the Southbank Centre? Royal Albert Hall?), regular seasons, institutional support and away we could go.

In the meantime Chess is the opening salvo in a series of concerts including a new production of fan favourite Kinky Boots (probably too recently staged in the West End to justify a full return run) and new musical Treason, which looks like it hopes to follow in the footsteps of shows like Eugenius in building a following through semi-staged concerts before bagging a full production. These concerts are commercially safer gambles, with exhibitions of the best in stage talent while offering one-off gifts to audiences. What's not to like?

Loading...

Loading...

Read the original here:
Chess at Theatre Royal Drury Lane the beauty of staging the unstageable - WhatsOnStage.com

The emergence of India as a chess powerhouse, with 74 grandmasters and now the host of a grand World Chess Championship is a form of historical justice for a country that had invented, loved and propagated the game a few millennia ago. In this momentous time, its important to remind ourselves about the contributions of India to this beautiful game.

The mere mention of chess takes our imagination back to the most iconic scenes of Mahabharata, the apparently innocuous game of dice which would lead to irreconcilable differences between brothers, the banishment of Pandavas from their kingdom, humiliation of Draupadi and ultimately a dharmic war. The evil, the foxy face of Shakuni, the sound of the dice, made out of his fathers bones rattling in his hands, his sweet words with devilish intent trapping little by little the Pandava brothers into poverty, shame and near destruction; are etched in the psyche of every Indian.

But the game of chess, originally called Chaturanga which literally means four limbed referring to ancient army divisions of infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry predates Mahabharata. It goes back to another epic, Ramayana. Mandodari, is one of the many queens of demon king Ravana. The queen, couldnt bear the sight of Ravana in a constant state of war, conflict and anger. She decided to pray to Lord Ganesha for a solution. Ganesha accedes to teach the game to Ravana and asks him to treat it as a real battlefield with pawns, elephants, soldiers, kings and plenty of strategy to distract him away from actual wars. With a little practice, it was Mandodari who started winning the game over Ravana. And yet the great war of Ramayana happened.

The south of India boasts of innumerable Shiva temples and has a unique place in chess history in the form of Sri Vallabha Nathar Temple, in the Tiruvarur District, Tamil Nadu. This 1000-2000 years old temple which has become famous for relieving the poisonous bites of rats and snakes is also known for the legendary story of king Vasudevan and his daughter Rajarajeswari, who was an incarnation of Goddess Parvathi. Rajarajeswari was adept in all arts and chess in particular. King Vasudevan, enamoured by his daughters prowess in the game, announced that he would give his daughters hand to whoever defeats her in the game of chess.

Legend has it that Shiva, Himself, disguised as a Siddha played the game won the game and shed his guise, giving darshan to everyone. Followed by a grand wedding with Rajarajeswari. The Lords victory in the chess game won him the title Chaturanga Vallaba Nathar based on the Tamil name for chess Chaturangam.

Another hint of this beautiful game is found in the rather neglected ruins of The Sadras Dutch Fort, a tourist destination between Chennai and Puducherry, which is a distorted name of the ancient town of Saduranga Pattinam situated 5Km away. Saduranga, as mentioned earlier, is one of many names attributed to Lord Shiva.

A knights tour, which is now a mathematical and programming lesson in every textbook, originates from the genius mind of Swami Vedanta Desika. Swami Vedanta Desika was a poet, philosopher and polyglot who was proficient in eight languages. His extensive collection of work includes, 120 books bringing out the very essence of the Vedas. Around 750 years ago he created a form of poetry called Chithra Bhandhana. This poetry form is composed of the movement of the knight on a chessboard using 64 squares, each square containing oneakshara.It was only in 1823 that the German Mathematician Von Warsdorf solved the problem of KnightsTour, 500 years after Swami Vedanta Desika, who had not only solved but had created beautiful poetry with it.

Chess not only indicates that India always celebrated cerebral capabilities but its also a sign of an advanced society. While most countries were rising out of barbarism, India had the luxury of time and the intellectual space for a sport that has stood the test of time. With the world chess championship coming to India, the games rising popularity and newfound success in the subcontinent should be seen not only as a game that is returning to its rightful home but also as a sign of a rising mind and consciousness of a nation.

Read the original here:
Chess and its Civilisational Connect with India - Organiser

Over the objections of three conservatives on the Anchorage Assembly, a mayoral veto was overridden on Monday, giving the Assembly the power to remove the mayor whenever it chooses, with the flimsiest of reasons.

Anchorage Ordinance 2022-60 gives the Assembly vast power, both overtly and implied, over the mayor, the ability to hold a knife over the mayors head by creating a pathway for the legislative body to remove him for what is a vaguely described breach of public trust. Their process for removing him makes the Assembly judge, jury, and prosecutor.

Assemblyman Randy Sulte argued against overriding the veto, saying that if recalls of mayors fail, and the Assembly acts to remove a mayor, then it would be the Assembly getting the breach of the public trust wrong.

I have concerns about us being judge and jury about what is breach of public trust. We may not be correct and the public may still trust that person and wish for that person to remain, even though we may feel otherwise, he said.

Assembly Vice Chair Chris Constant admitted in the meeting that the impetus for the ordinance was an incident that happened during a wild regular meeting of the Assembly in October, when the public was up in arms over the Assemblys latest mask mandate.

Many people ask Why did you start this project?' said Constant, the maker of the ordinance. The day that I decided this project was essential was the day in October when a member of the Administration attempted to turn off the public feed. The second thing they did at that meeting was to dismiss security. And the third thing they did at that meeting was told APD [police] to stand down. And I witnessed the staff of this Administration rallying people in an angry crowd.

The Monday meeting was a special meeting in a small room at City Hall, called only for the purpose of overriding the veto, and the meeting was just over a half an hour long. It was supposed to be broadcast live on YouTube, but the Assembly somehow cut the video feed, claimed technical difficulties and only posted a nearly unintelligible audio recording of the meeting instead, a breach of the public trust.

Like Loading...

Continue reading here:
Chess game continues: Assembly overrides mayor's veto, and can now figure out how to remove the mayor - Must Read Alaska

Greetings!

This is Larrys last The Check is in the Mail. He has ably carried the good work of former editor Alex Dunne forward. As Larry writes ...at a point where there are a lot of things I want to do with my life (including getting better at this crazy game we share!) and I'm not maximizing my time to do those things if I'm doing other stuff, albeit stuff I also like.

We wish Larry all the best as he moves onward.

If there is someone interested in compiling, editing, and preparing The Check is in the Mail, send us an email - correspondence@uschess.org. Please include a short narrative of your qualifications.

---

After reporting on the 2015 Golden Knights Championship won by Gary Adams in our June issue, I recently received a few games from that tourney from Mr. Adams and Mr. Abe Wilson, another former GK champion. So, this month I thought Id center the article on some interesting games from that event, along with some notes from the champion.

From Garys notes: My first game is from the preliminaries. It is between (John) Menke and myself. I dreaded drawing this guy in the first round. I had seen articles of him clobbering Michael Buss in Chess Life. I mentioned to one of the guys in the section that it was like putting a large muskie into a small pond. It just eats everything in the pond! He had lost only one game in 2003. This is another of his masterpieces only this time it is me on the receiving end. (Editors note: From the April 2019 The Check is in the Mail - Correspondence chess lost one of its great ones in March of this year with the death of John Menke of Mt. Vernon, Illinois. John had an amazing record, losing only a single game in 167 US Chess contests. He was the 2004 and 2005 CCLA Champion, the 2003 Golden Knights Champion, first in the 2004 Electronic Knights, third in 2005, and second in 2006. In the Absolute Championships he finished first in 2011 and 2012 and tied for second in 2013. Along the way in 2010 he picked up his ICCM title.)

I was very lucky to end up with 4 points in the preliminary. However, I still got placed in the semifinals, most likely to fill out a section. I made up for my weak showing in the prelims with winning all 6 games in the semifinals. (In) the finals section I got 4 wins and 2 draws, enough to win the tournament.

---

Even a Golden Knights champion can get run over in the right (or wrong) circumstances. Regarding game 2 Adams writes: The second game from this section is from the finals with (David) Porter. It was a very even game until a blunder at the end. It shows that in correspondence chess all that is required to lose is one weak move.

---

Although game 3 was not played by the champion, the game had a big impact on the final standings as Mr. Millett finished third (and fourth!) by a small margin. Mr. Wilson holding Millett to a draw, along with other results, were key to Adams edging him out for the championship.

---

For the finale, Ill dispense with my comments and leave the notes to Mr. Adams: The last game is what I call the $400 game. This was probably the last game in the finals to get completed in the tournament. Wilson and I were pushing up against the time deadline for tournament closeout even with a COVID time extension. I was very surprised to get the last card in the mail indicating resignation.

---

In Passing:

A few more members of our correspondence chess family have passed.

US Chess was recently informed that Jeffrey Dahl of Saint Cloud, Minnesota passed away on October 13, 2016. He carried a correspondence rating of 2084.

John Phythyon Sr. of Kennebunk, Maine passed away on February 11, 2022. Mr. Phythyon was no longer an active player but carried a 2054 rating.

David Moody (CC rating of 1458) of Dearborn, Michigan passed away on June 24, 2022. David was a member of the Michigan Chess Hall of Fame and the longtime editor of the Michigan Chess Associations magazine in the 1980s and 1990s.

2019 Electronic Knights Finals

The 2019 Electronic Knights tournament has concluded. The winner is Michael Buss of Indianapolis, Indiana. This is Buss first Electronic Knights championship. Seventy-eight players entered competition which consisted of 11 preliminary sections, followed by three semi-final sections, and one finals section.

News From the Front Office

Recent Event Winners

John W. Collins20C02, Jason Wright, 6-020C09, Jason Hoefferle, 6-022C02, Daniel Brenneman, 6-0

Walter Muir E-Quad21W37, Richard Perry, 5.5-0.522W05, Patrick Gordon-Davis, 6-022W08, Eric Brink & Timothy Steck, 5-122W11, Paul Shannon, 6-0

Victor Palciauskas21VP05, Jeffrey Reger, 6-0

Read this article:
Check Is In The Mail: August 2022 | US Chess.org - uschess.org