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The Tamil Nadu government and the All India Chess Federation on Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding for hosting the 44th Chess Olympiad in the ancient coastal town of Mamallapuram near here from July 28 to August 10.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister M K Stalin here, a day after the government appointed 18 Working Committees headed by senior bureaucrats and Director General of Police Sylendra Babu to oversee the preparations for the world championship.

The committees include transport, sponsorship, hospitality, media and publicity, security, food, medical services, electricity, and organizing school chess events. Since this is the first time that India will be hosting the world championship, the Tamil Nadu government is pulling all stops to ensure that event is successful.

The ancient coastal town of Mamallapuram known for its magnificent architecture of the famed Pallava Kingdom will play host to the 44th Chess Olympiad from July 28 to August 10, after the international event was shifted out of Russia due to its offensive against Ukraine.

The coastal town, which had welcomed high-profile visitors in Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the 2019 Indo-China informal summit, is gearing up to welcome over 2,000 chess players from 180 countries across the globe.

Over 2,600 rooms, mostly sea-facing, in luxury resorts that dot the scenic East Coast Road (ECR) connecting Chennai with Mamallapuram, have been booked for the Chess Olympiad.

The event will be held at Four Points by Sheraton a sprawling and luxurious resort on the ECR just outside Mamallapuram while players and delegates will stay at high-end hotels like Taj Fishermans Cove, Sheraton Grand, Radisson, and Intercontinental among others, sources told DH.

As the International Chess Federation (FIDE) removed Russia as the host for the 44th Chess Olympiad in February, the AICF approached several state governments including Tamil Nadu to find out whether they are interested in holding the prestigious tournament.

Mamallapuram is one of the top tourist destinations in Tamil Nadu attracting lakhs of foreign tourists every year. The magnificent Shore Temple, Arjunas Penance, one of the Group of Monuments declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, Krishnas Butterball, and Five Rathas are major tourist attractions in the coastal town.

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Tamil Nadu gets ready to host 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram - Deccan Herald

HANOI - Losing two gold medals in Armageddon tiebreakers might seem like a catastrophic event for Tin Jingyao and defending champion Gong Qianyun, but the Singaporean duo were happy to pick up two silvers in the mens and womens rapid chess respectively on Tuesday (May 17).

Competing at the Quang Ninh Exhibition Centre in Quang Ninh, the SEA Games finals went down to the wire for 21-year-old debutant Tin and defending champion Gong, 37, after their respective matches against married couple Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Pham Le Thao Nguyen ended 1-1 after two rounds of play.

Both matches were settled by an Armageddon tiebreaker, where players first draw lots to determine their colour.

The player with white pieces has more thinking time on the clock than the black, but the player with black pieces has the advantage of winning the game if they can hold their opponent to a draw.

Despite missing out on gold, Tin, an undergraduate at the National University of Singapore, was delighted to pick up his second medal after winning a bronze in the mens standard individual last Sunday.

He said: I was happy enough just to have reached the final. The level (at the Games) has been quite strong so its a bonus to be getting a medal.

While Gong, who was the first Singaporean to win a SEA Games gold in the sport in 2019 was not able to defeat her fellow Woman Grandmaster in the final, she was happy to be on the podium after a poor outing in the womens standard individual.

The 37-year-old said: I was disappointed after the first day so even before the final, I was happy to be able to get a medal.

I could have done better today as well but it is a good learning experience for me.

Both chess exponents will look to go one better in their final event, the mens and womens blitz, on Friday.

Continue reading here:
SEA Games: Two silvers for Singapore in rapid chess - The Straits Times

In a recent report, we asked readers and listeners from around the world to write us about their hobbies and studies.

In this weeks Everyday Grammar, we will share part of a message from Evgeny in Ukraine. Evgeny wrote about his school and his favorite hobby: chess. You will learn about how Americans describe schools and grades, and how to talk about when you began your hobbies.

Evgenys message

Here is part of Evgenys message:

My name is Evgeny I am studying in the 11th grade of the comprehensive school "Pearl". I am a chess player. I have been playing this wonderful game since 9. I have won many city and region tournaments and also took part in a lot of national championships....

Lets start with the sentence about Evgenys studies:

I am studying in the 11th grade of the comprehensive school Pearl.

We suggest removing the present progressive verb studying.

In general, Americans identify grade level in school with only the verb BE. We also use the preposition at instead of of when identifying a school.

So, you might hear an American student say, I am in the fourth grade at Park Hill or I am in the 10th grade at Western High School.

Evgenys sentence could be changed to something like this:

I am in the 11th grade at Pearl, a comprehensive school.

This form of the sentence might be a littler clearer to a speaker of American English:

I am in the 11th grade.

The reason we made this point about American English is because Evgeny used the term comprehensive school, a kind of school that is generally not familiar to Americans.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a comprehensive school is a British term for a school for children of all different levels of ability who are over the age of 11.

Evgenys hobby: chess

Now lets explore how Evgeny describes his hobby.

I am a chess player. I have been playing this wonderful game since 9. I have won many city and region tournaments and also took part in a lot of national championships...

Evgeny did a great job of ordering his statements. He started with the most general information and then gave more details in the following sentences.

We recommend adding a little more information to the second sentence, I have been playing this wonderful game since 9.

In general, we use numbers alone to describe times of the day, as in I woke up at five or Ive been here since eight.

We generally add the past tense of the verb BE to describe an age.

So, Evgenys sentence could be updated to something like this:

I have been playing this wonderful game since I was 9 years old.

Or:

I have been playing this wonderful game since I was 9.

Evgeny described his success in chess:

I have won many city and region tournaments and also took part in a lot of national championships.

We suggest using the term local instead of city and replacing region with regional. We also propose replacing the phrasal verb took part with a verb such as participated or competed.

The updated sentence could be something like this:

I have won many local and regional tournaments and I have also competed in national championships.

Closing thoughts

Toward the end of his message, Evgeny wrote:

I think chess can help children improve their focus and concentration skills...

We agree with Evgenys statement. We also wish him the best of luck with his English studies and his future chess matches.

If you would like to receive writing suggestions in a future report, send us a short description of your favorite book. Explain why you like the book and what it means to you. You can write us in the comments section or email us at learningenglish@voanews.com

Im John Russell.

John Russell wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

________________________________________________________________________

hobby n. an activity that a person does for pleasure when not working

regional adj. describes a part of a country, of the world, etc., that is different or separate from other parts in some way

focus n. a main purpose or interest

concentration n. the ability to give your attention or thought to a single object or activity : the ability to concentrate

Continued here:
Hobbies and Studies - VOA Learning English

Online chess website

Chess.com homepage

Type of site

List of languages

Afrikaans, azrbaycanca, Bahasa, Indonesia, Bahasa, Melayu, bosanski, Catal, etina, Dansk, Deutsch, eesti, English, Espaol, Franais, Galego, Hrvatski, slenska, Italiano, Kiswahili, latvieu, lietuvi, Magyar, Nederlands, Norsk, Ozbekcha, Pilipino, polski, Portugus, Portugus, (BR), Romn, shqipe, slovenina, slovenina, suomi, Svenska, Tagalog, Ting Vit, Trkmene, Trke, Vlaams, , , , , , , , , , , , , , (bal), , , , ,

Chess.com is an internet chess server, news website and social networking website.[3] The site has a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others for accounts with subscriptions. Live online chess can be played against other users at daily, rapid, blitz or bullet time controls, with a number of chess variants available. Chess versus a chess engine, computer analysis, chess puzzles and teaching resources are also offered.

One of the largest chess platforms in the world,[4] Chess.com has hosted online tournaments including Titled Tuesdays, the PRO Chess League, the Speed Chess Championships, PogChamps, and computer vs computer events.

Chess.com operates a freemium business model: main site features are free but others are limited or unavailable in some respects until a subscription is paid.[17]

Visitors to the site can play on a live chess server and correspondence style games, called "daily chess" on the site. Players may also play against chess engines (computer chess), and participate in what the site calls "vote chess", in which players form teams and vote on the best move. Additional features include tactics training, puzzle rush, chess forums, articles, videos, lessons, chess news, downloads, opening databases, groups, live broadcasts,[18] daily puzzles, team matches, online coaching and a game database of over 2 million games.

The company publishes a large number of articles on a variety of chess-related topics, including chess strategy, opening theory and history. Regular contributors include Gregory Serper, Bruce Pandolfini, Sam Shankland, Dan Heisman, Jeremy Silman, Simon Williams, Daniel Naroditsky, Natalia Pogonina and Daniel Rensch.[19] The Financial Times rated it as having the best news coverage of any chess website.[20]

Users can play a number of variants on the live server, including crazyhouse, three-check, four-player, king of the hill, chess960, Racing Kings and bughouse.

Chess.com has a policy against the use of chess engines in all forms of the game, except where "specifically permitted (such as a computer tournament)".[21] It utilizes algorithms and statistical data to catch players using engines in games and bans many on a daily basis,[22] and employs six moderators to prevent cheating.[4]

Chess.com also runs the subsidiary site chesskid.com for chess players of all ages. ChessKid focuses on a child-friendly environment aimed towards chess improvement for beginners to club players. It also has a guardianship program in which parents and authorized coaches can overlook the child's progress over time, to see statistics about their progress in tactics or how many videos they watched so that they can give encouragement and tips on how to improve.[23] ChessKid features no advertising.

ChessKid.com has run a yearly online championship called CONIC (the ChessKid Online National Invitational Championship), since 2012 which is recognized by the United States Chess Federation.[24][25] According to David Petty, the event organizer in 2013,

The online component [of CONIC] makes it unique because, normally, national championships require the players to fly in and stay in the same place. We had to ask special permission for the tournament because it is a rated tournament and there is a much higher chance for cheating.

ChessKid has made agreements and partnerships with chess associations to bring the educational benefit of chess to children in schools. In 2014, for a trial period, all signups to the ICA (Illinois Chess Association) included a free gold member subscription to ChessKid.[23] They also have a long-term partnership with the NTCA (North Texas Chess Academy) which gives children access to online instructors.[26]

The USCL was a nationwide national chess league in the United States between 2005 and 2016. Chess.com hosted the event in 2013.[27]

The PRO Chess League was the result of the US Chess League changing its name and format, with faster time controls and a focus on the flexibility of forming and managing teams.[28] Chess.com has hosted the PCL twice starting in 2017, having a regular and a summer series.[29]

Titled Tuesday is a 11-round Swiss-system 3+1 blitz chess tournament held on every Tuesday.[33] Grandmaster participants include Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexander Grischuk, Dmitry Andreikin, Wesley So, and Fabiano Caruana.[33] The first event was held on October 28, 2014, with a prize fund of $500 and was won by Baadur Jobava.[34] The prize fund was eventually upgraded to $1500.[33] GM Hikaru Nakamura has won the most events with a total of ten tournament wins, followed by GM Georg Meier with seven,[35] Magnus Carlsen has won three of the events in which he has partaken.[36]

In June 2018, Chess.com held a special version of the tournament for which the winner would go on to participate in the Isle of Man International which had a prize fund of 144,000.[37] Iranian GM Pouria Darini won the event.[38]

Chess.com has held six Speed Chess Championships since 2016, all involving a single-elimination tournament featuring some of the world's best players in matches that continue on in the vein of the Death Match format, with the addition of one chess960 game each time control. Nakamura has won four championships, while Carlsen has won two.[39]

Death Matches were introduced in January 2012. They feature titled players taking part in a series of blitz games over a non-stop 3-hour period (5-minute, 3-minute and 1-minute, all with a one-second increment).[46] There have been 38 deathmatches, participants including the grandmasters Hikaru Nakamura, Dmitry Andreikin, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, L Quang Lim, Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana, Judit Polgr and Nigel Short.[47]

In November 2017, Chess.com held an open tournament, called the Chess.com Computer Chess Championship (CCCC, later CCC), with the ten strongest chess engines, with $2,500 in prize money. The top-two engines competed in a "Superfinale" tournament between the two finalists - Stockfish and Houdini. In the 20-game Superfinal, Stockfish won over Houdini with a score 10.5-9.5. Five games were decisive, with 15 ending in a draw. Of the decisive games, three games were won by Stockfish, and two by Houdini.[48][49]

In August 2018, the site announced that the Chess.com Computer Chess Championship has returned, this time as a non-stop tournament for chess engines.[50][51]

Chess.com has hosted PogChamps, an amateur online tournament featuring Twitch streamers, since 2020. The first PogChamps featured notable streamers including xQcOW, moistcr1tikal, Ludwig Ahgren, and forsen. Notable new participants from PogChamps 2 included itsHafu and Hafr Jlus Bjrnsson.[103] PogChamps 3, beginning in February 2021, debuted with a wider range of Internet personalities and celebrities, with new competitors including MrBeast, Neekolul, Myth, Pokimane, actor Rainn Wilson, and rapper Logic.

After publishing two articles that were critical to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and replacing the flags of all russian users of the website with their links, chess.com was blocked in Russia.[104] [105]

Read more here:
Chess.com - Wikipedia

The I'M Not A GM Speed Chess Championship (IMSCC) is back for its 2022 edition, starting on May 9. The competition is once more bringing fan-favorite IMs and other masters to vie for their share of the $10,000 prize fund and bragging rights among their non-GM colleagues.

Last year, Chess.com streamer IM Roberto Molina faced YouTube's greatest, IM Levy Rozman, in a thrilling final. In true Speed Chess Championship fashion, swindles and mouse speed played a major role in the match, with the cunning Molina eventually taking the crown.

This year, Rozman is back to fight for the title. As last year's finalist, he is undoubtedly among the favorites to win the event. However, the YouTube star will not have an easy road ahead of him as other powerful masters are joining the competition. Among them is the talented IM Polina Shuvalova, who had a great run during the 2021 Women's World Blitz Chess Championship and currently boasts one of the highest blitz ratings in the field.

Another player to watch is the IM Bibisara Assaubayeva. The young Kazakhstani talent showed she's comfortable with the SCC format when she defeated GM Humpy Koneru in the 2021 Women's Speed Chess Championship. Assaubayeva then made the news again after winning the 2021 Women's Blitz Chess Championship with a round to spare, showing she's more than ready to face this new challenge.

Other well-known players joining the field include the superstar streamers WGM Nemo Zhou, IM Eric Rosen, FM James Canty, and the IMs from the ChessDojo Kostya Kavutskiy and David Pruess. They will be joined by the always-strong IM Greg Shahade, current US Women's Champion IM Carissa Yip, IM Tania Sachdev, and more!

Chess.com's Chief Chess Officer and IMSCC veteran IM Danny Rensch is another master playing in the event. Danny, who was once the highest-rated junior in the United States, feels excited to once more return to the IMSCC arena in a quest to survive past the first round.

"The IMSCC is always one of my favorite events both as a player and a viewer," he said. "It's such a great opportunity for many players like myself who love competitive chess but have careers that don't focus on chess competition to enjoy the thrill of battle. I'm excited to dust off my Dvoretsky, hone my tactics, trash talk on Twitter, and ultimately get flagged repeatedly by my opponents."

I'm excited to dust off my Dvoretsky, hone my tactics, trash talk on Twitter, and ultimately get flagged repeatedly by my opponents. IM Danny Rensch

Don't forget to tune in to Chess.com/TV or to our Twitch and YouTube channels to watch the 2022 I'M Not A GM live on May 16!

Who do you think will win this edition of the IMSCC? Let us know in the comments below!

Read more:
Announcing The 2022 I'M Not A GM Speed Chess Championship - Chess.com