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It employs the same 64 squares and 32 pieces everywhere it is played, so you might think there can be no home court advantage in chess.

Current world champion Magnus Carlsen, it should be remembered, first won the crown by defeating Indian GM Viswanathan Anand in a 12-game match in Chennai, where Anand has long been considered a national sporting hero. But most title matches over the decades wind up in neutral sites (hello, Reykjavik) in order to avoid giving one contestant an unfair rooting edge.

The theory is getting an unusual real-world test in the exciting FIDE womens world championship, which has just reached the halfway point.

The first six games were played in Shanghai, home to reigning womens world champ GM Ju Wenjun of China. But the play now shifts to Vladivostok, where Russian challenger GM Aleksandra Goryachkina should have a large cheering section. (Imagine the Lakers and Celtics playing the first half of Game 7 in Los Angeles, and then flying cross-country to Boston for the second half.)

The 21-year-old Goryachkina, whose strong play in the candidates tournament last year was a revelation, heads back to Mother Russia with the score knotted at 3-3. Both players are showing plenty of fight in the Shanghai half of the match, with three of the first six games going at least 85(!) moves.

Ju broke on top in Game 4 with some fine endgame play. In a Queens Gambit, things are close to equal after 26. Rxc8+ Qxc8 27. Qd5, but White has the edge owing to her powerfully centralized queen.

Blacks nervous decision to trade bishops 34. Qe4 Bc5?! 35. Bxc5+ bxc5 36. a5!, fixing the Black a-pawn as a long-term weakness results in a tricky queen-and-pawn ending that White manages superbly.

Black misses a chance to mobilize her king, and Ju picks just the right moment to switch to a winning pawn ending: 51. Qxe7+ Kxe7 52. g4! Kd6 53. gxh5 gxh5 54. Ke4 Kc6 55. f4 Kb5 56. Kd5! (the pawn race is a tie after 56. Kf5? Kb4 55. Kxf6 Kxb3 56. Kg6 c4 57. f5 c3, drawing) f5 57. Kd6 Kb6 58. Kd7! (neatly forcing Blacks hand) Ka5 59. Kc7! (ditto) Kxa6 60. Kc6, pinning the king to the a-file. In the final position, Whites king is off to collect the kingside pawns and Goryachkina gives up.

Goryachkina bounced right back in Game 5, playing an aggressive English Opening line, driving the Black king into the center of the board and pressuring Ju into an exchange sacrifice that doesnt quite pay off. White breaks on top after 20. Ng5+ Kf5 21. h4 cxd4?! (Kg6 22. Bd3+ Kh6 23. dxc5 Rxc5 24. 0-0 Ng6 was playable) 22. Bd7+ Kxe5 23. Bxc8 Rxc8, and Black is already struggling to save the game.

Ju manages to get some real counterplay with her passed d-pawn, and just might have held the draw after 33. Rf3 Ne5 34. Rf4 (see diagram), when 34Nc4! would have posed real problems for White; e.g. 35. Kf1 Ke5 36. Rf3 Nb2 37. Ke2 Nxd1 38. Kxd1 Rb2 39. Rh3 Rb1+ 40. Kxd2 Rb2+ 41. Ke3 Rb3+ 42. Ke2 Rxh3 43. gxh3 Ke4, with equality.

But after the timid 34Nc6? 35. Kf1 Ke5 36. Rf3 Na5 37. Ke2 Nc4 38. Rh3!, Black will be stymied on the queenside as Goryachkina will eventually get her kingside pawns moving.

The finale finds Blacks army fatally far from the action: 47. Rc3 Nxa3 48. Rc5+ Kd6 (Kf6 49. Rxd2 Rxd2+ 50. Kxd2 Ke7 51. Kc3 Nb1+ 52. Kc2 Na3+ 52. Kb2 Kd6 54. f6 and wins) 49. f6! (the pawn queens if Black takes the rook) Nc2 50. Rc4 51. Rf4 Kd5, and Black resigns as the pawn cant be stopped.

After another opening ceremony in Vladivostok, Game 7 of the match will be played Thursday.

Ju-Goryachkina, FIDE Womens World Championship, Game 4, Shanghai, January 2020

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 e6 6. e3 c5 7. Bxc4 cxd4 8. exd4 Nc6 9. O-O Be7 10. d5 exd5 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. Bxd5 O-O 13. Be3 Bf5 14. Qb3 Nb4 15. Rfd1 Qa5 16. Ne5 Nxd5 17. Rxd5 Qa6 18. Nd7 Be6 19. Nxf8 Kxf8 20. Qb5 Bxd5 21. Qxd5 Rd8 22. Qe4 h6 23. g3 b6 24. Rc1 f6 25. Kg2 Rc8 26. Rxc8+ Qxc8 27. Qd5 Ke8 28. h4 Qd7 29. Qg8+ Bf8 30. Qc4 h5 31. Kh2 Be7 32. b3 Kf8 33. Qc2 Bd6 34. Qe4 Bc5 35. Bxc5+ bxc5 36. a5 Qe7 37. Qa8+ Kf7 38. a6 g6 39. Qd5+ Kg7 40. Qb7 Kf8 41. Kg2 Ke8 42. Qa8+ Kf7 43. Qd5+ Kg7 44. Kf3 Kf8 45. Qb7 Ke8 46. Qd5 Kf8 47. Kf4 Qc7+ 48. Ke3 Qc8 49. Qb7 Qd8 50. Kf3 Qe7 51. Qxe7+ Kxe7 52. g4 Kd6 53. gxh5 gxh5 54. Ke4 Kc6 55. f4 Kb5 56. Kd5 f5 57. Kd6 Kb6 58. Kd7 Ka5 59. Kc7 Kxa6 60. Kc6 Ka5 61. Kxc5 Ka6 62. b4 Kb7 63. Kd5 Black resigns.

Goryachkina-Ju, FIDE Womens World Championship, Game 5, Shanghai, January 2020

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. e5 Ne4 6. Nf3 Bf5 7. d3 Nxc3 8. bxc3 c5 9. d4 Qa5 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. c4 Qd8 12. Qb3 Be4 13. Qxb7 Rc8 14. Bg5 Be7 15. Bxe7 Nxe7 16. Qb5+ Qd7 17. cxd5 Bxd5 18. Qxd7+ Kxd7 19. Bb5+ Ke6 20. Ng5+ Kf5 21. h4 cxd4 22. Bd7+ Kxe5 23. Bxc8 Rxc8 24. O-O Kd6 25. Rfe1 Rc2 26. a3 h6 27. Ne4+ Bxe4 28. Rxe4 Nc6 29. h5 g6 30. Rf4 gxh5 31. Rxf7 d3 32. Rd1 d2 33. Rf3 Ne5 34. Rf4 Nc6 35. Kf1 Ke5 36. Rf3 Na5 37. Ke2 Nc4 38. Rh3 Ra2 39. Rxh5+ Kd4 40. Rh4+ Kc5 41. Rh3 a5 42. f4 Kd5 43. Rf3 Ke6 44. g4 a4 45. Rh3 Kd5 46. f5 Ke5 47. Rc3 Nxa3 48. Rc5+ Kd6 49. f6 Nc2 50. Rc4 Na3 51. Rf4 Kd5 and Black resigns.

David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email [emailprotected].

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Players split the home-field edge in women's chess title fight - Washington Times

MAHWAH Most likely you're no match for 12-year-old Gary Leschinsky. His opening is pretty strong and so are the rest of his moves. You can say he's the king of his castle.

As you may have deduced from the cheap puns, Gary is a chess player. Not just any chess player, he is self-taught and within two years of playing his first game ranksnumber 15 in the United States in his age group.

Gary Leschinsky with his chess trophies(Photo: Marsha A. Stoltz)

"My mother kept talking about chess champion Garry Kasparov," Gary said."I didn't know who hewas so I looked him up on the internet.Then Ilooked up how to play."

That's it.

His father BorisLeschinsky concedes his influence was limited to playing checkers, but he's learned enough of the game to assist Gary by moving the pieces as instructed. Gary plays blindfolded to even the playing field.

"My commitment is way smaller than his," Boris Leschinsky said."We are happy to support his passion."

Gary now divides his time between a trainer, tournaments and playing online.He plays all formats, but least likes "blitz" games where each player gets three to four minutes to plot their next move.

Bernice and Mark Leschinsky look on and father Boris gives assistance to Gary and sister Barbara.(Photo: Marsha A. Stoltz)

"There's no time to think at all," Gary said."Now I play with a two-hour time control."

The middle-schooler said it's "hard to find good tournaments," but he has managed to make friends while attending nearby events that are either open to all orgeared to his age and grade.

"Your first tournament is really important because of the chess rating system," Gary said. "Everyone starts out at 100.A bad tournament would get you 101.I got 500 my first time."

Within six months, Gary's U.S. Chess Federation rating went from 500 to 1,600. As of Jan. 7, it was 2,156, only 44 points shy of national master status.Heplaced first in the New Jersey Grade 6 Championship in November.

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Gary can't explain why he has progressed so rapidly, other than a general: "I'm good at math." Alexander Stripunsky, a trainer at International Chess Academy in Glen Rock, saidit's "an ability to learn quickly."

Gary, Stripunsky said, "has always been an exceptional learner, partially because of his great work ethic, partially because of his ability to capture the essence of the process going on, the nature of the position."

Fortunately for mere mortals, Gary can't tell a good player from a bad one in the early part of a game, but it's the end game that separates the sheep from the goats, so to speak.

Gary Leschinsky plays 10 boards simultaneously during the CDI tournament in Mexico last November.(Photo: Photo courtesy of Boris Lachinsky)

"It's hard to do the end game, king safety, pawn structure is pretty important," Gary said. "Older people know better what's good and what's bad."

When not preoccupied with chess or school, Gary enjoys ping pong, running, and promoting an invention he hadpatented while he was in the third grade.

"It's called the A-Watch, short for allergy watch," Gary said."I have a lot of allergies, and this watch is designed to detect symptoms of food allergies." He said when he attends parties or hanging out with friends and doesn't know what ingredients are in foods, the watch "has a skin sensor that detects my heart rate, sweating."

The prototype is still in development, and Gary is looking for collaborators to advance his idea. But Gary presented his watch as one of seven students who addressed theLa Ciudad de las Ideas in Mexico last November. The International Festival of Brilliant Minds brings together "talented people," according to Gary, for talk and inspiration.

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"I met President Trump's first press secretary, Sean Spicer," Gary said."John Gray, who wrote 'Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars,' Harvard professor Tal Ben-Shahar, who talked about how to be happy. My favorite wasan artificial intelligence talk by David Cox from IBM."

For all that rarefied air, the sixth-grader at Ramapo Ridge Middle School can still come down to earth.

"It was pretty cool," Gary said of his trip. "I got to skip school."

Gary will be playing in the Liberty Bell Open in Philadelphia this weekend.

Marsha Stoltzis a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community,please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email:stoltz@northjersey.com Twitter:@marsha_stoltz

Read or Share this story: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/mahwah/2020/01/15/mahwah-nj-boy-top-ranked-chess-player-inventor-hes-only-12/2846424001/

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Mahwah boy is a nationally ranked chess player, patented inventor. And he's only 12 - NorthJersey.com

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Letter to the editor: More people should learn to play chess - TribLIVE

Ubisofts scientists have done the unthinkable and combined the two biggest new gaming genres of the last few years. The publisher revealed today that it plans to release Might & Magic: Chess Royale for mobile and PC on January 30. As the name suggests, it mixes together elements of auto battlers (think Auto Chess) and battle royale games (PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds and Fortnite).

In Might & Magic: Chess Royale, you put together an army of units from the Might & Magic series in a fight against 99 other players. The game borrows a lot from Dota: Auto Chess, Dota Underlords, and Teamfight Tactics. Players must focus on creating powerful synergies between units. But Chess Royale drops the teams and instead has every player fighting for themselves. As in Fortnite or PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds, you want to outlast everyone else to get the victory.

While this isnt a direct spinoff of Ubisofts Might & Magic Heroes strategy games, fans of those games will recognize many of the units. And some knowledge should transfer from one game to the other.

Ubisoft has already begun testing Might & Magic: Chess Royale in a soft launch. This has enabled the games designers to work on optimizations.

One of the big goals is to create relatively short matches. Ubisoft claims that you can lose quick or win quick with game sessions that last 10 minutes. That could help distinguish it from the auto battler crowd. Dota Underlords and Teamfight Tactics can have 30-minute matches or longer.

But Ubisoft is definitely chasing the trends. And thats going to make it challenging to find an audience. Teamfight Tactics and Dota Underlords are already major hits with millions of players.

Of course, that doesnt mean Chess Royale doesnt have a chance. Fortnite and then Apex Legends proved that new games could come along and thrive in the battle royale space. Maybe Chess Royale will do the same for autobattlers.

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Might & Magic: Chess Royale is an auto battle royale from Ubisoft - VentureBeat

The Rolling Stones No.2, the second album from the then young British R&B band, remains a special one for Mick Jagger and co because it was partly recorded at the famous Chess Studios. The studios were regarded as the home of Chicago blues and the place where The Rolling Stones heroes, such as Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry, had cut much of the music that had inspired them in the first place.

Listen to The Rolling Stones No.2 on Apple Music and Spotify.

Bass guitarist Bill Wyman said he could still remember his bandmates looks of disbelief when Waters came out to help them with their bags. Nothing sensational happened at Chess except the music. For those two days, the Stones were finally true blues artists, said their producer Andrew Loog Oldham, who was only 20 when the first tracks were recorded at Chess, in June 1964.

We thought wed died and gone to heaven, said Keith Richards, who played electric and acoustic guitar on an album that featured nine covers and three originals he had co-written with singer Jagger.

The blues stars were gentlemen and so interested in what we were doing you figure youre gonna walk in and theyd think, Snooty little English guys and a couple of hit records. Not at all. I got the chance to sit around with Muddy Waters and Bobby Womack, and they just wanted to share ideas. And you were expecting, Oh, English kids making money out of me, and it could well have happened. But they wanted to know how we were doing it, and why we wanted to do it.

Though the covers they recorded were homages as with a take on Waters I Cant Be Satisfied, a song he first recorded in 1948 the Chess musicians were pleased to get royalties from the versions by the young English musicians. One of the songs The Rolling Stones cut was Pain In My Heart (originally called Ruler Of My Heart for the Irma Thomas version), which was written by New Orleansgreat Allen Toussaint. When speaking to this writer in 2011, Toussaint described how he felt about the Stones covering his compositions: I was so glad when the Stones recorded my songs, he said with a laugh. I knew they would know how to roll my song all the way to the bank.

The selection of covers on The Rolling Stones No.2 was strong. On Down Home Girl, written by Jerry Leiber, Jagger plays some fine bluesy harmonica and Brian Jonesdelivers a powerful guitar lick. Time Is On My Side, written by Jerry Ragovoy, has always been associated with the Stones but was, in fact, a cover of a version by Irma Thomas and jazz trombonist Kai Winding.

There is a five-minute version of Solomon Burkes crowd-pleaser Everybody Needs Somebody To Love, while a gentle version of Under The Boardwalk contrasts with a pulsating cut of Don Rayes Down The Road Apiece. Jagger and Richards wrote three songs that went on the album What A Shame, Grown Up Wrong and Off The Hook and they all show the promise of the songwriting prowess that their future collaborations delivered.

The Rolling Stones No.2 was released by Decca Recordsin the UK on 15 January 1965 and, within two weeks, had toppled The Beatles to reach No.1 on the UK album charts, a position it held for nine weeks. Some of the songs from the album had already appeared on a US-released album, 12 x 5 Grown Up Wrong, Under The Boardwalk and Susie Q, along with an earlier version of Time Is On My Side, which featured Ian Stewart, one of the original founders of the Stones, playing organ on the intro.

The same cover art was used for the two separate albums, both taken in the same photo session by a rising star called David Bailey. I knew Mick before he was in the Stones, Bailey later recalled. He was just a bloke I met because he was going out with my girlfriends sister, Chrissie Shrimpton. His moody photograph of the young musicians has become an iconic work of art in itself.

There was one strange footnote to this Stones classic. Oldham wrote the sleevenotes for the back cover and, for a laugh, he made an ill-advised joke about fans mugging blind men for the cash to buy the record. The secretary of the Bournemouth Blind Aid Association complained, and Lord Conesford asked the Director Of Public Prosecutions to rule on whether the album cover constituted a deliberate incitement to criminal action. Wisely, the matter ended there. Oldham said he was thrilled by the uproar.

What is for certain is that The Rolling Stones No.2 both demonstrated how eclectic the early Stones were and also indicated that the boys who hero-worshipped the blues stars of Chicago would carve out their own special place in blues and rocknroll history.

The Rolling Stones No.2 can be bought here.

Listen to the best of The Rolling Stones on Apple Music and Spotify.

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The Rolling Stones No.2: Mick And Keiths Love Letter To Chess Records - uDiscover Music