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GM Sergey Karjakin won the October 27 Titled Tuesday tournament, his first-ever Titled Tuesday victory. The Russian grandmaster edged out GMs Alireza Firouzja and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on tiebreak.

The tournament, an 11-round Swiss at a 3+1 time control, had a total of 617 participants. There was a surprising leader after eight rounds: Vietnamese GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (@crescentmoon2411), who had profited from an overly risky winning attempt by GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (@ChessWarrior7197) of Uzbekistan.

The live broadcast of the tournament.

For unknown reasons, Firouzja joined only from round two so coming in second place after that was pretty impressive. His win against Kazakhstani GM Rinat Jumabayev (@Jumbo) in round nine was nice:

Karjakin defeated Nguyen in the final round after winning a piece in the middlegame. That was a moment of mutual tactical lapses:

A much better game was Karjakin's win in the penultimate round against Ukrainian GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, an expert of the Alekhine Defense. Black's plan with ...a5 and ...Bb4 didn't really work, and after that Karjakin outplayed his opponent with the precision and clarity GM Bobby Fischerwas famous for.

It was funny to see Karjakin spending a few seconds on his 38th move (where rook takes works as well), double-checking the prettiest finish.

October 20 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)

Karjakin won the $750 first prize. Firouzja won $400, Mamedyarov $150, and GM Gata Kamsky(@TigrVShlyape) $100 for coming fourth. The$100 prize for the best female player went to GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (@ChessQueen).

Titled Tuesday isChess.com's weekly tournament for titled players. It starts each Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time (19:00 Central Europe) with a weekly prize fund of $1,600.

Link:
Karjakin Wins Oct. 27 Titled Tuesday - Chess.com

No one played chess like the Russians. Boris Spassky was the last Soviet face of Russian domination of the world title which they had held for 24 years. In the sixth game, the one that became known as The Start of the Century, Spassky blocked in the face of an unexpected obstacle.

All in all, Bobby Fischer, the great American hope and first chess prodigy. At 29, the already experienced player dared to deal a cruel blow to the Soviet Union in the midst of the Cold War. The battle also took place on the boards.

The day before, Spasskys team that analyzed the Americans entire game launched the possibility that Fischer could try to surprise with an unusual move. Spassky ignored and joked, Were not going to worry about this nonsense. I will play as usual. What can he do? .

Fischer did what no one expected and pulled off Gambito da Rainha, a famous opening shot that he himself had criticized. This was only the third time he has used it in hundreds and hundreds of professional matches. Spassky was stunned. After 21 matches, Fischer became world champion.

This decision gave its name to the new Netflix miniseries, which in just over a week turned into a serious case of popularity. Starring is Anya Taylor-Joy, one of Hollywoods greatest emerging talents and future Furiosa in George Millers prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road get to know her better in this article from NiT .

Since October 23 on the platform, production has always been at the top of the most viewed in Portugal and in the world. The story follows Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy), a girl prodigy sent to an orphanage after losing her mother in a car accident.

Beth ends up being fascinated by the checkerboard with which Mr. Shabiel (Bill Camp), the orphanage worker, entertains himself in the basement. Hes the one who teaches you the rules, when is the right time to quit a game, and sets you on the path to success with a few notes in an envelope.

The young woman ends up becoming a chess prodigy, always with the Cold War as a backdrop and the glamor of the 50s and 60s. The seven episodes reveal more than a story of rising to the top. Along the way, Beth faces childhood trauma, alcohol and drug addiction, and the hidden dangers of genius.

The story could very well have hit screens many years before Netflixs bet. Inspired by the 1983 book of the same name, signed by American author Walter Tevis, it became one of the passionate projects of the late Heath Ledger him too, struggling with drug addiction and, of course, a fan of chess.

Production was cut short by the actors death in 2008, and Ellen Page had already secured the role of Beth Harmon.

Over a decade later, O Gambito da Rainha is entitled to a seven-episode version that has the power to fall in love with two audiences: those who are able to perceive the genius of the movements of the pieces; and those who dont.

The truth is, all of the movements that come out of the hands of the actors arent just real, theyve been meticulously crafted and rehearsed. The task of imagining each of the games Beth Harmon has to portray on screen and they have all been thought out in detail fell to Bruce Pandolfini, arguably the best, most famous and most experienced chess teacher in the United States. United. He who was also a great master of the game.

Easy, there was another name involved in this difficult task, perhaps even more recognized. We are talking about Gary Kasparov, the Russian master who was world number one for 20 years, precisely those who lasted his career.

Despite everything in O Gambito da Rainha which screams a true story, the truth is that it is all fictional out of Tevis mind. Which isnt to say that much of the inspiration isnt real.

Sadly, Tevis passed away in 1984, a year after the book was published. He never saw his transformation into a miniseries. I would have liked, because Harmon had a lot of Tevis.

He was a professional chess player himself, albeit without the genius of a Fischer, Spassky or even Beth Harmon. I started playing with my sister and the neighborhood kids. I once won a $ 250 prize and became a Class C player, he admitted to the New York Times in 1983.

Now I only play against the computer, so I dont have real opponents laughing at me I can always pull the plug. I played enough to know how to recognize a good game. I can beat ordinary people, but Im afraid to play against the guys who put up boards in the streets of Broadway, he replied.

Walter Tevis on the cover of Chess Life

Like Harmon, Tevis faced a serious addiction problem after being a child with a heart problem. Treated with strong and addictive drugs, he had to fight to get rid of them. The author speculated that it was precisely from his personal episode that he was inspired to create this facet of Beths life.

Writing on her was like doing a purge. It involved some pain I had a lot of dreams writing this part of the story, he confessed, before pointing out why the character was created: I love Beth for her bravery and intelligence. In the past, many women were forced to hide their intelligence, which is not happening today.

Have you heard of something called apophenia? Asks a journalist from LIFE, responsible for writing the profile of the chess prodigy. Its the discovery of patterns or meanings where others cant. Sometimes these people feel revelation or ecstasy, he replies to Harmons disbelief.

What does this have to do with me? Asks the young woman. Creativity and psychosis usually go hand in hand. Or, in the same order, genius and madness, she replies before being interrupted.

This brings us to Bobby Fischer, the chess hero whose life finds many parallels in Harmon. He was American champion at the age of 14. At 15, he was already considered a Grandmaster the youngest to receive the honor and at 20, he totaled the perfect score in the national championship with 11 wins in 11 matches.

Like Harmon, he had the rival of his life in Russian Boris Spassky, with whom he staged a cold war on the board and from whom he stole the world title.

Unfortunately, just like Harmon, Fischers behavior was erratic, although he was not known to have any addictions. Some of his behaviors are so strange, unpredictable and bizarre that even his greatest apologists find it difficult to explain what makes him act, Reuben Fine, psychologist and chess player, commented of Fischer.

The Final Myth between the Soviet Union and the United States, Spassky and Fischer

Described as a tormented human being, his genius and his peculiar behavior have been analyzed by several specialists, before and after his death in 2008. Valery Krylov, specialist in the psychological rehabilitation of athletes, went so far as to say that Fischer could suffer from schizophrenia.

Opinions were numerous: psychologist Joseph Ponterotto even pointed out Aspergers syndrome, but ended up concluding, according to the data available to him, that Fischer would suffer from a personality disorder.

The most illuminating answer may come from the person closest to Fischer, who has been with him for the past few days. Magns Sklason, psychiatrist and chess player, confessed three years after the death of his friend: He was definitely not schizophrenic. He had some problems, possibly a childhood trauma that affected him. He was misunderstood. Deep down, I think he was a sensitive and worried person.

Go here to see the original:
The real lives that inspired the O Gambito da Rainha prodigy re:Jerusalem - re:Jerusalem

Zhuolu Chess is a unique minigame that players will encounter plenty of times throughout their playthrough of Xuan-Yuan Sword VII. If youre like me, the brief tutorial paired with the poorly translated instructions left me scratching my head as to what this minigame is all about. Its important to familiarize yourself with zhuolu chess rules as, like Gwent in The Witcher 3, winning against certain opponents unlocks additional dialogue for you to enjoy. Here Ill be explaining the rules of zhuolu chess so you can breeze through this minigame every time.

Zhuolu chess feels nothing like chess, but more a mix of checkers and Tic-tac-toe. At the start of the match, you pick six unique pieces from your collection. Each of these has special attributes. Such as the Yinglong, that cannot be taken if there is an adjacent friendly piece. After choosing your six unique pieces, you will be given six normal pieces that dont possess any attributes, and the game begins.

Each turn, you and your opponent take turns placing down a piece onto one of the boards twenty-four positions. The objective is to get three of your pieces to line up. Its similar to Tic-tac-toe in that way. If you successfully line up three pieces, you can take one of your opponents pieces off the board.

This will take his piece out of the game and create an abandoned slot that will block both you and your opponent. This makes deciding which piece to take extremely significant, as you dont want to block yourself off from a potential play.

Because there are only twenty-four positions on the board, the game will automatically end once all twelve of both players pieces are down. After the match, the winner is crowned. The winner is the player that claimed the most opponents pieces.

Remember that winning against an opponent for the first time will often be rewarded with a unique piece. So play every opponent you come across to build up your set. Now you are undoubtedly an expert on zhuolu chess. Well, maybe not. The game is much more nuanced than it appears, but at least you unlock the achievement hit the board running for winning your first match.

Read more from the original source:
How to win at zhuolu chess in Xuan-Yuan Sword VII - Gamepur

Nearly a month ago, I called for an urgent24-day full national lockdown, arguing that therestrictions were unlikely to make a significant difference in reducing transmission. If we had acted strongly and decisively then, and implemented a circuit-breakerlockdown as we now know that the government's scientific advisory group Sagealso wanted we would be in a much stronger position today.

Many readers considered it a controversial and unwise strategy. The government agreed, declining Sage's advice and instead announcing the eventual rollout of a three-tier system covering areas of medium, high and very high risk, each with their ownrestrictions. Yet case rates, hospitalisations and deaths continue to increase across the country.

This prompted Sir Keir Starmer to finally call for a national two to three weekcircuit break. The Labour leader hascorrectly recognised that the current mixture of restrictions and pseudo-mini-lockdowns which have no clear end or exit-strategy are likely to yield an even greater negative economic impact than a national, brief and finite circuit break after which we could fully reopen the economy.

So why isnt the governments strategy working? After all, the central premise of the restrictions makes sense: if we reduce peoples contact with others in areas of particularly high prevalence, then the virus will struggle to infect new hosts.

It has failed because this isnt a chess game. People arent pawns that can be moved about without ever objecting to whatever strategy the player is employing in each move. Managing pandemics is instead much more like managing a football team. You can have the best players who in theory should always win you the game, but football, like epidemic management, isnt as simple as that.

What is needed in epidemics, like in a successful football team, is collective harmony. The majority of people need to be on board with a particular strategy. This will depend on them clearly understanding whats required of them, that everyone else is putting in a fair and equal effort and, crucially, a belief that their collective adherence to the strategy will make a significant difference. This is what happened during the first lockdown in March and why it was so strongly adhered to.

These principles align with what we know about health behaviour science, an important toolkit that I believe the government has crucially failed to effectively leverage. Most health behavioural models emphasise the importance of motivation. Simply put, if people are motivated enough, they will at least try to adhere to actions designed to protect their health. Behavioural science also highlights how fragile motivation can be and how perception underpins it.

It is clear that today we do not, as a nation, have collective harmony or motivation. This is because of many factors but an important one is perception. Many people simply do not perceive the governments restrictions as making sense because, frankly, many of them do not. Consider those people living under the very high tier whose motivation is likely to be particularly fragile given the sacrifices they are being asked to make.

To protect their motivation to adhere, these people will need clarity on why their particular area is classified as very high while a neighbouring area is not. They will question why their local gyms are closed but restaurants can remain open. Some will question whether a local lockdown is really a lockdown when schools and some workplaces remain open. Many will also question why we are making such sacrifices for a virus perceived to be of little threat to public health. Crucially, they will question the overall strategy as well as askingwhen this will all endand what happens after the second wave is over.

This is why a finite, national and even approach is much more likely to be effective than a fragmented locally targeted one. A collective national approachwill mean people are much more likely to perceive the measures as fair. With just one set of clear rules, the confusion over different restrictions for neighbouringareas will be eliminated and there will be unified clarity on what is expected. Most importantly, there will be a sense of optimism given that a circuit breaker has a finite end followed by thefull re-opening the economy.

The post-second wave strategy should also be made clear now. People need to know what the government is planning for the long-term. It should be made clear that case rates are likely to increase again but that they will do so at a much slower rate. This should allowour weapons widespread testing and track and trace to increase their effectiveness. And when the second wave does indeed pass, the government must value the expert advice of Sage including their health behaviour scientists and stop viewing the public as willing pawns in a game of chess.

Read more from the original source:
Chess vs football: The vital distinction in restriction strategy - Spectator.co.uk

By: PTI | Chennai | October 18, 2020 10:31:59 pm(Representational Image)

Indian men on Sunday qualified for the quarterfinals of the Asian Online Nations (Regions) Cup Team Championship after finishing sixth in the Swiss system preliminary round.

The top-seeded Indians endured a day of mixed fortunes, winning one match, losing one and drawing the other. They face Mongolia in the last eight stage on October 23.

Starting the day with a 1.5-2.5 loss at the hands of the Philippines in the seventh round, the team led by Surya Sekhar Ganguly bounced back to outclass Bangladesh 3.5-0.5 in round eight before settling for a thrilling 2-2 draw against Australia.

In the match against Australia, the 16-year-old Nihal Sarin provided the crucial win, beating Termur Kuybokarov after B Adhiban had lost to Anton Smirnov. S P Sethuraman and K Sasikiran drew their games.

In the eighth round, Adhiban, Ganguly and Sasikiran posted victories while Sethuraman was held to a draw by Reffat Bin-Sattar.

The fourth-seeded Philippines team had pulled off a 2.5-1.5 win over India in the seventh round with Reglio Barcenilia putting it across Ganguly while Sarin, Sethuraman and Sasikiran drew their games.

Sasikiran was the best performer for India, winning eight of his nine games while Sarin won four of his five and Ganguly five out of the seven he played.

Iran finished on top of the heap at the conclusion of the preliminaries with 15 Match Points (2 MPs for a win, 1 for a draw) followed by Philippines and Mongolia.

The tournament is being played on nine-round Swiss System preliminaries in both mens and womens division with a time control of 15 minutes plus 5 seconds increment.

The top eight teams qualify for the knockout stage of quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. Each stage will be a duel of two matches. There are cash prizes worth USD 20,000 and gold, silver and bronze certificates as individual board prizes on offer in the preliminary stage.

The women will play their matches in the seventh to ninth rounds on Monday with the top-seeded Indians in joint top spot with Philippines and Iran.

The tournament will conclude with the finals on October 25.

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Asian Online Team Chess: India finishes 6th in preliminary round, qualifies for quarterfinals - The Indian Express