Chess is the most popular game in Philippines

The LTS survey has separate items on sports which are also physical activities (of which the most popular among Filipinos is, naturally, basketball) and those which are non-physical, called "games" instead. It asks: "Thinking about games rather than sports or physical activities, what type of game do you play most frequently?"

Chess is the No. 1 game. It turns out that chess is the Filipinos’ most popular game, meaning non-physical sport. Those citing it as the game they play most frequently are 15.6 percent in the country. This projects to 8.5 million adult chess players nationwide, based on a population of 54.1 million Filipino adults when the survey was done.

The popularity of chess grows with education and socio-economic class. It is the favorite game of only 1 percent of those who didn’t finish elementary school, 10 percent of those with some high schooling, 20 percent of those with some college, and 26 percent of college graduates.

Full article on Inquirer.net

NBA & Chess

"This is a game of Kings"




Via Gambit Blog

Alexandra Kosteniuk Open Letter

It's been a week since Kosteniuk's open letter was posted on the FIDE website, but I somehow missed it. The letter is titled "FIDE Commission for Women's Chess Proposals", but it is clear that she is proposing on her own.

There are seven points (open issues and proposals) in this letter:
- Predictable Tournaments Calendar.
- Making our Women Stars better known and turn them into Role Models.
- Women's World Blitz and Rapid Championships.
- Creating the CAISSA Award.
- Creating a GOLD ORGANIZER award.
- Increasing Women's Prizes in Open Tournaments.
- Supporting women's events with its Budget.

FIDE Treasurer Nigel Freeman responded boldly with regard to the last point - "In fact, if you had bothered to do so and read the papers for the Dresden General Assembly..." Don't step on his toe...

Brian Callaghan, the organiser of the Gibtelecom International Open Chess Tournament, informed Kosteniuk that - "This coming year we will be increasing the Women’s prize money by 22% to £22,500.- with the first prize for Women of UKP8,000 and a further seven main prizes."

I missed the reaction of Susan Polgar, who is co-chairing in the Commission for Women's Chess. But it is funny how Kosteniuk is targeting Polgar's audience. When I type "Susan Polgar" into Google search, kosteniuk.com pops up on the top as paid link.

"Glamorous Chess Champion proves That beauty and brains go together"

Hikaru Nakamura is new U.S. Chess Champion

Hikaru Nakamura crushed Josh Friedel in the final round of the 2009 US Chess Championship for a total of 7 points and clear first place. This is his second title, earlier he won in 2004. Robert Hess also had 6 points before the last round but he couldn't beat Varuzhan Akobian and then finished on shared second place, together with Alexander Onischuk.

Final standings

FIDE Trainers' Commission calls for radical decisions

3. The need for the FIDE Trainers Titles: The Council strongly believes that the trainers are the responsibility of the TRG (Trainers’ Commission) and not of any other FIDE Commission. As it comes the views of TRG should be strongly taking into account by the PB. If FIDE wants to support this case, radical decisions should be on the agenda.

So, starting on 01.01.2011, the following should be applied:

3.1. No trainer will be offered free board & lodging in Olympiads, European, Pan-American, and Asian National Team Championship, and World and European Youth Individual Championships, if they do not hold the titles either of FIDE Senior Trainer or FIDE Trainer or FIDE Instructor.

or

3.1 No trainer will be offered access in the official playing hall in Olympiads, European, Pan-American, and Asian National Team Championship, and World and European Youth Individual Championships, if they do not hold the titles either of FIDE Senior Trainer or FIDE Trainer or FIDE Instructor.

From Get Chess Training

Times Online Removes Chess Column

Dear Times Online puzzle readers,

Unfortunately from May 4, 2009, we will no longer be publishing chess, bridge, Wordwatching, Polygon or Codeword online.

I'm aware that these puzzles have a small but dedicated following. They will be back in a new format as soon as possible. However, production changes have made it impossible to publish them at the moment.

To get access to the latest Times Crosswords, consider subscribing to The Times Crossword Club. This doesn't include the puzzles that we've recently dropped, but features prize crosswords, Listener, Mephisto and TLS puzzles, a searchable archive dating back to 2000 and a member's bulletin board.

My apologies for this difficult decision,

Tom Whitwell
Assistant Editor, The Times

Changes to online games and puzzles

I was never interested in reading any of Raymond Keene's articles/books, but it is always a bad news when chess column gets sacrificed by the newspaper. I do hope The Times will bring it back soon, and with a better columnist.

The President's Cup

Azerbaijan Chess Federation is organizing yet another chess festival devoted to the birthday of the national leader Heydar Aliyev. The main event is a rapid chess match between Azerbaijan and the World (dates 7-9th May). Participation of the current World Champion and his predecessor, Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, certainly makes it very interesting for chess fans.

Earlier today, Azerisport announced that National Olympic Committee has signed a protocol of state support for chess in the next five years. Previously football was the only sport to enjoy this privilege.

Interview with Vladimir Kramnik on extratime.az, with translated parts on Chessdom.