2018 College Baseball ELO Ratings

When young I played Baseball for a decade. I have not posted in a few days because of back pain, stemming from a Maimball injury suffered when a teenager. It is more commonly called football here in the USA. Everywhere else on the planet football is what we Americans call soccer. Sitting for a prolonged time causes pain. Racking my brain for an idea, any idea, of something to post also caused pain. Then Patricia asked me what time Friday the Dawgs (That’s Southern speak for the University of Georgia Bulldogs) would be playing their first game in the NCAA Regional this Friday. EUREKA! It was like my brain had been struck by a lightening bolt, which produced an idea…

There are many different rankings for College Baseball. RPI is the one used to select teams for the big dance, the NCAA tournament, which culminates with the College Baseball World Series, won by the Dawgs in 1990. There is one rating system which is not used. It is the ELO Chess Ranking 2018 College Baseball rating system (http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2018/elochess), produced by Arpad Elo for Chess. The Dawgs finished eleventh in Arpad Elo’s rating system. The Dawgs were ninth in the nation according to RPI. (https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d1/rpi)

Georgia senior Chase Adkins, number 23, will be on the mound when the Dawgs take on Campbell Friday at 7:30 p.m. at their home park, Foley Field. GO DAWGS!

College Baseball Elo Rankings

Records include games against Division I opponents only.
“ELO Delta” is the change in a team’s ELO since Sunday, May 27th.

Team Elo Rank Elo Delta

Ole Miss (46 – 15) 1856.64 1

Oregon State (44 – 10 – 1) 1856.10 2

Florida State (43 – 17) 1845.30 3

Stanford (44 – 10) 1840.75 4

Arkansas (39 – 18) 1825.86 5

Clemson (45 – 14) 1822.69 6

Florida (42 – 17) 1809.02 7

Minnesota (40 – 13) 1806.44 8

Stetson (45 – 11) 1798.31 9

Louisville (43 – 17) 1795.85 10

Georgia (37 – 19) 1789.49 11

North Carolina (38 – 18) 1788.98 12

Baylor (36 – 19) 1786.20 13

Texas A&M (39 – 20) 1778.74 14

East Carolina (43 – 16) 1775.04 15

Coastal Carolina (42 – 17) 1769.39 16

LSU (37 – 25) 1768.42 17

Mississippi State (31 – 25) 1766.97 18

Texas Tech (39 – 17) 1764.47 19

Texas (37 – 20) 1761.69 20

Missouri State (39 – 15) 1754.54 21

Duke (40 – 15) 1751.16 22

Auburn (39 – 21) 1747.47 23

Tennessee Tech (48 – 9) 1746.46 24

South Carolina (33 – 24) 1740.60 25

Southern Miss (43 – 16) 1740.20 26

North Carolina State (40 – 16) 1733.20 27

Houston (36 – 23) 1724.51 28

TCU (33 – 23) 1722.83 29

Purdue (37 – 19) 1717.46 30 +1

Vanderbilt (31 – 25) 1716.99 31 +1

UCLA (36 – 19) 1710.82 32 +1

Kentucky (34 – 22) 1708.71 33 +1

Cal State Fullerton (32 – 23) 1705.02 34 +1

Connecticut (35 – 20 – 1) 1703.87 35 +1

Miami (FL) (28 – 26) 1703.08 36 +2

South Florida (35 – 20 – 1) 1702.87 37 +2

Troy (41 – 19) 1702.81 38 +2

Oklahoma (36 – 23) 1702.46 39 +2

FAU (40 – 17 – 1) 1702.09 40 -3

Dallas Baptist (40 – 19) 1700.21 41 +1

Jacksonville (39 – 19) 1695.08 42 -12

Saint John’s (39 – 15) 1693.55 43

Washington (30 – 23) 1690.04 44

Missouri (34 – 22) 1686.81 45

Indiana (38 – 17) 1683.32 46

San Diego State (39 – 19) 1674.60 47

Arizona (34 – 22) 1671.22 48

UCF (35 – 21) 1667.19 49

UNCW (37 – 21) 1666.47 50

Louisiana (34 – 25) 1662.59 51

California (32 – 22) 1659.72 52

Gonzaga (32 – 22) 1656.15 53

Louisiana Tech (39 – 20) 1655.33 54 +1

Wright State (39 – 15) 1655.08 55 -1

Northeastern (36 – 19) 1654.10 56 +1

West Virginia (29 – 27) 1654.04 57 -1

Georgia Tech (31 – 27) 1650.12 58

Illinois (32 – 20) 1645.81 59

Kent State (38 – 16) 1645.13 60

Virginia (29 – 25) 1643.81 61

Tennessee (29 – 27) 1638.15 62

Sam Houston State (39 – 20) 1636.92 63 +1

Charlotte (34 – 24) 1636.43 64 -1

Oklahoma State (29 – 24 – 1) 1635.26 65

Southeastern Louisiana (37 – 22) 1633.47 66

Northwestern State (37 – 22) 1632.70 67

UNCG (39 – 15) 1629.89 68

South Alabama (32 – 25) 1627.60 69

Wichita State (35 – 21 – 1) 1623.82 70

Samford (36 – 24) 1622.01 71

Iowa (29 – 20) 1620.12 72

Cal Poly (30 – 27) 1619.70 73

UTSA (32 – 24) 1618.64 74

Creighton (34 – 16) 1618.08 75

Seton Hall (30 – 20 – 1) 1617.17 76

Ohio State (36 – 22) 1616.44 77

Morehead State (36 – 24) 1616.27 78

New Mexico State (39 – 20) 1616.27 79

Saint Louis (38 – 18) 1616.22 80 +1

Georgia Southern (30 – 26) 1616.10 81 -1

Michigan (33 – 20) 1614.96 82

Rice (26 – 31 – 2) 1609.11 83

Grand Canyon (33 – 24) 1604.76 84

Wake Forest (25 – 32) 1601.70 85 +1

Long Beach State (27 – 30) 1600.91 86 +1

Campbell (35 – 24) 1600.68 87 -2

High Point (34 – 22) 1595.26 88

Sacramento State (35 – 25) 1591.90 89

Cincinnati (28 – 28) 1591.39 90

Elon (36 – 23) 1590.73 91

Alabama (27 – 29) 1590.60 92

Oral Roberts (38 – 18) 1588.50 93 +1

Pepperdine (31 – 24) 1587.90 94 -1

Texas State (30 – 28 – 1) 1587.77 95

Kansas (27 – 30) 1584.22 96

Indiana State (31 – 24) 1580.30 97

Pittsburgh (29 – 26) 1576.91 98

Cal State Northridge (28 – 30) 1574.50 99

Charleston (36 – 19) 1571.41 100

FIU (26 – 28) 1571.17 101

Tulane (25 – 33) 1568.85 102

USC (26 – 28) 1566.59 103

North Florida (28 – 28) 1564.19 104 +16

Miami (OH) (34 – 20) 1563.87 105 -1

New Orleans (29 – 32) 1561.83 106 -1

Oregon (26 – 29) 1559.98 107 -1

Saint Mary’s College (31 – 23) 1559.84 108 -1

Nevada (29 – 24) 1557.98 109 -1

Fresno State (30 – 24) 1557.84 110 -1

Notre Dame (24 – 30) 1555.84 111 -1

UC Irvine (32 – 24) 1553.58 112 -1

Houston Baptist (29 – 30) 1553.22 113 -1

Wofford (36 – 23) 1549.63 114 -1

Middle Tennessee (27 – 27 – 1) 1548.59 115 -1

Kansas State (23 – 31) 1547.94 116 -1

San Jose State (27 – 30) 1546.48 117 -1

Army (36 – 22) 1543.10 118 -1

Mercer (38 – 22) 1542.80 119 -1

FGCU (32 – 21) 1542.53 120 -1

UNLV (35 – 24) 1539.97 121

Nebraska (24 – 28) 1539.38 122

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi(28 – 26) 1537.68 123

Arizona State (23 – 32) 1537.23 124

Canisius (35 – 20) 1535.58 125

Rhode Island (24 – 27) 1531.96 126

Richmond (32 – 24) 1530.07 127

Nicholls State (28 – 32) 1529.71 128

Santa Clara (26 – 26) 1521.81 129

Jacksonville State (32 – 25) 1519.87 130 +2

Bradley (29 – 19) 1519.84 131 -1

Butler (31 – 20) 1519.61 132 -1

Davidson (33 – 21) 1517.59 133

Fordham (35 – 19 – 1) 1517.23 134 +1

Loyola-Marymount (25 – 30) 1516.77 135 +1

UIC (27 – 18) 1516.38 136 -2

Liberty (32 – 26) 1515.76 137 +1

UC Santa Barbara (27 – 28 – 1) 1514.64 138 -1

Maryland (24 – 30) 1512.88 139

Hawaii (27 – 24) 1512.62 140

Portland (23 – 30) 1512.35 141

Little Rock (28 – 28) 1509.85 142 +1

Hartford (26 – 29) 1509.80 143 -1

Memphis (20 – 36) 1509.10 144

Wagner (38 – 18) 1506.01 145

Central Michigan (27 – 30 – 1) 1505.82 146

Delaware (31 – 27) 1505.46 147

Central Arkansas (32 – 25) 1503.89 148

VCU (34 – 23) 1500.51 149

Georgia State (25 – 29) 1498.31 150

Ball State (32 – 26) 1497.55 151

George Washington (32 – 26) 1496.31 152 +2

George Mason (29 – 27) 1495.56 153 -1

Navy (38 – 16) 1495.41 154 -1

San Diego (23 – 32) 1493.21 155

New Mexico (20 – 33 – 1) 1491.12 156

Bryant (32 – 23 – 1) 1490.37 157

North Carolina A&T (32 – 23) 1489.30 158

Virginia Tech (21 – 33) 1488.45 159

Lipscomb (24 – 30) 1488.40 160 +2

Harvard (22 – 20) 1486.81 161 +2

Southeast Missouri (26 – 30) 1486.46 162 -1

Monmouth (30 – 25) 1486.22 163 -3

Boston College (17 – 32) 1485.55 164

Southern Illinois (28 – 30) 1484.51 165

Arkansas State (20 – 32) 1482.16 166

Utah (16 – 39) 1481.08 167

Pacific (22 – 29) 1481.04 168

Yale (22 – 21) 1479.65 169

Washington State (16 – 33 – 1) 1475.52 170

Michigan State (20 – 32) 1475.18 171

Seattle University (32 – 23) 1474.60 172

Georgetown (25 – 30) 1472.03 173 +1

Eastern Kentucky (30 – 31) 1471.64 174 -1

East Tennessee State (28 – 25) 1470.36 175

Kennesaw State (25 – 30) 1467.30 176

Dayton (21 – 31) 1466.16 177

VMI (26 – 27) 1465.33 178

James Madison (26 – 26) 1463.93 179

Rutgers (25 – 25) 1463.83 180

Furman (24 – 28) 1461.91 181

Air Force (22 – 29) 1461.56 182

Stony Brook (32 – 25) 1460.63 183

Columbia (20 – 28) 1458.50 184

Gardner-Webb (31 – 27) 1453.97 185 +1

San Francisco (28 – 30) 1453.69 186 -1

Lamar (19 – 36) 1451.71 187

Radford (25 – 32) 1451.52 188

Appalachian State (18 – 36) 1449.71 189

UAB (21 – 33) 1448.31 190

Austin Peay (30 – 27) 1448.07 191

Long Island (31 – 24) 1447.21 192

UC Davis (18 – 35) 1447.05 193

Marist (27 – 23) 1444.64 194

Murray State (24 – 29) 1444.36 195

BYU (22 – 28) 1443.59 196

Illinois State (21 – 29) 1441.02 197

Western Kentucky (21 – 31) 1440.13 198

South Carolina Upstate(23 -28 -1) 1439.51 199

ULM (23 – 31) 1432.80 200

McNeese State (24 – 33) 1432.24 201

Northern Colorado (24 – 23) 1431.35 202

UMass-Lowell (25 – 29) 1429.79 203

Texas Southern (25 – 26) 1429.18 204

Winthrop (25 – 31) 1428.82 205

UTA (22 – 35) 1426.66 206

Alabama State (30 – 22) 1424.83 207

Jackson State (31 – 17) 1423.39 208

Dartmouth (16 – 22 – 1) 1420.41 209

Incarnate Word (29 – 26) 1418.62 210

UC Riverside (19 – 33) 1417.22 211

Western Michigan (23 – 25) 1416.86 212

Eastern Illinois (20 – 31) 1416.06 213

Hofstra (23 – 23) 1415.90 214

Bethune-Cookman (24 – 34) 1410.74 215

Milwaukee (24 – 28) 1410.50 216 +1

Xavier (20 – 35) 1410.31 217 -1

NJIT (22 – 25) 1405.28 218

Northwestern (15 – 32) 1402.97 219

Valparaiso (19 – 34) 1397.96 220

Old Dominion (15 – 37) 1396.75 221

Cornell (14 – 22 – 1) 1396.52 222

Toledo (21 – 32) 1395.63 223

Penn (16 – 25 – 1) 1394.26 224

Cal State Bakersfield (21 – 36) 1393.86 225

Maine (20 – 34) 1393.13 226

Marshall (19 – 31) 1389.20 227

Binghamton (18 – 30 – 1) 1387.02 228

Lehigh (22 – 27) 1386.09 229

Fairfield (22 – 29) 1384.74 230

North Dakota State (22 – 24) 1384.54 231

Florida A&M (25 – 30) 1384.26 232

North Carolina Central (28 – 24) 1384.18 233

Niagara (24 – 27) 1383.74 234

Western Carolina (11 – 47) 1381.93 235

Saint Joseph’s (21 – 27) 1377.10 236

UMBC (22 – 29) 1376.68 237

Siena (21 – 35) 1375.23 238

UTRGV (23 – 31) 1374.09 239

Eastern Michigan (20 – 33) 1373.79 240

Charleston Southern (19 – 35) 1373.06 241

The Citadel (19 – 34) 1373.01 242

Manhattan (25 – 28) 1370.26 243

Stephen F. Austin (17 – 36) 1369.08 244

Quinnipiac (26 – 30) 1362.50 245 +1

Bucknell (17 – 27 – 1) 1360.92 246 -1

Penn State (15 – 34) 1356.69 247

Holy Cross (18 – 27) 1353.45 248

Central Connecticut (18 – 28) 1345.69 249

Belmont (19 – 36) 1344.71 250

South Dakota State (18 – 32) 1340.76 251

Iona (16 – 31) 1331.00 252

SIUE (15 – 37) 1327.11 253

Albany (20 – 28) 1323.27 254

Grambling (23 – 26) 1322.78 255

Northern Illinois (18 – 36) 1320.09 256

Youngstown State (18 – 38) 1319.12 257

Mount Saint Mary’s (21 – 33) 1314.65 258

Oakland (15 – 32) 1309.74 259

Evansville (11 – 37) 1308.45 260

William & Mary (15 – 39) 1308.10 261

Utah Valley (15 – 37) 1305.52 262

Presbyterian College (15 – 39) 1305.21 263

Brown (11 – 26) 1304.43 264

Ohio (20 – 32) 1304.32 265

Longwood (17 – 38) 1301.57 266

UNC Asheville (13 – 38) 1299.77 267

Western Illinois (16 – 31) 1299.23 268

Sacred Heart (17 – 35) 1292.67 269

Coppin State (21 – 24) 1282.44 270

Princeton (10 – 27) 1278.23 271

UMass (15 – 29) 1275.28 272

Abilene Christian (17 – 33) 1272.73 273

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (17 – 25) 1269.10 274

Northern Kentucky (13 – 38) 1263.04 275

Chicago State (13 – 41) 1261.75 276

Tennessee-Martin (9 – 39) 1258.66 277

Lafayette (16 – 34 – 1) 1257.83 278

Saint Bonaventure (10 – 33) 1254.08 279

Towson (13 – 42) 1243.26 280

Norfolk State (19 – 30) 1240.53 281

Omaha (15 – 35) 1227.27 282

Villanova (9 – 39) 1211.86 283

Bowling Green (11 – 39) 1203.88 284

Rider (12 – 35) 1203.14 285

La Salle (14 – 41) 1191.93 286

Prairie View A&M (10 – 37) 1167.79 287

Alabama A&M (12 – 35) 1166.73 288

Savannah State (7 – 34) 1164.97 289

IPFW (11 – 37) 1157.46 290

Alcorn State (12 – 38) 1144.91 291

Southern (9 – 33) 1137.27 292

Fairleigh Dickinson (10 – 37) 1079.39 293

Maryland Eastern Shore (12 – 41 )1078.47 294

Mississippi Valley State (9 – 34) 1076.36 295

Delaware State (9 – 35) 1070.46 296

Saint Peter’s (2 – 42) 962.12 297

2018 Women’s World Championship Game Five

GM Kevin Spraggett had this to say concerning the lack of interest in the Women’s World Championship match recently concluded:

“Witness the Women’s World Championship being played this week. Does MSM report on it? No way!” (http://www.spraggettonchess.com/friday-coffee-chess-and-potpourri/. See also, https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2018/05/16/kevin-spraggetts-whipping-post/)

The fact is that the two women who played the match for the women’s crown are at least one category lower than Hou Yifan, undoubtedly the strongest woman Chess player on the planet. I was completely unfamiliar with Zhongyi Tan. It is extremely difficult to have interest in such a meaningless so-called “title match.” Still, having been an exponent of the venerable Bishop’s opening, there was interest in the one game played using the opening.

Zhongyi Tan (CHN) 2522

vs Wenjun Ju (CHN) 2571

FIDE Women’s World Championship 2018 round 05

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bb3 a5 6. a4 Bb4+ 7. c3 Bd6 8. O-O O-O 9. exd5 cxd5 10. Na3 Nbd7 11. Re1 h6 12. Nb5 Bb8 13. d4 e4 14. Nd2 Nb6 15. f3 Re8 16. Bc2 Bd7 17. Rb1 exf3 18. Nxf3 Ne4 19. Ne5 Bxe5 20. dxe5 Bxb5 21. axb5 Rxe5 22. Be3 Re6 23. Bd4 Nc4 24. Bd3 Qg5 25. b3 Ncd6 26. Rb2 Rae8 27. Rbe2 Nf5 28. Bc2 Nh4 29. Qd3 Ng6 30. Be3 Qh5 31. c4 Ne5 32. Qd4 Rg6 33. Bxe4 dxe4 34. Kf1 Nf3 35. Qd7 Nxh2+ 0-1

C24 Bishop’s opening, Berlin defence

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 (The CBDB shows this move, “The truth as it was known in those long ago days,” scoring 56%, higher than any other second move!) Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bb3 a5 (This move has gained in popularity because Komodo has it best. Next is 5…Bb4+. The move Houey considers best, 5…Bd6, has been the most often played move, and is the only move I encountered) 6. a4 Bb4+ (This gives the white general a pleasant choice of the game move, or 7 Bd2)

7. c3 Bd6 8. O-O (All three Stockfish programs at the CBDB show 8 exd5 best, and the SF program used by ChessBomb prefers taking the pawn. The idea is to play, after 8 exd5 cxd5, 9 Bg5, a move preferred by GM Bent Larsen in the B.O.)

8…O-O ( Both the Fish and Dragon play 8…dxe4 which has not been tested in top level play)

9. exd5 (The choice of SF & Houdini, this move is a TN) cxd5

10. Na3 (The beginning of Tan’s troubles. 10. Bg5 Be6 then 11. Na3 h6 12. Bh4 Nc6 13. Nb5 Bb8 14. Re1 b6 15. Bg3 Nd7 16. h3 Kh7 17. h4 f6, a plausible line given by SF)

Nbd7 (10… h6 to prevent Bg5. Stockfish at ChessBomb gives this line, culminating in a possible perpetual 11. Nb5 Nc6 12. Be3 Bb8 13. h3 Re8 14. Bc5 Bf5 15. Be3 Be6 16. Bc5 Bf5)

11. Re1 (11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 Bb8 13. Re1 Re8 14. Nb5 g5 15. Bg3 b6 16. Bc2 Bb7 17. Nd2 Nf8 18. h3 Ng6 would leave white with a small advantage) 11…h6 (The game is even) 12. Nb5 Bb8

13. d4? (This move hands the advantage to black. I have previously mentioned on this blog the difficulties encountered in my early days learning the game with the transition from the opening to the middle-game centered around move 13. Notice in the line given by SF below the move d4 is played a couple of moves later. I set up a board when going over the game before checking with the program analysis, spending a considerable amount of time looking at the position before 13 d4? was played. Three moves stood out; 13 Be3; 13 h3; and 13 Qe2. If you are a regular reader of this blog you will not be surprised by the latter move. Thing is, I was uncertain in what order the moves should be played. The Fish shows them in this order: 13 Be3; 13 h3; and 13 Qe2. SF shows this line after 13 Qe2 b6 14. Be3 Re8 15. h3, with the three moves all being played. The best line, according to SF, is 13. Be3 Re8 14. h3 b6 15. d4 e4 16. Nd2 Bb7 17. c4 Qe7 18. Nc3 dxc4 19. Nxc4 Nd5 20. Nxd5 Bxd5 21. Bd2)

e4 14. Nd2 Nb6

15. f3? (Yet another weak move in the opening. Look at the position…white has only a rook on the king side defending the king. Although black has only a knight more on the king side, the queen and both bishops are poised to move to the open king side in the beat of a heart. Something will have to be done about the pawn dagger on e4, but white is undeveloped, with the knight on d2 clogging up the white position. 15. Nf1 is much better)

Re8 16. Bc2 Bd7 (16… Bf5)

17. Rb1? (17. Re2) exf3? (17… Nc8 is much better) 18. Nxf3 Ne4 (18… Bg4 is possible) 19. Ne5 (Although SF shows 19. Bd3 as best, after 19…f5 black is for choice) 19…Bxe5 (19… Bxb5 first, then after 20. axb5, play Bxe5)
20. dxe5 Bxb5 21. axb5 Rxe5 22. Be3 Re6 23. Bd4 (23. Qd4) Nc4 24. Bd3 Qg5 (24… Qh4 25. Re2) 25. b3 Ncd6 26. Rb2 (Why not an attacking move like 26. Be3) Rae8 27. Rbe2 Nf5 (Look at the position. Every black piece is on the king side menacing the white king, while the white queen and both bishops are on the queenside. White will not last long…)

28. Bc2 Nh4 29. Qd3 Ng6 (29… f5!) 30. Be3 (30. Qf3 is the only chance) Qh5 31. c4? (Turn out the lights, the party’s over…31. Qd4 or 31 Bd1 should have been played) Ne5 32. Qd4 Rg6 33. Bxe4 dxe4 34. Kf1 Nf3 35. Qd7 Nxh2+ 0-1

Quite frankly, this was pitifully weak opening play by Tan. Her understanding of the venerable Bishop’s opening was sorely lacking.

Vadim Zvjaginsev (2661) vs Manuel Petrosyan (2546)

18th ch-EUR Indiv 2017
Minsk 05/31/2017
ECO: C24 Bishop’s opening, Berlin defence

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bb3 a5 6. a4 Bb4+ 7. c3 Bd6 8. O-O O-O 9. Re1 dxe4 10. dxe4 Na6 11. Bc2 Nc5 12. Na3 Qe7 13. Nc4 Bc7 14. b3 Rd8 15. Qe2 b6 16. Ba3 Ba6 17. Rad1 Nfd7 18. b4 Qe6 19. bxc5 Bxc4 20. Qe3 h6 21. Nd2 1/2-1/2

Na3 did not turn out well in the next game…

Vladimir Onischuk (2608) vs Alexander Motylev (2665)

18th ch-EUR Indiv 2017
Minsk 06/07/2017
ECO: C24 Bishop’s opening, Berlin defence

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bb3 a5 6. a4 Bb4+ 7. c3 Bd6 8. exd5 cxd5 9. Na3 Nc6 10. Nb5 Bb8 11. Bg5 Be6 12. O-O h6 13. Bh4 O-O 14. Re1 g5 15. Bg3 Bg4 16. Qd2 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Qd7 18. Kg2 Qf5 19. h4 Ne7 20. hxg5 hxg5 21. Rh1 Ng6 22. Rae1 Rd8 23. c4 d4 24. c5 Ra6 25. Bc4 Nd5 26. Bxd5 Rxd5 27. Rh5 Rf6 28. Qe2 Rxc5 29. Reh1 Rc8 30. Na3 Rc5 31. Nc4 Bc7 32. b3 Kg7 33. R1h3 Bd6 34. Rh2 Bc7 35. Rh1 Bd6 36. Rh7+ Kf8 37. R7h5 Kg7 38. Qd1 Bc7 39. Rh7+ Kf8 40. R7h3 Rcc6 41. Rh5 Ke7 42. Qe2 Ke6 43. Re1 Rc5 44. Qd1 Kd7 45. Re4 Ne7 46. Rg4 Rg6 47. Qe2 Nc6 48. Rh8 Qe6 49. Rh7 Kc8 50. Rh8+ Kd7 51. Rh7 Rg8 52. Nd2 Rc2 53. Rh5 Bd8 54. Qd1 Rxd2 55. Qxd2 Qg6 56. b4 Qxh5 57. b5 f5 58. bxc6+ bxc6 59. Rxd4+ exd4 60. Qb2 f4 61. Qxd4+ Kc8 0-1

A. Patel (2410) v Jennifer Yu (2279)

2017 North American Ch U20

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bb3 a5 6. a4 Bb4+ 7. c3 Bd6 8. exd5 cxd5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bg5 Be6 11. Na3 Nbd7 12. Nb5 Bb8 13. Re1 Ra6 14. d4 e4 15. Nd2 h6 16. Bh4 g5 17. Bg3 Ng4 18. c4 dxc4 19. Nxc4 f5 20. Ncd6 Qf6 21. Bxe6+ Qxe6 22. d5 Qf6 23. Nxe4 Qxb2 24. d6 Qg7 25. h3 fxe4 26. hxg4 Re8 27. Rb1 Qf7 28. Qd4 Nf6 29. Rbd1 Rd8 30. f3 exf3 31. Rf1 Ne8 32. Rxf3 Qa2 33. Ra1 Qe6 34. Re1 Qa2 35. d7 Nd6 36. Bxd6 1-0

Trump Expected to Pardon Boxer Convicted in 1913

Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic
by Jaime Brockett

“It was back around the turn of the centuries, back around nineteen hundred & thirteen there was a negro pugilist his name was Jack Johnson. Now old Jack Johnson he was the toughest man in the whole wide world he used walk around whoppin’ people up side the head ‘n makin’ all sorts of money.

Like I say ol’ Jack Johnson he was a pugilist, he was a pugilist by preference and by profession and one day ol’ Jack came walkin’ on down by the pierside. He’s just walkin on down. His manager come walkin’ on down by the pierside.

He says “uh, hi, Jack”
He says “hi manager”
He says “whatcha doin’?”
He says “I’m just walkin’ on down by the pierside.”
He says “what’s up?”
He says “I gotta gig for ya”
He says “ya gotta gig for me?”
He says “that’s right”
He says “where abouts?”
He says “over in England”
He says “hmm… what’m I gonna do over there?”
He says “well you goin’ up n’ whop this guy up side the head n’ make all sorts of money.”

Ol’ Jack says “That’s groovy baby. That’s really groovy you give me a ticket on the next flight out”
He said “ticket on the next flight out?!? This is nineteen hundred n’ thirteen. Why the Wright brothers haven’t even started foolin’ around with Kitty Hawk yet”
He said “uhh.. who’s she?”

It was midnight on the sea, the band was playing “Nearer My God To Thee”. Fare thee well Titanic, fare thee well.

Ol’ Jack says “Well how’m I gonna get there baby?”
n’ He says “ohhh I’m gonna show ya” and he whips open a newspaper n’ shows him a picture of the USS Titanic.

Folks, she’s the world’s biggest ship she’s made outta good wood and good iron they said she’d never go down.

He says “you mean I’m goin’ over on the boat”
n’ he says “that’s right baby you’re goin on the boat”
n’ he says “well, let’s go get some tickets so they head on down to the ticket taker’s place.”

He walks on up to the ticket taker he walks on in n’ he says “hey man I wanna buy me some tickets”
He said “gotta red ticket green ticket yellow ticket blue ticket what kinda ticket you want?”
He says “I wanna red one”
He gave him some loot n’ he laid it on him.

So here’s ol’ Jack he’s got his ticket now he takes everything he owns he wraps it on up in a diaper n’ he hangs it on a stick over his back n’ goes headin’ on down by the pierside.

He gettin’ on down by the pierside his manager’s down there by the pierside n’ here she is folks – the USS Titanic! She’s lined up beside two hundred n’ fifty parkin’ meters n’ the Captain’s gettin’ done ready to split ’cause he run outta dimes.

Now around this time there was an Italian senator n’ the state house n’ all Italian senators done got brothers own construction companies n’ this one had a brother he owned a construction company n’ the Titanic she was made outta good Italian wood, good Italian iron they said she’d never go down.

So there’s ol’ Jack standin’ on the bottom got everything he owns wrapped on up in that diaper hangin’ on a stick over his back. He shakes hands with his manager goes walkin’ on up the gangplank. The Captain standin’ on the top. He get up onto the top n’ the Captain he look at the ticket…
he look at the ticket
he look at Jack,
he look at the ticket
he look at Jack,
he look at the ticket
he look at Jack,
he look at the ticket
he look at Jack,
lookita
He says “sorry baby wrong color.”
He says “me or the ticket?”
n’ he says “you.”

Now he wouldn’t let Jack Johnson on board
they said this ship don’t haul no coal
Fare thee well Titanic,
fare thee well.
It was midnight on the sea,
the band was playin’ “Nearer My God To Thee”
Fare thee well Titanic,
fare thee well.

So Jack say’s “It’s all right baby it’s all right I’m gonna sit right here on the pier and watch you go right on down.”

So the Titanic she sails on out into the North sea she’s out there floatin’ around in and out between the icebergs n’ ol’ Jack’s standin’ on the pier. I’m gonna tell ya ’bout the people on the Titanic now.

First of all there’s a whole bunch of Jewish people from Miami.
They’re jumpin’ up n’ down
They’re laughin’.
They’re drinkin’ booze.
They’re tradin’ wives
n’ Cadillacs
n’ diamonds
n’ havin’ all sorts of good clean party fun.

Then there was the people that run the boat. Now the people that run the boat they know all about runnin’ boats.
They know all about hoistin’ up land lubbers
n’ battenin’ down hatches
n’ doin’ all sorts of other good things
like… all good sailors do in the far away sea.

Then there was the Captain.
Now the Captain he knows how to walk like a captain,
write like a captain,
walk like a captain,
talk like a captain,
smell like a captain,
eat like a captain,
do all sorts of captain things.

Then there was the first mate. Now I gotta tell ya bout the first mate. Now the first mate,
he don’t know nothin’ about Jewish parties.
He don’t know nothing about hoistin’ up land lubbers.
He don’t know nothin’ about captains.
He uh he wants to go on over to England he wants to play his guitar.
He wanna run around n’ chase women n’ have all sorts of good… times.

Anyways this fella’, his sideburns they’re just a little too long. He giving way, see. He… he been down in Mexico he been down in Mexico. He been workin’ in this rope factory down in Mexico now. Down in Mexico they make rope outta this funny little hemp plant that grows wild in the ground. Some of you people… grow it in flower pots under your bed… ehh Anyways, he’s down there and he’s… he’s makin’ rope outta this funny marijuana plant… One day the rope factory she catch fire n’ he runs back on in to save his lunch – he’s got two sardine sandwiches – runnin’ back on in to save his lunch he gets inside n’ there’s all this funny smoke floatin’ around up inside n’.. he gets some of this funny smoke up inside his head n’.. he sit down in the middle o’ de’ fire n’ he say, “shhhhhhhhhhhit baby, I ain’t gonna make rope no more!”

So he takes everything he owns he wraps it up on into a diaper and a knapsack too n’ he… he headin’ on to the Titanic he gets to the Titanic he standin’ on the bottom walkin’ on up the gang plank n’ the Captain’s standin’ on the top n’ the Captain says “What you got boy?”
He says “I’m comin’ on”
He says “WHAT YOU GOT!”
He says “well I got me two changes of BVD’s. I got me my guitar. I got me my address book, a… pair of socks, 4 masked marvel comic books, a tennis racquet and four hundred n’ ninety-seven n’ a half feet o’ rope.”

He says “four hundred n’ ninety seven n’ a half feet o’ rope! whadaya got that for?”

He says.. “I just carry it.”

So he says “it’s all right. Go on board, go on board” and he did.

It was midnight on the sea,
the band was playin’ “Nearer My God To Thee”
Fare thee well Titanic,
fare thee well.
Now he wouldn’t let Jack Johnson on board
they said this ship don’t haul no coal
Fare thee well Titanic,
fare thee well.

That brings us up to what’s happenin’ now – the Titanic she’s floatin’ around in and out between the icebergs, the Jewish people they partyin’ they tradin’ wives n’ Cadillacs n’ diamonds they drinkin’ booze n’ havin’ all sorts of party fun, everybody else is hoistin’ up land lubbers n’ battenin’ down hatches, the First Mate he’s hangin’ over the rail, he’s havin’ himself a little smoke… he’s diggin’ the icebergs. havin’ himself a little smoke n’ it’s the Captain’s time to do his thing. The Captain comes on out (remember I told you about the captain – he knows how to walk like captain write like captain talk like… all sorts of captain things). He comes on out n’ he’s standin’ now. His thing right now is that he’s gotta go out n’ test the wind. So he casts his nose up into the north wind n’ he goes…… ……

He walks on over to the First Mate.
He says “hey first mate what’s that you smokin’?”
He says.. “that ain’t nothin’ but a little ol’ cigarette captain”
n’ he says “I don’t believe it. Gimme a puff”
n’ he says “alright.”

So the captain takes himself a little puff. Nothin’ happened right away.
He says “it’s alright, it’s alright. It’s just a cigarette. I’m goin’ for a walk” And that’s what he did, folks. He went for a walk. He went.. he went out walkin’ around the boat he went walkin’ toward the wheelhouse he.. he walked around.

He walked around the wheelhouse once……. He walked around the wheelhouse twice……. On the third time around the wheelhouse……. The First Mate he looked on over at the Captain n’……. N’ he say……. You wanna ‘nother toke, Captain?…… And the Captain, he say……. RIGHT!!!!!!!!

So this time he’s gonna tell the captain a little bit about this smoke that he’s smokin’. He says “now the idea, Captain, the idea is to get this smoke way down deep inside your tummy n’ hold it there just as long as you can it’ll make you head feel good all inside. So the Captain says alright he takes himself three big tokes off that funny little brown weed n’
He says “I am commencing to hold it in!”

He walked around the wheelhouse.
He went downstairs
He laid down.
He get up he ran in the other room.
He sent a radiogram.
He came on back in.
He took a shower.
He come out.
He shaved.
He laid down.
He got up again.
He turned on the television.
He turned off the radio.
He played a game of cribbage.
He read his masked marvel comic book.
He walked thru the kitchen,
made a cup of tea,
made a cup of coffee,
sat down,
ate a piece of pie,
went upstairs,
played another game of cribbage,
went back in,
finished his other masked marvel comic book,
laid down,
he had the television, the radio, the egg beater, the air conditioner n’everything’s all goin’ at once. He walks up on deck and this is fifty two minutes later n’ this cat ain’t breathed yet!

So the First Mate see him standin’ up there on the rail he’s all puffed up like a balloon!
He says “ya gotta let it out, Captain!

So the Captain he let it all out at once.

Fallin’ right down on the wheelhouse floor. He’s out cold.

O-h-h-h, this just brings us up to what’s happenin’ again folks. The Titanic she’s sailin’ around in between the icebergs. Every body else is havin parties. The Jewish people they jumpin’ up n’ down they tradin’ wives n’ Cadillacs n’ diamonds n’ drinkin’ booze. Everybody else is hoistin’ up land lubbers, battenin’ down hatches n’ doin’ sail things. The First Mate’s hangin’ over there on the rail havin’ himself a little smoke n’ diggin’ icebergs. And the Captain’s out cold on the wheelhouse floor.

It was midnight on the sea,
the band was playin’ “Nearer My God To Thee”
Fare thee well Titanic,
fare thee well.
Now he wouldn’t let Jack Johnson on board
they said this ship don’t haul no coal
Fare thee well Titanic,
fare thee well.

All of a sudden…. the Captain’s eyes popped wide open. He stood right up straight….. Grabs a hold o’ de wheel…. Looks on out at the bow o’ dat boat n’ he say “I’M GONNA MOVE YOU BABY!”

And he did right on into an iceberg n’ she went right on down.

It was midnight on the sea,
the band was playin’ “Nearer My God To Thee”
Fare thee well Titanic,
fare thee well.
Now he wouldn’t let Jack Johnson on board
they said this ship don’t haul no coal
Fare thee well Titanic,
fare thee well.

That’s the true story of the Titanic, folks. She went right to the bottom. She took with her all the Jewish people, all the first mates. She took with him the Captain. She took with him the land lubbers. She took with him the masked marvel comic books, the tennis racquet and four hundred n’ ninety-seven n’ a half feet o’ rope.

Meanwhile back on the stateside, ol’ Jack Johnson… why he’s standin’ up on the pier he’s fishin’ away he’s got himself a little stick n’ a line n’ he gets a tug he pulls it on up n’ it’s a big wet blue soggy mess n’ on the inside on the lining written in big gold letters it says “USS Titanic” and stuck right above it was a wet roach.

That boy was so happy he started doin’ the eagle rock up n’ down that pier like it’s goin’ outta style he go… He gonna do the eagle rock now everybody in for the eagle rock. Oh rock!

It was midnight on the sea,
the band was playin’ “Nearer My God To Thee”
Fare thee well Titanic,
fare thee well.
Now he wouldn’t let Jack Johnson on board
they said this ship don’t haul no coal
Fare thee well Titanic,
fare thee well.

Fare thee well Titanic goin down!”

Traitorous Trump Going Down

What more do you need to know about Trump?

Trump did it and he’s going down for a host of crimes, and some of them have nothing to do with Russia

Lucian K. Truscott IV

May 19, 2018

I’ve been “covering” the Trump story for over a year now, and I’m sick and tired of stacking up the details of his treachery day after day, week after week. What more do you need to know? He’s a lying, thieving, incompetent, ignorant traitor who conspired with the Russian government to steal the election of 2016 and illegally defeat a candidate who won the popular vote by nearly 3 million ballots. His presidency is illegitimate, and his occupation of the White House is a stain on our nation’s honor and a threat to our democracy. History will cast him into the same sewer in which float the putrid remains of Benedict Arnold, Jefferson Davis and Richard Nixon. Impeachment would be too kind an end for him. He belongs behind bars, broken, bankrupt and disgraced.

Every day the front pages of the newspapers and the headlines of the cable news shows are filled with evidence of Trump’s lies and thievery. Look at what happened this week alone.

Trump started out denying that he even knew Stormy Daniels, then he denied having a sexual relationship with her, then he said he didn’t know about any payoffs to her. Monday, he filed his required federal financial disclosure form in which he effectively admitted making the $130,000 payment to shut her up just before the election in 2016.

He did an about-face on trade restrictions on China, announcing that he would seek to help the Chinese communications giant ZTE, which paid a $1.2 billion fine last year for violating sanctions against trade with North Korea and Iran. Three days previously, China had issued a half-billion dollar loan to a development project in Singapore that includes Trump-branded hotels, golf courses and condos.

He opened the American embassy in Jerusalem, a move he had been warned would result in fighting and deaths in the Middle East — and sure enough, dozens of Palestinians were killed on the day the embassy opened during demonstrations in the Gaza Strip.

The Trump White House refused to apologize for a sick joke made about John McCain by one of his aides.

Trump’s former secretary of state gave a commencement speech at VMI in which he made repeated veiled criticisms of Trump’s lying and warned gravely “If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom.”

Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued a subpoena to a former aide of Trump’s long-time consultant Roger Stone, who has admitted being in touch during the campaign of 2016 with a Russian intelligence agent involved in the hacking of the Democratic Party emails.

A major story in Buzzfeed on Thursday detailed work by Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen on a 100-story Trump skyscraper in Moscow during 2015 right through the Republican National Convention in 2016. It was revealed that Trump signed a “Letter of Intent” on the Moscow project on the day of the third Republican primary debate on Oct. 28, 2015, in Boulder, Colorado. ABC News reported last week that Trump has denied having deals in Russia “hundreds of times in the past 18 months.” Just before the inauguration in 2017, for example, Trump tweeted:

Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA – NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017

A Qatar deal was announced. The revelation follows a report that during the transition in 2016, a Qatari diplomat was asked by Trump lawyer Michael Cohen for a $1 million “fee” in return for arranging connections to the Trump family. The government of Qatar bought a $6.5 million apartment in Trump World Tower on the east side of Manhattan recently.

The news of last week was a perfect mix of lies, thievery, buffoonery and malice that have characterized the entirety of Trump’s presidency.

He promised to get rid of Obamacare “on day one.” He failed. Obamacare is alive and well and enjoyed record registrations last year.

His executive orders on everything from immigration to environmental regulations have ignored requirements for public comments and simple federal paperwork and face lawsuits from one end of the country to the other.

He claimed that “nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have.” He has refused to enact most of the sanctions on Russia passed by Congress.

He appointed a hatchet man who had sued the EPA over a dozen times to head up the agency and that man, Scott Pruitt, currently faces no less than 14 investigations of his tenure there, including allegations that he broke federal laws on office renovations and accepting gifts from lobbyists when he rented a room at below-market rates from a lobbyist with business before his agency.

Last week he claimed he raised military pay for “the first time in 10 years.” President Obama raised military pay in every year of his presidency.

Trump has claimed repeatedly that his White House “is running like a fine-tuned machine.” He filled it with wife beaters, worn-out Wall Street bucket shop shysters and half-baked neo-Nazi flacks. At this point, more than 40 top White House officials and aides have either resigned or been fired over the last 18 months. The place leaks like a shredded fish net.

The Washington Post recently reported that the lies he has told in office now number more than 3,000.

But it’s his lies about Russia that really ring a bell. Trump and his White House surrogates began by claiming that the Trump campaign never met with any Russians and had nothing to do with Russia. Revelation after revelation about contacts between Trump people and Russians followed. Then they claimed they had met with only a few Russians. More revelations about more Russians. Then they claimed they had not met with any Russians “about the campaign.” The Trump Tower meeting was revealed. Meets between George Papadopoulos and Russians in London came to light. Trump suddenly started claiming that there was “no collusion.” Evidence of collusion emerged. Then Trump began claiming that even if there was collusion, it was not illegal. Indictments came down. Now Rudy Giuliani is out there telling the world that even if Trump did something wrong, he can’t be indicted as a sitting president.

Wow. Watching Trump revisions on the Russia story is like watching a Slinky descend a staircase, flipping over and over and over and over.

But every set of stairs has a bottom and in Trump’s case, it’s the law. His lies and dissembling about Stormy Daniels came up against the law this week when he had to file his financial disclosure form. Lying or omitting information on a federal form is a felony, which is why Trump was forced to include the repayment of his debt to Michael Cohen which covered the $130,000 that had been paid out to silence Stormy Daniels in October of 2016. He lied about her and he lied about that payment until he came up against the law and then he was forced to tell the truth.

He has reached the ground floor with Russia and everything else. You can lie at rallies, you can lie to the media, you can lie to voters, but lies don’t work when they come up against laws. That’s where Trump finds himself today. He’s a lying, thieving traitor who conspired with a hostile nation to steal the presidential election of 2016 and he got caught. Not even his bone spurs will get him a deferment this time. He’s going to be drafted for the farm team at Leavenworth. He’s going down.

Lucian K. Truscott IV

Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He has covered stories such as Watergate, the Stonewall riots and wars in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels and several unsuccessful motion pictures. He has three children, lives on the East End of Long Island and spends his time Worrying About the State of Our Nation and madly scribbling in a so-far fruitless attempt to Make Things Better. He can be followed on Facebook at The Rabbit Hole and on Twitter @LucianKTruscott.

https://www.salon.com/2018/05/19/what-more-do-you-need-to-know-about-trump/

Nigel Short For FIDE President

It was with pleasure I read the exciting news when GM Nigel Short

announced he would be running for POFIDE on the Chessdom website.

Nigel Short announces candidacy for FIDE President 2018-2022

May 7, 2018

“The English Grandmaster Nigel Short has announced his candidacy for FIDE President at the upcoming elections during the Batumi Chess Olympiad 2018. Nigel Short chose a Norwegian newspaper, Aftenposten, to break the news. In an interview he says that he “believes the chess world deserves a better alternative”. The full details of Nigel Short’s campaign will be announced by the end of May.

This candidacy comes amid huge battle between Makropoulos and Ilyumzhinov,

the other two candidates for FIDE President.”
http://www.chessdom.com/nigel-short-announces-candidacy-for-fide-president-2018-2022/

FIDE needs change, drastic change, which is acknowledged by those paying attention to what has happened to the Chess World while Kirsan has been piloting the Starship with his team.

Unfortunately Kirsan’s starship FIDE has gone into a nosedive. As is said, “The ground is coming up fast.” Simply put, the Chess world cannot survive another term of Kirsan the ET.

Ilyumzhinov speaks about the proven secret to eternal youth

“On 8 May, in an interview to the National News Service, the president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said that chess lessons not only increase life expectancy but also help to ensure healthy old age.

“As the president of FIDE, I would like to say that chess has a beneficial effect on the psyche and on the moral and physical state of a person. People aged 50 and over are strongly encouraged to play chess or at least practice it for half an hour. Chess is the only way to prevent aging memory loss.” (http://kirsan.today/en/analytics/item/2310-ilyumzhinov-speaks-about-the-proven-secret-to-eternal-youth.html)

This is but one example of the strange things Kirsan the ET has said while piloting the starship Chess. Certainly there are many other ways “…to prevent aging memory loss.”

The other candidate, Georgios Makropoulous,

has been Kirsan’s deputy for about two decades. One reads Makro has been “running things” while Kirsan visits despotic dictators and travels the universe with his out of this world “friends.”

Makro is a bureaucrat (An official who is rigidly devoted to the details of administrative procedure) who knows where the bodies are buried.

“We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”― Albert Einstein

It is folly to believe Makro will somehow avert the coming crash landing of the Starship Chess.

Before writing I researched Georgios Makropoulous. This is the headline from one of the articles dated 2013:

Georgios Makropoulos: “Ilyumzhinov Is the Biggest Guarantee at This Moment In FIDE”

“At least we have Kirsan as our guarantee. Kirsan is the biggest guarantee at this moment in FIDE, if something is wrong. He is always there asking if we have some problems.”

“Are you also asking about my personal weaknesses? That’s an interesting question… I am very loyal to my friends and I think that is not always very good for FIDE.” (http://chess-news.ru/en/node/13774)

What else do you need to know about Makro?

The peripatetic Nigel has long written a column for the best Chess magazine in the world, New In Chess, concerning his adventures while traveling the world. Mr. Short has been a roving ambassador for Chess all of his adult life, and his writing has been fascinating.

The Dutch World Chess Champion Machgielis Euwe

was president of FIDE from 1970-1978, and Grandmaster Fridrik Olafsson

of Iceland was POFIDE from 1978-1982. Compared to those taking the helm after their departure they did an outstanding job of piloting the ship of Chess. FIDE needs a leader who actually plays Chess. When was the last time you noticed either Kirsan the ET or Makro the functionary actually play the Royal game? I was unable to locate any articles or videos with Makro playing Chess, but it was easy to locate Kirsan the Et playing the Royal game. Here Kirsan is in all his glory:

In the article, FIDE Money Transferred To Fiduciary Accounts, by Peter Doggers, May 14, 2018, one reads:

“On May 4, FIDE transferred its money to two fiduciary accounts after the Swiss bank UBS had closed its account at the start of the month. This was revealed by FIDE’s treasurer on Sunday.

It took the World Chess Federation two weeks, but finally the national chess federations and everyone else have been informed about the whereabouts of FIDE’s money. And still, questions remain.

It all started in February, when FIDE treasurer Adrian Siegel shared with the world that FIDE’s bank, UBS in Switzerland, threatened to close their bank account because of president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov’s presence on the sanctions list of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

UBS agreed to postpone the deadline to April 30, but no longer. And indeed, the account was closed, and FIDE has been without a bank account since.

Active as ever on social media, GM Nigel Short has been focusing on this money issue since he announced his candidacy for the FIDE presidential elections. On Twitter he asked the same questions as in our previous report, wondering whether FIDE’s money was now “in a mattress” or “sent to Qatar”—the latter, because the Qatar Chess Federation’s president Khalifa Mohammed Al-Hitmi had offered FIDE to use his accounts.

The @FIDE_chess administration, headed by Makropoulos, transferred millions out of the @UBS account, before it was closed on April 30th. Where is the money now? If they have opened a new account in FIDE’s name, why are they not telling us? Or is it, perhaps, in a mattress?
— Nigel Short ( @nigelshortchess) May 8, 2018

Question to @FIDE_chess: can you confirm that the FIDE millions have been transferred to Qatar, as suggested by Makropoulos here? https://t.co/5kMUFoYWl3 If so, are they in a FIDE account? If not, can you kindly explain why you are not committing a criminal offence? #Governance
— Nigel Short ( @nigelshortchess) May 9, 2018

There’s a slight issue with that, because Short is not in Athens and won’t be for another month. He is the top seed in a tournament in Kolkata, India which starts today, and he will be away from home for over a month. In a tweet, he asked for scans of the documents.

In the spirit of complete transparency, I have asked @FIDE_chess Treasurer to send me scans of the relevant financial and legal documents as I will not be back in Athens, to examine them myself, for over one month.
— Nigel Short ( @nigelshortchess) May 14, 2018

Questions remain, such as whether the two trust companies in Switzerland and Hong Kong are reliable, and whether the recent actions of FIDE officials have followed the correct procedures. A more general question is whether FIDE could have avoided the loss of its UBS account, and the legal costs connected to this.

“I am afraid that we have to pay an essential five-digit amount for the lawyers since the really had to struggle with UBS which initially have even frozen our money,” said Siegel.” (https://www.chess.com/news/view/fide-money-transferred-to-fiduciary-accounts)

Imagine that…Nigel is participating in a CHESS TOURNAMENT! That is who he is and what he does, and has done most, if not all, of his life.

Medical students must take the Hippocratic Oath. One of the promises within that oath is “first, do no harm.” Under the leadership of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Georgios Makropoulous Chess has been irrefutably harmed. GM Nigel Short has devoted his life to Chess. He has enhanced the Royal game for many decades. Chess needs, requires, new leadership. I do not know if anyone can save Chess. I do know that without change, drastic change, Chess will not survive in the marketplace of ideas. The Kremlin

has thrown its support to Kirsan and the ETs. This is the same Kremlin that subverted and perverted the last Presidential election in the United States of America.

Chess needs a new “face.” The POFIDE is the face of Chess. Nigel Short will be a positive “face” and spokesman. I believe Nigel Short is the best man for the task.

Living In A Small Town

People who live in small towns and rural areas are happier than everyone else, researchers say

by Christopher Ingraham May 17

Commuters wait for train service to be restored at Grand Central Terminal on Tuesday in New York City. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

“Heaven is wide open spaces — at least, it is for most people, according to a massive new data set of happiness in Canada.

A team of happiness researchers at the Vancouver School of Economics and McGill University recently published a working paper on the geography of well-being in Canada. They compiled 400,000 responses to a pair of national Canadian surveys, allowing them to parse out distinctions in well-being at the level of more than 1,200 communities representing the country’s entire geography.

They were able to cross-reference the well-being responses with other survey data, as well as figures from the Canadian census, to see what sorts of characteristics were associated with happiness at the community level: Are happier communities richer, for instance? Are the people there more educated? Do they spend more time in church?

Their chief finding is a striking association between population density — the concentration of people in a given area — and happiness. When the researchers ranked all 1,215 communities by average happiness, they found that average population density in the 20 percent most miserable communities was more than eight times greater than in the happiest 20 percent of communities.

“Life is significantly less happy in urban areas,” the paper concluded.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/05/17/people-who-live-in-small-towns-and-rural-areas-are-happier-than-everyone-else-researchers-say/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a7dd61092123

I have spent many a

I live in a

And I am

Code Name Crossfire Hurricane

Code Name Crossfire Hurricane: The Secret Origins of the Trump Investigation

Days after the F.B.I. closed its investigation into Hillary Clinton in 2016, agents began scrutinizing the presidential campaign of her Republican rival, Donald J. Trump.CreditAl Drago for The New York Times

By Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman and Nicholas Fandos
May 16, 2018

WASHINGTON — Within hours of opening an investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia in the summer of 2016, the F.B.I. dispatched a pair of agents to London on a mission so secretive that all but a handful of officials were kept in the dark.

Their assignment, which has not been previously reported, was to meet the Australian ambassador, who had evidence that one of Donald J. Trump’s advisers knew in advance about Russian election meddling. After tense deliberations between Washington and Canberra, top Australian officials broke with diplomatic protocol and allowed the ambassador, Alexander Downer, to sit for an F.B.I. interview to describe his meeting with the campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos.

The agents summarized their highly unusual interview and sent word to Washington on Aug. 2, 2016, two days after the investigation was opened. Their report helped provide the foundation for a case that, a year ago Thursday, became the special counsel investigation. But at the time, a small group of F.B.I. officials knew it by its code name: Crossfire Hurricane.

The name, a reference to the Rolling Stones lyric “I was born in a crossfire hurricane,” was an apt prediction of a political storm that continues to tear shingles off the bureau. Days after they closed their investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, agents began scrutinizing the campaign of her Republican rival. The two cases have become inextricably linked in one of the most consequential periods in the history of the F.B.I.

The Kremlin in Moscow. Two weeks before Mr. Trump’s inauguration, senior American intelligence officials told him that Russia had tried to sow chaos in the election, undermine Mrs. Clinton and ultimately help Mr. Trump win.CreditMladen Antonov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Kevin Spraggett’s Whipping Post

Georgios Makropoulos,

acting-FIDE president, sent a letter to GM Kevin Spraggett

which appeared on Kevin’s website today (http://www.spraggettonchess.com/2018-fide-election-campaign/).

“Dear Kevin,

The reason for my present letter is your recent posts on your website about the upcoming FIDE elections and I would like to have my reply published as well.

I believe that your website was one of the most objective during the previous election campaign of 2014. But, unfortunately, I am afraid that this year you have turned your website, most probably unintentionally, to a propaganda outlet of Kirsan.”

I have been flummoxed as to why Kevin would support Kirsan Ilyumzhinov,

known to most of the world as the man who took a trip around the universe as a guest of Aliens, or ET’s, if you prefer.

Like a politician, Makropoulous included a caveat when he wrote, “…most probably unintentionally.” I have read the same thing Makro has read and what Kevin wrote was intentional. I cannot understand how anyone could read Kevin’s blog and feel it was anything but intentional.

In his post of May 7, Stranger things have happened! Remember Trump?, Spraggett writes, “Monty Python is alive and well…” He then wrote: “Here comes Nigel Short onto the world stage! I love the British sense of humour…” Underneath he posted this picture:

http://www.spraggettonchess.com/stranger-things-have-happened/

That is not funny, it is an INSULT!

Spraggett’s post of May 11 continued with, 2018 FIDE Carnival Begins! Again Kevin insults Nigel Short

again by using the previous picture:

Kevin writes, “I have read what a lot of commentators on the social media have written on the subject of a 3-horse race. I think that not one has stated the obvious: Nigel Short is Kasparov’s proxy.”

Kevin gives absolutely nothing to back up his claim that Nigel is “Kasparov’s proxy.” This is not only insulting, but libelous. There is more: “Kasparov can be a jerk (at times), but we all forgive him. The same will not likely be said concerning Nigel.”
http://www.spraggettonchess.com/friday-coffee-part-ii/

Kasparov beat Nigel in a match for the World Chess Championship so he is forgiven for being a “jerk” but the man who lost will not be forgiven for being a “jerk?”

Until reading Kevin’s blog I was unaware there was a Main Stream Chess Media, which he puts into the “right-wing” category. In this post Kevin continues tying the Chess “MSM” to the whipping post:

“Good morning, Monday! It is the middle of the month already…where does the time go? You can tell it is approaching the middle of the year when the number of tournaments (teams and individual) are such that it is (almost) impossible to follow them all. Not that some well known sites care less…

Have you also noticed how FEW tournaments are followed by the more popular chess-news blogs? The ‘msm-chess’ sites , in the english language , that I am referring to include Chess.Com, ChessBase, ChessDom, Susan Polgar’s DailyChessNews, and one or two others. If you visit these sites during the week, you will have noticed that they cover virtually the same few tournaments.

Worse still, the political views expressed on these sites all have the same right-ish bias. (Don’t take me literally, please.) I don’t have a problem with this, but it does get boring to see the world as either black/white or as a hammer/nail type of model.”
http://www.spraggettonchess.com/monday-coffee-32/

Kevin also criticizes the regular, so-called, Main Stream Media:

“One of my favourite topics on this blog is how MSM (main stream media) more often than not goes out of its way to give chess a bad name. Any ugly story that might otherwise go unnoticed soon becomes headlines if the main character involved ever played a game of chess. The narrative immediately changes from ‘a random crime was committed’ to ‘one more chess player goes crazy’.

Witness the Women’s World Championship being played this week. Does MSM report on it? No way! But this past week has seen a higher than average number of articles in MSM linking chess to sex crimes and even murder. Here are just three examples. Of course there are more!” (http://www.spraggettonchess.com/friday-coffee-chess-and-potpourri/)

Kevin shows pictures of three recent incidents in which the word “chess” is given.

Man who taught children chess sentenced to 12 years in prison for downloading child pornography

If the word “chess” had been “golf,” or “piano,” do you think he would have put it on his blog? How many “teachers” are there in the whole country? Something like this occurs almost every day yet Kevin thinks the “MSM” “goes out of its way to give chess a bad name.” The MSM reports the news.

The second one:

‘Chess ace’ accused of murdering professor is perp-walked

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1685338/Video-Chess-ace-accused-murdering-professor-perp-walked.html

Change ‘Chess’ above to “billiards.” Do you think that would have been included on Kevin’s blog?

The last one:

Minor girl accuses chess coach of molestation

https://udaipurtimes.com/minor-girl-accuses-chess-coach-of-molestation/

By now I’m sure you get my drift…

Kevin poses a question:

“Witness the Women’s World Championship being played this week. Does MSM report on it? No way!”

There is a reason the “MSM” does not report on the Women’s World Championship but Kevin segues into “…MSM linking chess to sex crimes…” without doing anything other than to slam the “MSM” for NOT covering the WoCC. Give me a reason why it should be reported on the “MSM” Kevin! Think of it from the perspective of the person who decides how much space is to be devoted to anything. He would ask himself, “How many people know about the WoCC? How many people care if there is a WoCC?” After pausing he could think, “We do not cover the men’s WCC. Why would we cover the WoCC?”

The lack of coverage of Chess by the “MSM” is an indication of how society values the Royal game. In the minds of the general public things changed dramatically after Kasparov lost to Deep Blue. I cannot count the times someone who learns about my involvement with the game has said something along the lines of, “I thought people stopped playing after thr Russian lost to that machine.”

Wake up and smell the coffee, Kevin! The “MSM” needs a reason to utilize valuable space with a Chess story. If, for example, a female player managed to win a candidates tournament and challenge the World Champ how much space would be devoted to the match?

Then there is the problem of continued cheating, and cheating allegations, in Chess.:

GM Solozhenkin Suspended For Making Cheating Accusations; Fellow GMs Protest

PeterDoggers
Apr 13, 2018, 2:01 AM

“The FIDE ethics commission has suspended GM Evgeniy Solozhenkin for making unsubstantiated allegations of cheating, published in different articles on the internet. A group of grandmasters has written an open letter in support of Solozhenkin.

It’s an incident that shocked the Russian chess scene, and even months later, things haven’t calmed down. A 13-year-old girl, whose rating had reached that of IM level, was accused of cheating by a well-known Russian coach during the World Youth U14 last September in Uruguay.”

(https://www.chess.com/news/view/gm-solozhenkin-suspended-for-cheating-accusations-fellow-gms-protest)

The Chess world must face, and come to terms with, the fact that there are more stories concerning Chess cheating than about playing Chess.

A blind man can see that the Chess world is in crisis. If you do not think the fortunes of something can change in a short period of time, look at NASCAR. All one needs do is read the headlines:

NASCAR Is In Trouble And Nobody Wants To Talk About It

https://beyondtheflag.com/2016/04/19/nascar-trouble-nobody-wants-talk/

That was two years ago. This was before the 2018 season:

NASCAR Wobbles Into 2018 Low On Gas, And Badly Needing A Spark

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davecaldwell/2017/12/18/nascar-wobbles-into-2018-low-on-gas-and-badly-needing-a-spark/#18a133da6a62

This is today:

Can NASCAR’s biggest problems be repaired? Petty, Gordon and other legends weigh in

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nascar-auto-racing/thatsracin/article207551864.html#storylink=cpy

One of the major problems is the folks who run NASCAR changed the traditional format of a race which alienated the most ardent racing enthusiasts. Knowing this caused me to cogitate on the changes that have been made to how Chess is played. The time for thinking has continued to diminish. For some reason those making decisions have decided to transform Chess into a much faster game. Chess is not Backgammon.

Chess is a wonderful tool with which to teach a child how to think. Why should Chess be taken seriously when the point of the game is to THINK, and time to do so is increasingly limited? What purpose does it serve to teach a child how to play Chess when there is not enough time to think?

Ask yourself, “Why should the “MSM” take the Royal game seriously when the collective Chess World does not take it seriously? How can anyone in their right mind believe yet another Kirsan term will change the downward trajectory on which the Royal game founders? How can anyone in their right mind think the “MSM” will take the news that Kirsan the ET will continue running the Royal game into the ground? Does the Chess world want Kirsan the ET, who has been ridiculed, pilloried, and sanctioned, continuing as the face of Chess?

Giving Trump The Finger

Vest Was Best

An email concerning the previous post was received from my friend the Discman this morning. Before turning to poker (he cashed in at the World Series of Poker) Chris Chambers earned his National Master Certificate in Chess.

“Excellent description of Mr. Vest.

Looking back at my records, I never played him in a regular tournament.

I did play him 33 times in the Wednesday night Quick Chess tournaments (G/15) with a record of 8-20-5.

There were 16 players I played more than him, with (Murphy) Clay at the top of the list at 131 times played.

I played in 390 Quick Chess tournaments at the HOP from 1993-2005.”

The Discman obviously keeps meticulous records not only of Rock & Roll music. My reply was: If you give permission I will post this, providing YOU choose a song!

“Hmmm. That’s a good one.

I’d say “Investigation Blues” by Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson

(get it?? InVESTigation of Vest history?).”

Unfortunately the song could not be located in the cloud. I did, though, locate an article (http://rubbercityreview.com/2016/02/eddie-cleanhead-vinson/) containing the song, Cleanhead’s Blues: