Kings & Pawns tourney of chessproblem.net

ChessProblem.net in cooperation with Yours Truly announces the 2nd TT.

 ChessProblem.net announces its second tourney. All future announcements will be posted to this topic.

Theme: Artistic King and Pawns Endgame Studies. Studies with a primary focus on promotions are unthematic. Promotions are allowed if the promoted pieces are exchanged quickly or at the end of the study. If an introduction is added where pieces other than kings and pawns are on the board, it will not be considered thematic for the tourney. Although all examples below feature thematic wrong tries (TWT), these are not necessary for the theme. There is only one section for win and draw studies; there is no separate judging. The final decision about whether an entry is thematic will rest with the judge.

Deadline: December 1, 2016.

Procedure: Participants should register at ChessProblem.net and submit original studies either via PM or via e-mail (housekeeper@chessproblem.net). Studies should be accompanied by a full solution. Limit of three entries per composer. The judge will received anonymized entries shortly after the deadline. The preliminary award should be made by March 1, 2017. (The usual period for claims will be three months following the award; if no claims are received in that period, the award will be considered final.)

Judge: Geir Sune Tallaksen Østmoe.

Prize: The winner will receive a specially designed prize mug, to be shipped after the awards become final.

Please see the link above for the complete announcement.

Garry on the Ukraine Referendum in the Netherlands (pre-vote)

https://medium.com/@GarryKasparov/a-referendum-on-the-values-of-europe-6cdba4f2d439#.5wgmqxvqk

A Referendum on the Values of Europe

On April 6, the Netherlands will vote in a referendum to approve the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine. It includes a free trade pact and stipulations for Ukrainian economic and political reform. It all sounds boring enough to be settled by politicians and bureaucrats, and not a matter for a referendum.

See the full text at the link above. So that's how far a world chess champion can sink, becoming just another political commentator (well, at least in the FIDE era - let's not start about Alekhine...)

Valentin Rudenko (19.ii.1938 - 02.iv.2016)

Valentin Rudenko has passed away recently, on 2 April 2016. The grand master of chess composition was involved in bringing satellites into space, and was most likely the first chess composer who ever had an own composition in space, aboard the mission SOYUZ 9.

His life was one of the highest contribution to mankind and chess alike.

An obituary and discussion is found on the MatPlus forum.


EDIT: Here is the MT announcement:

Valentin RUDENKO Memorial Tourney

The Chess Federation of Ukraine, its Commission for Chess Composition, and the editors of The Problemist of Ukraine announce a composing tourney in memory of outstanding modern problemist Valentin Rudenko (19.02.1938 – 02.04.2016) in the following sections:

Twomovers – judge V. Dyachuk (e-mail: v.dyachuk@i.ua)

Threemovers – judge V. Kryzhanivsky (e-mail: krizha.vasil@mail.ru)

Moremovers – judge A. Karamanits (e-mail: anat.karamanits@gmail.com)

Helpmates – judge A. Semenenko (e-mail: a.semenenko@mail.ru)

Selfmates – judge Y. Gordian (e-mail: gordian37@mail.ru)

Problems are to be sent to the email address of the judge of the respective section before September 1, 2016.

The Memorial Tourney award will be published in a separate booklet and sent to the participants whose problems are included in the award. Other participants will receive an electronic version of the award.

A prize fund for the winners has been set up.

Мемориальный турнир Валентина РУДЕНКО

Федерация шахмат Украины, комиссия по шахматной композиции ФШУ и редакция журнала «Проблеміст України» объявляют турнир по составлению, посвященный памяти выдающегося проблемиста современности Валентина Руденко (19.02.1938 – 02.04.2016), в следующих разделах:

Двухходовки – судья В.Дячук (e-mail: v.dyachuk@i.ua)

Трехходовки – судья В.Крижановский (e-mail: krizha.vasil@mail.ru)

Многоходовки – судья А.Караманиц (e-mail: anat.karamanits@gmail.com)

Коопматы – судья А.Семененко (e-mail: a.semenenko@mail.ru)

Обратные маты – судья Ю.Гордиан (e-mail: gordian37@mail.ru) 

Задачи следует посылать на электронный адрес судьи соответствующего раздела до 1 сентября 2016 года.

Итоги мемориального конкурса будут изданы отдельной брошюрой и разосланы участникам, чьи произведения получат отличия. Остальным участникам будут высланы электронные версии итогов.

Для награждения победителей предусмотрен призовой фонд.

Sieg Heil to the President Erdogan!

Sieg Heil to the President Erdogan!
Destroying the EU is your master plan!
Pulverize the TV stations
that criticize your government!
Blubb blubb goes the sinking ship and
imprison all the ones that don't agree!
Trials by fire, setting fire (to Rome)
It's not a way that's meant for me
Just 'cause, just 'cause, just 'cause we're Europe, yeah!

(after Green Day, see link)

An inappropriate comparison?

Garry Kasparov vs. Veselin Topalov

Wijk aan Zee 1999

White to move

Kasparov played 22.Sc3-d5!! and won in spectacular fashion.

"Kasparov's Immortal"

Lee Sedol vs. AlphaGo

Google Deep Mind Challenge 2016 (game 4)

Lee Sedol just has placed his stone at L11 (see red marker) and won in spectacular fashion.

"Hand of God"


PS, 16 March 2016: While I searched for the game, I used the term "Pearl of Wijk" which was used in the German literature - or possibly I confused that. It holds another interesting game as result.

Court finds painfully ill defendant not guilty of illegal drug possession for almost 95g THC (887g marihuana) on base of emergency clause

In Germany, the defense lawyer Sebastian Glathe has done what was thought to be impossible. His client had possessed 887g marihuana, containing almost 95g THC. The state prosecution indicted Glathe's client of a violation against the Betäubungsmittelgesetz (drug law), as the possession of THC is forbidden. Exceptions have been made for scientific purposes and some private people recently, and the defendent possibly also had such one, but it was still believed widely to be criminal to cultivate the plants himself.

Glathe's client has chronic pain and the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Glathe argumentet that an emergency situation above the law (übergesetzlicher Notstand, §34 StGB) took place here, so his client's right to his health and suppression of pain would weigh higher than society's interest in banning THC. The court followed the argumentation.

Since the judgment will become legally binding, it creates de jure a situation in Germany where medical use of THC is legal under certain circumstances, even without an exception being given by the Verwaltungsgericht.

EDIT, 10 March 2016: Another source claims the defendant has been infected with HIV, and had an exception to use THC for medical purposes, but did not give a reliable source for either statement.

EDIT, 10 March 2016: On our inquest, Sebastian Glathe confirmed he will publish the ruling on his website when it is available to him in written form.

Two matches - different, yet similarly writing history

We would like to draw attention to two top-class matches where history is about to be written.

1. The Women World Chess Championship match might see Hou Yifan, who is currently leading 4:2 against Maria (Mariya) Muzychuk, regaining her title again, thus breaking the record of Elsiabeth (Elisabeta / Jelisaweta) Bykowa, who regained her title once after losing it. However, in total years of holding the title, Hou Yifan is far behind the record holders.

2. The Go match of Google's AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol saw the spectacular loss of Sedol in the first game. With up to four more games to go, this could be anoher success for computer game science after Deep Blue beat Kasparov in chess (1997) and Watson beat Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter at Jeopardy (2011).

EDIT, 10 March 2016: Both Hou Yifan and AlphaGo won again, making the matches now a 4:2 score (Hou Yifan vs. Muzychuk) and a 2:0 score (AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol).

EDIT, 15 March 2016: Hou Yifan eventually won with 3 victories at 6:3 against Muzychuk. Congratulations! AlphaGo preliminary won 3:0 against Lee Sedol, but as the games went on there regardless, Lee Sedol defended humanity's honor with a spectacular win in the fourth round. I still will welcome our machine overlords. ;-)
(You can see Lee Sedol's "hand of god" move here: https://youtu.be/yCALyQRN3hw?t=3h10m20s)
The machine won the last game, so the final result is 4:1, but Lee Sedol's one win will go down into history.