Sep 01 2008
The 17 years old Norwegian Magnus Carlsen is taking the chess world by storm. 17! From Norway. Ranked 6th in the world, with men old enough to be his father. could be #1 if he wins the Grand Slam Chess Final Masters on Tuesday in Bilbao, Spain.
“Whatever its benefits, his education is probably not the key [...]
Jul 18 2008
She was the US Women’s Chess Championship in 1998 and 2007. She showed up at the Chess & Checkers at Central Park this past Sunday. First she did lecture then played simul. Golfer was one of the simulers. Unforutnately after 12th move he had to abandoned the game, we had a date.
Krush is quite attractive, talked [...]
Jan 21 2008
Coincidence or timed right, the day after Fischer died, FT ran an interview with the current champ, an Indian, Viswanathan Anand. He replaced Kasparov but competes with ‘young Russian boys’, :). Looking at his Poppy’s arms, perhaps the trend is changing, that being physically fit is important element for brain fit?
Years back, there was a Chinese [...]
Jan 18 2008
Heard Boywonder Fischer’s death on the radio while driving. Oh lord .. I found his defeat of Boris Spassky in 1972 was romantic: the Russian champ had a huge team - the all powerful chess machine of the old USSR - attending to him while Boywonder was just about all by himself ..very much like Van Cliburn who shocked the [...]
Jan 06 2008
Putin is the Person of the Year. The pic on the Time cover more like an assassin than a statesman. When questioned about his past as a KGB agent, he compared himself to Bush the elder, “.. look .. where he’s from ..” referring to the 41st the CIA era during his career. But the older Bush rediants culture and humanity where [...]
May 31 2007
It’s a Memorial Day weekend 17 years ago that I first heard of timeshare. A Filipino coworker saw me looking for a weekend trip so she offered me the ‘opportunity’, charging me $200 for a 2-night stay in the Poconos, the condition for the cheapness was that we had to attend a tour. She never disclosed [...]
May 27 2007
Garry Kasparov is former world chess champion, retired 2 years ago from chess, co-founded The Other Russia, an opposition coalition. He wrote a short article for Bizwk, Putin’s Critics: A Web Strategy. I began to know him and Fischer, the two most famous figures in modern day chess through Golfer. He played on the Banker’s League, [...]
Apr 23 2007
I knew the name M. D. Chow, the King of Chinese Philately, in the same way a modern day chess enthusiast would know of Jose Raoul Capablanca, but never thought of him as important to me personally until I began my genealogy research. The more I learn about him, the more questions I have.
The First Encounter
Soon after [...]