ADA — Samuel McCann, an eighth grade student at Ada Junior High, finished in first place in the 6-12th grade Under 1,100 section at the Norman Scholastic Chess Open Jan. 12.McCann was the only representative from Ada Junior High. He finished with 4.5 points out of 5, including a win over the highest rated player in his section, and one loss. (Points are scored 1 for a win, 0.5 for a draw, and 0 for a loss.)Neil Jorgensen, a sixth grade student at Willard School tied for 10th place, out of 66 players, in the K – 6th grade Under 700 section. Neil received a medal for scoring 3.5 points out of 5. Kai Jorgensen, also of Willard School, finished with 2 points out of 5. There were 210 players in six sections. McCann, Neil Jorgensen and Kai Jorgensen are coached by David McCann, a United States Chess Federation correspondence chess expert, through the Ada Chess Club, which meets weekly on Mondays at 6 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 301 E. Kings Road.The next scholastic tournament, open to all students grades K–12, will be held in Jenks on Saturday, Feb. 2.
VULGAR CHESS MESS
January 21, 2008 -- In a classic example of brainy people behaving badly, a bizarre, epithet-filled dispute is rocking the staid world of chess. On one side of the fight is Samuel Sloan, 63, of The Bronx, a former securities trader, ex-con, former cabdriver and would-be Republican congressional candidate from Brooklyn. He served a year as a member of the executive board of the United States Chess Federation, the nation's leading such group. In a $20 million suit filed in Manhattan federal court in October, Sloan claims he wasn't re-elected because Paul Truong and wife Susan Polgar, who were elected to the board in July, posted more than 2,000 scurrilous remarks under his name on chess bulletin boards. One of the potty-mouthed postings was, "I will convert that bull dyke [name withheld] with my 41/4-inch power tool." Another accused Sloan of performing oral sex on a 12-year-old girl and being a purveyor of kiddie porn. A woman who answered the phone at the Truong-Polgar home had no comment
Cyrus Pereira - Goa’s latest chess star
Panaji, Jan 20 Cyrus Pereira dazzled in Kandy, Sri Lanka, to become first time U-11 Asian schools champ on December 9. He will go down in the Goan sports history as the first Goan boy to win a gold medal at a FIDE-recognised international championship. Undoubtedly, a stupendous achievement. Cyrus rewrote Goan chess history, which has been heavily dominated so far by Ivana Maria Furtado at the world and Asian level and Bhakti Kulkarni at Commonwealth and Asian levels. You meet with Cyrus and you come refreshed, reinvigorated. The entire family - Dr Justin, a renowned gynecologist based in Mapusa and originally from Salvador do Mundo; Dr Carmen, a senior faculty in Medicine at Goa Medical College, Bambolim, hailing from Taleigao and Jessica, a Std X student at Rosary’s Mira Mar - disarm you with a humility and tranquility seldom seen in a house of an Asian champ. It is modesty to the core. Cyrus’ smile is attractive and as such contagious. Bubbling with enthusisam and a high confidence level, he does not hide the fact that he knew that the precious gold would be his, even when he was seeded second at 3rd Asian School Chess Championship held in Kandy from January 3. He tallied 6 and half points, the same as the other gold medal winner (both were declared joint champs) the top seeded S Mirjead of Iran. It was the last round (8th), against the highly rated Mirjead, that was the toughest and consequently it ended in a draw so that both were on equal footing in all respects. Cyrus unwinds himself with ease and one is awe-struck at the intelligence he displays. That only confirms that the extraodinary marks that he has been obtaining at Rosary HS, Mira Mar all these years (Std V now) are a true assessment of his high IQ. Scoring above 96 per cent is certainly a mark of brilliance. No wonder he feels confident that one day he will be a detective with Scotland Yard. Devoting about 2 and half to 3 hours regularly and 4 to 5 hours just before a competitive event, Cyrus is unsure whether he will pursue the sport as a career. His parents, Dr Justin as well as Dr Carmen, who by now has almost exhausted all her leave after doubling as his manager, feel that the game forces one to make a compromise with academics, besides taking away their precious time since one of them is duty bound to accompany him during the events. It’s a full time job, they stressed and added that as of now they found it pretty difficult to think of chess as a career. It all began as a hobby during the school holidays as his cousin and sister Jessica would spend their time profitably playing a game of chess. And, since his mother was happy that the children were indoors in a congenial environment, Cyrus took an extraordinary liking to the game. Sometimes travelling with his mother to GMC College during the holidays, Cyrus was introduced to the Swami duo who ran the Bambolim Chess Club and it is here that the Std Vth lad got his baptism in coaching. That was in 2004. Two years later, Cyrus emerged as National U-10 champ. That was in May 2006 when he gained 1.5 rating points at 1st Ranjit Patkar memorial international rating chess in Karwar. Three months later, he completed his FIDE rating at Hirabai Salgaocar FIDE rated chess and another three months saw him taking top honours at U-9 boys and girls championship in Sangli. He wound up his engagements in 2006 taking the 5th place at national U-9 in Solapur. It was at National U-11 in Calicut that Cyrus increased his ELO rating to 1870 as he gained 25 points finishing 14th in October 2007. Now under the tutelage of Nagpur-based Akash Thakur, mostly through the internet, Cyrus narrowly missed playing in Asian Youth event in Dubai last year due some visa problem. He has no regrets, though, as he feels that chess has improved his concentration power. “I can focus better,” the lad stresses even as he discloses that his love for piano has not diminished a bit. He even excelled at the first Trinity College of London examination. Having won the pride of place at the state U-9 and U-11 championships, and several other prizes at various all-Goa levels, Cyrus’ penchant for sports earned him the coveted blue belt in karate, which he had to sacrifice for the love of chess. Drawing is another extra-curricular activity which he loves to indulge in his spare time. yrus, who has been an admirer of late Bobby Fischer, once dubbed the ‘Mozart of Chess’ and arguably the greatest natural chess genius the world has seen, and draws inspiration from Larry Christiansen and Jose Raul Capablanca, was confidence personified as he is planning and preparing for the forthcoming U-11 Nationals and World Schools event in which he qualified by virtue of his gold medal performance in Sri Lanka.The bright, well-mannered Guirim-based Red Rosary student (Mira Mar) is in no hurry to plunge fully into chess, and so also his parents. As of today, chess has been a challenging and enjoyable hobby for him and in the absence of a pragmatic sports policy, it will perhaps continue to be so in the years to come until the SSC examination when most children are forced to give up sports since a professional career in sports entails a heavy burden on finances besides mostly jeopardising academic careers. It’s here that the parents find themselves in a dilemma as the onus on the future of their children is their main responsibility.Meanwhile, Cyrus would now be looked at as an inspiration for Goan chess players in the boys category at age-group levels. A role model has ultimately arrived
VULGAR CHESS MESS
January 21, 2008 -- In a classic example of brainy people behaving badly, a bizarre, epithet-filled dispute is rocking the staid world of chess. On one side of the fight is Samuel Sloan, 63, of The Bronx, a former securities trader, ex-con, former cabdriver and would-be Republican congressional candidate from Brooklyn. He served a year as a member of the executive board of the United States Chess Federation, the nation's leading such group. In a $20 million suit filed in Manhattan federal court in October, Sloan claims he wasn't re-elected because Paul Truong and wife Susan Polgar, who were elected to the board in July, posted more than 2,000 scurrilous remarks under his name on chess bulletin boards. One of the potty-mouthed postings was, "I will convert that bull dyke [name withheld] with my 41/4-inch power tool." Another accused Sloan of performing oral sex on a 12-year-old girl and being a purveyor of kiddie porn. A woman who answered the phone at the Truong-Polgar home had no comment
Cyrus Pereira - Goa’s latest chess star
Panaji, Jan 20 Cyrus Pereira dazzled in Kandy, Sri Lanka, to become first time U-11 Asian schools champ on December 9. He will go down in the Goan sports history as the first Goan boy to win a gold medal at a FIDE-recognised international championship. Undoubtedly, a stupendous achievement. Cyrus rewrote Goan chess history, which has been heavily dominated so far by Ivana Maria Furtado at the world and Asian level and Bhakti Kulkarni at Commonwealth and Asian levels. You meet with Cyrus and you come refreshed, reinvigorated. The entire family - Dr Justin, a renowned gynecologist based in Mapusa and originally from Salvador do Mundo; Dr Carmen, a senior faculty in Medicine at Goa Medical College, Bambolim, hailing from Taleigao and Jessica, a Std X student at Rosary’s Mira Mar - disarm you with a humility and tranquility seldom seen in a house of an Asian champ. It is modesty to the core. Cyrus’ smile is attractive and as such contagious. Bubbling with enthusisam and a high confidence level, he does not hide the fact that he knew that the precious gold would be his, even when he was seeded second at 3rd Asian School Chess Championship held in Kandy from January 3. He tallied 6 and half points, the same as the other gold medal winner (both were declared joint champs) the top seeded S Mirjead of Iran. It was the last round (8th), against the highly rated Mirjead, that was the toughest and consequently it ended in a draw so that both were on equal footing in all respects. Cyrus unwinds himself with ease and one is awe-struck at the intelligence he displays. That only confirms that the extraodinary marks that he has been obtaining at Rosary HS, Mira Mar all these years (Std V now) are a true assessment of his high IQ. Scoring above 96 per cent is certainly a mark of brilliance. No wonder he feels confident that one day he will be a detective with Scotland Yard. Devoting about 2 and half to 3 hours regularly and 4 to 5 hours just before a competitive event, Cyrus is unsure whether he will pursue the sport as a career. His parents, Dr Justin as well as Dr Carmen, who by now has almost exhausted all her leave after doubling as his manager, feel that the game forces one to make a compromise with academics, besides taking away their precious time since one of them is duty bound to accompany him during the events. It’s a full time job, they stressed and added that as of now they found it pretty difficult to think of chess as a career. It all began as a hobby during the school holidays as his cousin and sister Jessica would spend their time profitably playing a game of chess. And, since his mother was happy that the children were indoors in a congenial environment, Cyrus took an extraordinary liking to the game. Sometimes travelling with his mother to GMC College during the holidays, Cyrus was introduced to the Swami duo who ran the Bambolim Chess Club and it is here that the Std Vth lad got his baptism in coaching. That was in 2004. Two years later, Cyrus emerged as National U-10 champ. That was in May 2006 when he gained 1.5 rating points at 1st Ranjit Patkar memorial international rating chess in Karwar. Three months later, he completed his FIDE rating at Hirabai Salgaocar FIDE rated chess and another three months saw him taking top honours at U-9 boys and girls championship in Sangli. He wound up his engagements in 2006 taking the 5th place at national U-9 in Solapur. It was at National U-11 in Calicut that Cyrus increased his ELO rating to 1870 as he gained 25 points finishing 14th in October 2007. Now under the tutelage of Nagpur-based Akash Thakur, mostly through the internet, Cyrus narrowly missed playing in Asian Youth event in Dubai last year due some visa problem. He has no regrets, though, as he feels that chess has improved his concentration power. “I can focus better,” the lad stresses even as he discloses that his love for piano has not diminished a bit. He even excelled at the first Trinity College of London examination. Having won the pride of place at the state U-9 and U-11 championships, and several other prizes at various all-Goa levels, Cyrus’ penchant for sports earned him the coveted blue belt in karate, which he had to sacrifice for the love of chess. Drawing is another extra-curricular activity which he loves to indulge in his spare time. yrus, who has been an admirer of late Bobby Fischer, once dubbed the ‘Mozart of Chess’ and arguably the greatest natural chess genius the world has seen, and draws inspiration from Larry Christiansen and Jose Raul Capablanca, was confidence personified as he is planning and preparing for the forthcoming U-11 Nationals and World Schools event in which he qualified by virtue of his gold medal performance in Sri Lanka.The bright, well-mannered Guirim-based Red Rosary student (Mira Mar) is in no hurry to plunge fully into chess, and so also his parents. As of today, chess has been a challenging and enjoyable hobby for him and in the absence of a pragmatic sports policy, it will perhaps continue to be so in the years to come until the SSC examination when most children are forced to give up sports since a professional career in sports entails a heavy burden on finances besides mostly jeopardising academic careers. It’s here that the parents find themselves in a dilemma as the onus on the future of their children is their main responsibility.Meanwhile, Cyrus would now be looked at as an inspiration for Goan chess players in the boys category at age-group levels. A role model has ultimately arrived
No comments:
Post a Comment